OEM menu

[EliasXP]

Is there a way to add a menu to your start menu, so you can set, for exemple OEM under my documents in the menu or something. see screenshot for exemple

(Look at the start menu)

PS: yes i know, i made this with paint!

[prathapml]

Yes, you can. But it will be added at bottom of start menu, as in this screenshot:

In the above shot see where the "Internet Searching" item has been highlighted. That's the item you can change to run any folder/command you want and change its icon.

Want to do it?

[Ned944]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}]
@="My Utilities"
"Infotip"="C:\\Documents and Settings\\All Users\\Start Menu\\My Utilities"
"CascadedMenu"=dword:00000002

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\DefaultIcon]
@="%systemroot%\\system32\\shell32.dll,234"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
  00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
  64,00,6f,00,63,00,76,00,77,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance]
"CLSID"="{3f454f0e-42ae-4d7c-8ea3-328250d6e272}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance\InitPropertyBag]
"CLSID"="{13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}"
"Command"="&Open"
"method"="ShellExecute"
"Param1"="C:\\Documents and Settings\\All Users\\Start Menu\\My Utilities"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\MayChangeDefaultMenu]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=dword:00000000

I believe the above will work for what you want to do. You just have to change the names to what you want. it will appear below the run menu item.

[totoymola]

How did you do that prathapml? Did you do the same as Ned944's method? I'm not at home and I'm not using my baby, so I can't figure it out by myself. (we are using obsolete machines here in my school! )

[EliasXP]

Thanks prathapml and Ned944!

[prathapml]

Ned944's regkeys above looks somewhat close to what I do, but I'm not sure of it coz my method is simpler than that.

The screenshot shown above, is actually called OEM Branding. It is one of the customizations OEMs make in addition to the oemlogo/oeminfo.ini.

Below is the .REG:

;Link to any location on start menu (Branding)
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}] 
@="Internet Searching"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\DefaultIcon] 
@="%SystemRoot%\\system32\\shell32.dll,-15" 
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance\InitPropertyBag] 
"CLSID"="{13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}" 
"method"="ShellExecute"
"Command"="Internet Searching"
"Param1"="http://www.google.com"

Okay, so this OEM branding in start menu is just a command executed - its fully changeable to your requirement. An OEM will normally use it to launch their own tool (for example, they will direct param1 to "C:\Dell\addons\OEMtool.exe"). Since that is useless to us, we can either direct it to some other EXE which we keep using frequently, or to your support website, or to a folder on the hard-disk, ANYTHING!

What it does basically, is do a ShellExecute of specified command in Param1 - if you don't know what ShellExecute is, just remember that it is the same thing like what your "Run" dialog box does when you execute a command thru it.

What parts of the above registry code is changeable?

CLSID should not be changed. The "method=" should not be changed.

You may change the Key name (which comes in first line : @="Menuname").

The icon shown can be changed (@="path\to\file.ico"). You can optionally use an icon resource from DLL/EXE like I did.

The "Command=" value is what is shown in the startmenu as menu-item-name.

The "Param1" value is the actual command executed when the item is clicked.

Apply this regtweak thru whatever method you want, at whatever point you want. Just remember that you need to reboot to see the changes. Or if you are too lazy to reboot, just switch to classic start menu and then back to XP startmenu - this is quicker when you are experimenting.

*tired out* PHEW!

Is that enough info? Anymore clarifications?

And don't forget to post back whether it works for you or not - because that is what makes one happy......

[EliasXP]

Yes , that works , thanks a lot prathapml