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How To Repalce Explorer With Aston Shell?


Orus

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Hi everybody!

I'm currently creating my prsonal Xpcd lite and I'd like to customize it to the extent it won't install the windows' default shell (a.k.a. explorer) at all. I'd rather replace it with Aston shell...

Is there any way of doing that?

TNX :D

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IT cann be done,

but there are quite a few things to keep in mind when you do,

some parts of windows depend on it...

the custom shell can be done at (For examble unatended.txt or even as late as,

[guirunonce] in your winnt.sif file)... that wont be a problem at al...

What i do not know, is wich step to take to remove explorer.exe and any other filep(s) that me become unusefull after removing explorer.exe....

---

il stay around too, cause i'd like to know myself too... ;)

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nLite should be able to remove most of it

Really? I must have missed it...

BTW, the second issue I'd like to have support with is: what about Aston shell silent install? couldn't find it among the lists posted. I'd install it via [GuiRunOnce]..hopefully it's an installshield pack. I'll check this out as soon as i get home. :yes:

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Have you tried making a .msi using WinInstall 2003?

http://www.ondemandsoftware.com/freele.asp

I tried it myself and it did work.

Well, there are to small things I haven't figured out (yet):

1. How to make Aston the default shell (unattended)

2. Some icons are messed up (missing), which afterwards can be easily fixed

Also I am having troubles opening control panel.

I get a errormessage about batmeter.dll being needed.

So I guess that means that Aston needs the Battery-drivers, which I removed with nLite.

post-9546-1109534843_thumb.jpg

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  • 1 year later...
Have you tried making a .msi using WinInstall 2003?

http://www.ondemandsoftware.com/freele.asp

Aston is "Setup.exe" which is 62Kb and "Setup.r" (the RAR archive

of files) and I cant make any sense of WinInstall 2003. Don't you

have to begin with an MSI installer to start with?! Aston Shell is not

an MSI installer, its a tiny setup.exe which attaches to a main archive.

Its a setup with the full screen blue background etc, no silent switches

exist for it.

I can just get the files from the archive and dump them in but then,

NONE of the reg settings would be in place then! a big no no!

BUT - isn't there a way to take a totally clean system, or just a

snapshot of the registry, then start an app to monitor what one

single program changes (Aston Shell) and spits out the changes

made by that program? Am I dreaming here or did I see such a

program, somewhere....

Edited by LeveL
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many tasks need Explorer.exe, even systray icons I think.

I think you are doing things in the wrong order, first, check if everything works fine (including Aston) if Windows doesn't startup explorer.exe at startup, you can do this by Start>Run type msconfig and disable explorer.exe.

restart pc.

Only if everything runs fine you can start thinking about removing explorer.exe,

but why remove it actually? why not just disable? seems a lot better for stability issues.

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This is what I did:

1.Open setup.r with WinRAR.

Make a sfx from the setup.r and add your favourite wallpapers....

2.Rename setup.exe -> Aston.exe

Aston.exe-> Use this comment (or change it to suite your configuration):

;The comment below contains SFX script commands

Path=C:\Aston

SavePath

Setup=C:\Aston\Aston.cmd

Silent=2

Overwrite=1

Title=ASTON 1.91 silent installation...

3.Add Aston settings (in my case from Documents and Settings folder):

Astonconfig.exe-> Use this comment (or change it to suite you):

;The comment below contains SFX script commands

Path=C:\Documents and Settings\"USERNAME"\Application Data\Aston

SavePath

Silent=2

Overwrite=1

4. Apply Aston registry settings which you recorded with RegShot....

Aston.cmd ->

regedit /s C:\Aston\Aston.reg
5.Add this tou your main_batch.cmd:

(This installs Aston, BUT doesn't make it the default Shell!!)

ECHO.

ECHO Applying ASTONSHELL 1.91 + Configuration

start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Stuff\Aston.exe

start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Stuff\Astonconfig.exe

6.Before your computer is restarted, after unattended installation, make WINDOWS merge shell.reg to your registry. (To make Aston the default Shell):

shell.reg ->

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;Aston as default Shell

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]"Shell"="C:\\Aston\\aston.exe ,svchost.exe"

7. Make SURE that the paths correspond to YOUR configuration!!!!!!!!!!

I hope this helps..... :yes:

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