Run exe before boot?

[Stormrider]

Does any expert on Windows know whether it's possible or not to run a .exe at any moment before the load of the Windows XP boot screen?

[brian_hoffman]

Not before the boot screen, at that time windows is still loading up services and drivers.
You can hide the windows boot screen using Instant Sheller and SHELL the exe, this way you do not have the startbar and such. This would give the illusion of windows not running on the machine.

Or you can use DOS, providing your EXE you want to run is dos compatible.

However Id use the above.

[Stormrider]

I already have userinit.exe replaced with MaLa frontend in the userinit key in the registry. One thing I have not considered is to study Bootskin and how it works. It creates a vidstub.sys file which contains the custom screen, so what if we find what program or what service or how that file is run?

[axewater]

storm rider, from windows NT4 and up (w2k, xp, vista, W7) there is no way to run an .exe file without having windows system loaded first ... just impossible. if it was possible, why would you need windows at all ?

as for windows 95/98, you can use the autoexec.bat file or WINSTART.BAT (undocumented feature)
this of course only runs DOS files ... again, no way to run windows exe files without windows ....

what is it you are trying to accomplish anyway ? run your frontend earlier in the boot process ? or run something else first ?

if u rly want to get into the nitty gritty of things, there are ways to replace the logon screen of windows. google 'windows gina replacement'... you can only run DLLS though and the DLL needs to support certain entry points. I guess someone could write a gina.dll that would run a frontend ...

[Stormrider]

Nah, just trying to load a script to rotate the XP bootscreens according to my monitor orientation. Now I'm doing this on shutdown, depending on the info in mala.ini.

[Malenko]

storm rider, from windows NT4 and up (w2k, xp, vista, W7) there is no way to run an .exe file without having windows system loaded first ... just impossible. if it was possible, why would you need windows at all ?

as for windows 95/98, you can use the autoexec.bat file or WINSTART.BAT (undocumented feature)
this of course only runs DOS files ... again, no way to run windows exe files without windows ....

what is it you are trying to accomplish anyway ? run your frontend earlier in the boot process ? or run something else first ?

if u rly want to get into the nitty gritty of things, there are ways to replace the logon screen of windows. google 'windows gina replacement'... you can only run DLLS though and the DLL needs to support certain entry points. I guess someone could write a gina.dll that would run a frontend ...

I thought you were joking when you called it a gina..............

how do we edit it? I'd like to rotate mygina 90 degrees and change the logo, I cant seem to find info on how to do so; all the links I read said to replace the DLL and change the registry, not how to make it.

[axewater]

you write a dll just like any other .. with the programming language of your choice !

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742447.aspx

http://www.xtremevbtalk.com/showthread.php?t=178251

Gina Stub, from Jedi project: http://www.delphi-jedi.org/Jedi%3AAPILIBRARY%3A197708#windows
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/docs/msgina.doc

The Essentials of Replacing the Microsoft Graphical Identification and Authentication Dynamic Link Library
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/docs/msgina.doc

Implementing WlxLoggedOutSAS
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/security/security/wlxloggedoutsas.asp
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/security/security/implementing_wlxloggedoutsas.asp

Implementing WlxActivateUserShell
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/security/security/wlxactivateusershell.asp
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/security/security/implementing_wlxactivateusershell.asp

[drventure]

Am I the only one who's mind went somewhere that it probably shouldn't have when I saw the link

...../msgina.doc

 

[speedklz]

If you are permently wanting to rotate the screen it can be done inside the monitor and you can add a switch to choose between upright and rotated mode...

[Malenko]

I oh my monitor is rotated....

[Stormrider]

Rotating my monitor according to the selected game orientation is not something I'm interested in. I have a dual layout with separated horizontal and vertical game lists. I can rotate with a joy button, but now I have a sensor which detects the screen orientation and select the right layout. As regards the boot screen, I have an Autohotkey script which reads mala.ini on exit and copies a vertical or horizontal version of vidstub.sys over the file in c:\windows\system32\drivers, which is the file created by Bootskin for custom boot screens.

[Ummon]

I think speedie isn't understanding that you have a rotating set-up. I can't imagine why anyone would do this in hardware when it's been possible in software for ages.

[axewater]

So if I understand correctly, you have a monitor that is rotatable inside the cab ? and you want to change the boot screen depending on its current orientation ?
That's quite tricky .. I think the only way is to do it during shutdown. On the other hand, here at work I have an LCD screen that can rotate 90* and it flips the screen in the gfx driver. I'm not sure if it shows the windows bootscreen properly when its rotated though .. let me check on that (as that would implicate there is a built in function in windows for this)

ok i checked ... i rotated the screen and reboot, but the windows boot screen was not rotated .. this implies that windows has no way of finding out the rotation of the screen and cannot act on it.

maybe you can do it at the moment the screen is flipped ? you reconfigure the bootscreen at the same time ? that way you dont need to gracefully shut down in order for it to work.

[Stormrider]

Sumarizing, I have a TV which I rotate manually. I have a frontend with a horizontal and a vertical layout. I can change between both with a key, or with a sensor+script which does it automatically. You can change the bootscreens once the system is started. This can be automated by reading the frontend ini file. So, next time you restart your system, the boot screen will have the right orientation. However, if your have your screen set to horizontal, exit the frontend, shutdown, and then decide to rotate, next time you start your computer with vertical orientation you will see the bootscreen in horizontal orientation. To prevent that, you would have to run something before the boot screens appear, which, as we have said, it's impossible. That's all.