Active Desktop restore error, every time... and no transparent icons :

[ZileXa]

Ofcourse I test a lot, before creating my new cd completely, I test if it installs unattendedly... and if all apps are installed. Then I move to the next step, intergrate xpize, test again, integrate drivers. Just to be save.

Problem: now that the cd is finished, I am using 2 pc's installed with that uA CD a lot more. I discovered 2 major bugs I never had before!

- Lots of times after booting the pc, I see the white background with the text about I should restore Active Desktop. Djeez, last time I saw that was in the Windows 98 era!! I don't need active desktop, but I am pretty sure it is needed if you want .jpg wallpapersupport.

- My desktop icons aren't transparent, they all have darkblue background for the name of the icon. Very annoying because it is sometimes hard to see the difference between a selected icon and a non-selected icon (since both have darkblue background for the icon name (like Recycle Bin).

Even stranger: it is absolutely impossible to get them transparent! 2 things should be checked in systemsettings, they are... I tried 2 other solutions, regtweak, registering a dll file... nope....

I don't have a clue how this bug came and why it is so persistent. Any idea or solution, how exotic it may be, please let me know!

Edited September 18, 2006 by ZileXa

[Speeddymon]

I tried 2 other solutions, regtweak, registering a dll file... nope....

I'm not sure why it happens either, but I see it in my Virtual PC install under my administrator acct. What regtweak did you try?

I fixed it by adding a cmd file to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run that checks for what user is logged on, and if it is the first logon, imports the DWORD entry ListviewShadow @ HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advances with a value of 1. Next post will contain the script and where to import the run key..

[Speeddymon]

WINNT.SIF

; - Called during guirunonce
[GuiRunOnce]
	Command0="%systemdrive%\install\guirunonce.cmd"

$OEM$\$1\Install\guirunonce.cmd

rem echo to the window which file this is, hide the window, and turn off echo
@ECHO GUIRunOnce.cmd
@CMDOW @ /HID
@ECHO OFF

rem add usergro and allusersgro.cmd to hklm run
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /V Tom /D "%WINDIR%\UserGRO.cmd" /f
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /V AllUsers /D "%WINDIR%\AllUsersGRO.cmd" /f

EXIT

$OEM$\$$\UserGRO.cmd

rem echo to the window which file this is, hide the window, and turn off echo
@ECHO User GUIRunOnce.cmd
@CMDOW @ /HID
@ECHO OFF

rem do not run if this script has been run for this user in the past
rem we can tell this because the user's reg file will not exist
IF NOT EXIST %WINDIR%\%USERNAME%.reg EXIT

rem we add this to runonce so we can see when it is being imported
SET RUNONCE=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx

REG ADD %RUNONCE% /V TITLE /D "Importing Registry Keys" /f

REG ADD %RUNONCE%\0001 /VE /D "Importing Keys for %USERNAME%" /f
rem import keys specific to this user
REG ADD %RUNONCE%\0001 /V 1 /D "REGEDIT /S %WINDIR%\%USERNAME%.reg" /f

rem delete the run value for this user
REG DELETE HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /V %USERNAME% /f
rem remove the reg file for this user
DEL %WINDIR%\%USERNAME%.reg /f /q

EXIT

$OEM$\$$\Allusersgro.cmd

rem echo to the window which file this is, hide the window, and turn off echo
@ECHO All Users GUIRunOnce.cmd
@CMDOW @ /HID
@ECHO OFF

rem do not run if this script has been run for this user in the past
IF EXIST %WINDIR%\System32\%USERNAME%.txt EXIT

rem we add this to runonce so we can see when it is being imported
SET RUNONCE=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx

REG ADD %RUNONCE% /V TITLE /D "Importing Registry Keys" /f

REG ADD %RUNONCE%\0002 /VE /D "Importing All Users Keys for %USERNAME%" /f
rem import keys for all users; this is where the dropshadows get imported
REG ADD %RUNONCE%\0002 /V 1 /D "REGEDIT /S %WINDIR%\System32\AllUsers.reg" /f

rem call runonceex.  This will process both the allusers and user guirunonce cmd files
rundll32 iernonce.dll,RunOnceExProcess


ECHO > %WINDIR%\System32\%USERNAME%.txt
rem marker so that when this is run when this user logs on in the future, this script does not run
IF %USERNAME%==Administrator (shutdown -r) ELSE (shutdown -l)

EXIT

$OEM$\$$\System32\allusers.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;Enable dropshadows
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"ListviewShadow"=dword":00000001

To have this work in a deployment scenario at a large company, delete usergro.cmd and remove references to it in the above files.

NOTE: I have more than just the one entry in my allusers.reg, but that is the one relevant to your question. If that gets imported at each user's first logon, then upon next logon, or possibly even in the first logon, it will apply and you will not see the blue background.

[ZileXa]

(wether I restore Active Desktop or not, still do not get the transparency for icons).

Uhm, I found out last night, this regtweak disables Active Desktop completely:

After restarting Windows:

I don't get the Active Desktop restore annoyance + I get the transpancy for icons!

This means the Active Desktop bug and the transparency for icons are related... fix the annoyance of Active Desktop and the transparency will be fixed as well

Bad thing:

Active Desktop is necessary for JPG wallpapers so now I can only use BMP wallpapers :( So it is not the correct fix. If I only knew what is causing the failure of Active Desktop !!

Your solution seems to be for the transparency, but why don't you just add the regtweak to your existing regtweaks.reg that runs at T12? This way it will be applied for all (future) useraccounts.

It doesn't solve the cause of my error... not sure if it handles the cause of your error.

[Speeddymon]

Ok, so your error is not the same as mine.. I didnt think that the 2 were related..

You dont have to have active desktop _enabled_ in order to use jpg wallpapers, just need it installed. What you are seeing is the result of having it set to load a webpage/html file on the desktop that it cant load. Your best bet is to find out what regtweak is causing this and disable that regtweak.

I dont integrate regtweaks at t12 because it doesnt guarantee that it will be done for _all_ users, even though the guide says it will. It imports them for all newly created accounts, but apparently Administrator is created before anything else, so my administrator account does not get the proper settings applied, and yes sometimes (on very rare occasions) i will log in as administrator.