Turning Windows into a Kiosk...

[whatnow]

I'm doing something which involves me turning a PC running windows into a Kiosk... it's mouse navigation, maybe keyboard entry but nothing fancy.

My plan was to swap windows loading explorer.exe into a custom app I was going to make in Visual Basic.

Windows 98 used to have win or system .ini files which had a line something like

boot="explorer.exe"

now xp doens't have this in there and adding it seems to have no effect.

Does anyone know how I can boot windows dirctly into a .exe without having any explorer going in the background? I am going to make a VB prog with a full screen IE shell which uses a strong key-combo to get out of it. All admin will be done in safe mode and power buttons are done away with.

The only hole I can think of remaining it ctrl,alt&del so I was going to replace taskman.exe with a blank app which loads nothing when pressed, multiple presses (in xp anyway) do nothing.

The target machines might be windows 2000 or hopefully 98, I wont know till i'm there so I wanted to plan for all eventualities on the day.

has anyone got any suggestions? Paying for, or illegal software isn't a choice sadly.

cheers!

[Over Carl]

Just an idea, no idea if it will work - create your application, rename it explorer.exe then copy to target machine in dos mode?

Although I think windows system file protection may whinge when if/when it does boot.

[whatnow]

good last resort though

cheers!

[hjf288]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...setshell&meta= <-- Have a look at Setshell, lets you change the shell from explorer to something else.

[Mr.James]

Just an idea, no idea if it will work - create your application, rename it explorer.exe then copy to target machine in dos mode?

Although I think windows system file protection may whinge when if/when it does boot.

replacing explorer.exe will screw things up big time

edit your system.ini file and whack the following in it...

[boot]
Shell=yourapp.exe

[DJ OD]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...setshell&meta= <-- Have a look at Setshell, lets you change the shell from explorer to something else.

Crikey! LiteStep is still going! I remember tinkering with it years ago, when I had win98. I had a really minimalist shell set up but it wasn't exactly stable...


DJ OD

[whatnow]

cheers dudes, will have a look and see what's what.

I'm supposed to be doing it tomorrow, it'd be nice if I knew what I was doing

[evilsatan]

By the sounds of it this is no use to you but Powerpoint (Or another office util) has a kiosk option where you can design it all. Obviously explorer would run in the bg still though.

As for coding sounds like the above have sorted you out, I know nothing about coding unfortunately.

[hjf288]

Crikey! LiteStep is still going! I remember tinkering with it years ago, when I had win98. I had a really minimalist shell set up but it wasn't exactly stable...


DJ OD

Aye its going slow and Vista support aint really ready yet (But they are working on it)

I just want them to hurry up so I can begin making a Vista theme...

[casio]

ive just had a quick look at newzbin and theres an nzb of something i think may be of help ive nicked some of the nfo i think this would be easier for you that buggering about with replacing explorer.exe and messing up a working install

- Windows Embedded Standard CTP


=================
= Release Infos =
=================

- Release Date.....: 1st June 2008
- Release Name.....: Microsoft.Windows.Embedded.Standard.CTP.DVD-MSBP
- Supplier.........: Microsoft
- Type.............: OS
- Number of Discs..: 1 DVD


=======================
= Release Description =
=======================

Windows Embedded Standard is the next generation of Windows XP
Embedded, delivering the power, familiarity, and reliability
of the Windows operating system in componentized form.
Now you can rapidly configure devices that require rich
applications, services, and end-user experiences, while easily
connecting to common industry standards and Microsoft technologies.

[casio]

http://www.united-forums.co.uk/phpBB...d.php?id=60023
password u-f