Running a program at startup when there's an alt. shell

[SpamMe]

I'm running mamewah as a shell in WinXP (via the
HKLM>Software>Microsoft>WindowsNT>CurrentVersion>Winlogon>shell
 registry entry) and couldn't be happier, but my gamepads arrived yesterday, and I now need to make sure JoyToKey starts also.

JoyToKey won't run if placed in the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder, if it's set to run at system startup via Scheduled tasks, or via the HKLM>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Run registry entry. I assume all of these depend on explorer starting in some way.

The only way I've been able to get JoyToKey to start at all is via FireDaemon so that it runs as a service, but it causes problems with DirectInput, apparently, and the joypads stop working entirely. Anybody know how this can be done?

[SpamMe]

Set FireDaemon to delay JoyToKey's startup by 10 seconds, and I'm not getting the direct input errors now, but it's still not working. It may just not like being run as a service. Anybody have any other suggestions?

[Random24]

Are you running it as a service under the same account you are running the FE under?  I have found this to be an issue with firedaemon in the past.  Go to the services section of the control panel and set it to run as a specific user instead of the service account.

I hope this helps.  Please let us know if it works.

[SpamMe]

Great idea, I'll give that a shot, thanks!

[SpamMe]

Bleh, this is getting more convoluted all the time.
I was unable to logon as that user until "log on as a service" was set. JoyToKey would run, then, but still wasn't doing anything.

Left the logon and password blank so that I could turn on "interact with the desktop", and that seemed to work.
 From the FireDaemon documentation "If this is left blank the service will run as the LocalSystem user. Services running as any other user except LocalSystem cannot interact with the desktop. This is a Windows limitation."

Also added a nice long delay (10 sec) before JoyToKey boots.
If I pop open notepad, I can 'type' with the gamepads (yay), but once JoyToKey loads this way, I start getting directinput errors from the emulators.
The frontend (shell) will load, and I can quickly open an emulator before FireDaemon starts JoyToKey, and it'll open fine. Escape out of that back to Mamewah.  when opening the emulators. I'm so lost

Update
You can set XP to run a script (.bat etc.) at startup or login by running gpedit.msc and navigating to User Configuration > Windows Settings > Scripts > Logon or Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Scripts > Startup

I've got a .bat that just has
@echo off
start /min <Path to JoyToKey>

and that seems to be doing the trick.