I need to completely get rid of the Task/Start bar from XP. Autohide or just dragging it down out of sight isn't really good enough here.
I've googled and found a few solutions using regedit that just didn't work, and I've tried Kellys-korner taskbar tool which did get rid of it, but as soon as your reboot it re-appears!
Has anyone ever managed to get rid?!
I'm using XP embedded btw.
Erm what are you trying to do that you want explorer gone?
You can easily instruct NT to not load explorer by modifying the shell entry in the registry, this is documented on the MSDN, but i'd highly recomend setting up a remote registry editing just to make it simpler.
throw new ArgumentException (String, String, Exception)
if you are running in a 2003 domain (maybe 2000 but I would have to go and look at our backup servers on monday to be 100% certain) it can be done by using GPO. If not it can still be done by using local GPO but could be a pain. Don't forget to rerstrict command promt as they can restart it using explorer.exe
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Is this a cosmetic thing or a "lock down the machine" thing? If the latter, will Windows Steady State do what you need?
Steady state i thought didn't work for embedded.....
Thing is if its a kiosk type mode thats wanted, HORM (Hybernate Once, Resume Many) would be my way of choice. Still raises the question, why lock down explorer.
Think of it as hiding the big sign that says Please Don't Push This Button rather than disabling it.
throw new ArgumentException (String, String, Exception)
It's for a touch-screen system which loads custom software straight away, and doesn't make use the Windows interface at all.
In the unlikely event that the software should crash or not load I need the desktop to be completely empty so the user can't "meddle" with the system. There's no keyboard attached so key-stroke shortcuts aren't a worry. It's just the taskbar I can't get rid of.
So, I don't actually want to kill it, just completely hide it.
ah so you do want to run without the shell then. I'd advise doing it only for the restricted user that the kisok app runs as. Check out:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms838576.aspx
throw new ArgumentException (String, String, Exception)
zaphox (30-06-2008)
Hmm, looks like that requires the logon procedure which is disabled on this system (and needs to remain that way).
I just can't believe there isn't a simple registry key or something to visibly remove it! Maybe I'm doing something wrong, I've tried a few reg files which claim they get rid of it and when I run them they are successfully transferred to the registry, but there's no difference!
Where I used to work the tills (where we also clock in/out) were a similar setup to this, using Win98, and the task bar was just draged down so it was hidden at the bottom of the screen. Means if you're late you can get the task bar up and change the time.Gotta love Win98 security.
you can simply stop explorer starting, using the "Shell" key of the registry.
The reason i linked that example was because it made it per user, via logon prodcedure, you can do the steps it mentions without it. (but it will apply to all users!)
throw new ArgumentException (String, String, Exception)
Although that does work in terms of removing the taskbar, it also creates new problems since the main software on the machine loads with startup which needs explorer.
Replacing the Explorer shell may not be the best solution anyway since I have a scheduled task running in the background every 30 minutes which might not work if the default shell isn't loaded, and a second program that starts with Windows.
scheduled task should work, as long as its not doing anything strange (remeber how processes are started via 'shell execute' type things don't require explorer to be running!).
When you've replaced the 'shell' if the 'shell' program quits, then it simply gets re-opened.
An example of this can be found for setting it to IE (in Kiosk mode, which is another story) but simply replace IE with your custom App and its garanteed to get started, better yet if it crashes because its code is poo, it simply gets restarted!
http://blogs.msdn.com/embedded/archi...30/403999.aspx
throw new ArgumentException (String, String, Exception)
zaphox (03-07-2008)
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