Recreating Default Shell Values



Key1 is a string value. When Windows XP starts, Key1 is called and the default Windows shell is started. However, if the default value is changed to USR:Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon, Windows looks in the HKEY_Current_User key to start a specific shell for the user logging on. If the specific user shell is not found, Key2 is called and a default shell is started. Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\system.ini\boot\ShellType: REG_SZValue: SYS:Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Key2 provides a default shell if the user shell application cannot be found. When you select a shell component for a Microsoft Windows XP Embedded configuration, Key 2 is set up to the shell application as the default shell. Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\ShellType: REG_SZValue: Explorer.exe (or this can be a different default application)

Key3 sets up a shell for the current user or logged-on user. Thus, the only way to change a particular user's shell is to log on to the user account and create this registry entry. Key: HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\ShellType: REG_SZValue: c:\windows\system32\account shell.exe,where account shell.exeis the name of the application