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i have designed an application which validates users against online database and then allow users to work, after authentication it shows desktop, it loads on startup.

i would like to start my login application at windows start up, i have added my login application path to registry it is started well with windows. but it has one issue first windows desktop appears few seconds and then my login application loaded

i would like to show my application before windows desktop

or

any other way to use windows login to validate user against online server database and then allow users to work.

Suriyan Suresh
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  • Do you want the application to launch before the windows login UI or do you want it to load after they have logged into the machine? – James Jul 02 '09 at 11:18
  • Seems to be an exact duplicate of the one linked to by Spear - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/929754/application-on-windows-startup – ChrisF Jul 02 '09 at 11:22

2 Answers2

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If you don't want the desktop to show at all you can run your application as the Windows Shell.

You use this registry key

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Micro­soft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"Shell"="C:\\WINDOWS\\explorer.exe­"

The other solution is to use XP Embedded Standard so you can totally customise the Windows experience. Takes a lot more work than the simple shell replacement though, but much more robust

Colin Goudie
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  • but i need taskbar and startmenu, if i replaced the above key. what happens – Suriyan Suresh Jul 02 '09 at 11:31
  • i have replaced shell. but my application not focused, i am testing in Virtual Machine, if i clicked shutdown menu then my application focused. how do i solve this – Suriyan Suresh Jul 02 '09 at 12:23
  • i have used following code Process p = new Process(); p.Start("explorer.exe"); Application.ExitThread(); explorer initialization failed message appears – Suriyan Suresh Jul 02 '09 at 12:31
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You could replace the shell as above, then have your application launch explorer.exe when you were ready to have the start menu and taskbar show up...

Nick DeMayo
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  • change your p.Start to p.Start(@"c:\Windows\explorer.exe") – Nick DeMayo Jul 02 '09 at 18:50
  • i have replaced windows shell but my application UI is hidden, when i click virtual machine shutdown command, my application is focused. – Suriyan Suresh Jul 04 '09 at 04:29
  • i couldn't access internet from my application is there any other way – Suriyan Suresh Jul 04 '09 at 04:33
  • Not sure why you wouldn't be able to access the internet...replacing the shell shouldn't have broken that – Nick DeMayo Jul 05 '09 at 20:39
  • i have replaced windows shell but my application UI is hidden, when i click virtual machine shutdown command, my application is focused. is there any solution for that.pls help me – Suriyan Suresh Jul 07 '09 at 07:10
  • i have changed my p.Start to p.Start(@"c:\Windows\explorer.exe"); Application.ExitThread() //to close my app and then start explorer i get the following error "application initialization failed" – Suriyan Suresh Jul 07 '09 at 07:13