"Welcome to windows" 1

[the1bigboy]

When the Welcome screen pops up how can i make it play a MP3 along side it, and then when a use logs on it will stop.
I have the gamecube Settings Music here and I want that to play with the welcome screen
THX

 

[gpalmer711]

The only way I can think of doing this is to install a particular media player as a service and in the command line for the service include the mo3 that you cant to play.
For example c:\progra~1\mediap~1\player.exe "c:\music.mp3"

Then have something in the Run part of the registry that stops the service.

If you need more help on installing services etc then let me know.


Greg Palmer

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Any feed back is appreciated.

 

[the1bigboy]

please let me know

 

[gpalmer711]

I have just had a play around with this and cannot get it to work just yet. As soon as I have a solution I will let you know.

Greg Palmer

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Any feed back is appreciated.

 

[the1bigboy]

thx

 

[bcastner]

<Sigh>
Greg and all:

Four settings in Group Policy under XP Pro:

Startup Script * use this
Logon Script * use this too
Shutdown Script
Logoff Script

If your file associations are fine, in Startup just make an entry to an MP3 with a &quot;Start&quot; command:

start c:\Documents and Settings\GregPalmer\my music\gregs_theme.mp3

Set your associated player to 'Repeat'

Now to kill the thing on logon.

This is easier in other Windows version, but I would use PsKill from the terrific

http://www.sysinternals.com

PsTools tookit to kill the process playing the MP3.

I can think of other ways to do this, but I am deathly afraid someone will write a complete solution with &quot;Waltzing Matilda&quot; as an example.

Bill

 

[the1bigboy]

Four settings in Group Policy under XP Pro:

Startup Script * use this
Logon Script * use this too
Shutdown Script
Logoff Script



? how do u mean ?

 

[bcastner]

For XP Pro, not Home:

Start, Run, gpedit.msc

You will find under the &quot;Administrative Templates&quot; section of both sides of Group Policy (User and Computer) that there are four options.

You need to use &quot;Startup&quot; script to begin the music

You need to use &quot;Logon&quot; script to stop the music on a logon.

 

[gpalmer711]

Bill,
I thought I would try this out so a could play the BeeGees on startup. However I cannot seem to get this to work. In the startup script i have a script called startup.bat that contains:

start c:\mp3\dc6.mp3

I have tried the above command in a dos window and it starts media player no problem. However when I get to the welcome screen no music is played in the background.

Please Please Please help me with this BeeGee Problem, i'm not sure what I will do if I can't get it working!!

Greg Palmer

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Any feed back is appreciated.

 

[bcastner]

sigh,

It is &quot;Staying Alive&quot; is it not?

sigh.

Start, Run, control userpasswords2

Change on the Advanced or second page the way in which users sign on.

sigh,

Bill

 

[soaplover]

Hey bill how about
start mplayer2 c:\mp3\dc6.mp3

 

[gpalmer711]

Bill,
I have tried Welcome Screen/Normal Login/Ctrl-Alt-Del required/Ctrl-Alt-Del not required but cannot get it working.

Soap,
Thanks but this did not help.



Heeelllllpppppp

Greg Palmer

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Any feed back is appreciated.

 

[bcastner]

soap,

It is possible, but I think the deal is that the &quot;Welcome&quot; screen is a, (surprise) 16-bit applicaton. And it is the change in mode that is killing it.

I am on shakey grounds here, but the logon screens essentially run (even though as .scr) files in and odd protected security box.

Not that you cannot work around them, it is just a lot tougher under XP than it used to be.

So, to answer your question, I do not think direct pathing the player for the &quot;Greg_Welcome&quot; MP3 will help, I think the standard 'Welcome' screen will kill any prior process, and likely using the alternate logon screen as well.

The only though would be to use one of several freeware resource editors and introduce the MP3 in this fashion.

You can detect a lack of enthusiasm on my part, however, for this project. I know I am going to get sent by Greg Palmer a &quot;Waltzing Matilda&quot; Welcome screen.

Bill

 

[gpalmer711]

On a serious note apart from mapping drives etc.. What use are the logon scripts if you cannot run executables?

ahh and I was soo hopeing to send Bill an application incorperating Waltzing Matilda and Staying Alive.

Boo Hoo

Greg Palmer

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Any feed back is appreciated.

 

[bcastner]

Greg,
No, the logon scripts are a seperate deal, they run completely under the local security context.

Startup scripts, that was the key. Those run prior to logon and prior to any Welcome or other logon. They literally run as part of the machine startup and are not use specific.

See my original post, there are four options looking at both User Configuration and Computer Configuration in Group Policy (as well as the registry).

Startup
Shudtown
...
Logon
Logoff

This again is for Pro not Home.

From the Startup you can run any executable accessible (and priviliged under NTFS) as set in the lowest security principle under Computer Configuration. There is a default SID for this.

You then proceed from Startup to Logon, and at this point you are under a slightly higher default Security principle, but now controlling is the results of both User and Computer Configuration policies.

When you logon in a Domain, things change, depending on the Policy of the Domain.

What is difficult, and I explained poorly, is that post-startup the logon screen needs to be run, whether Welcome or what is called, I believe, the &quot;Security&quot; Principle Screen. That application is what I think could kill a background task.

So yes you can run executables from the Startup script, although you cannot run any that depend on either path or source to shares until the logon process and authentication is completed. Everything in the logon script can use remote resources with fully qualified sharenames, but, and this is gettting into serious stuff now, it runs under the security principle of you as user under the local machine and not your user credentials as authenticated user.

This to be honest is to your advantage. It allows you to map resources that would be problematic otherwise. And the issue deserves a better discussion than this thread.

My concern about the &quot;Waltzing Matilda&quot; or &quot;Staying Alive&quot; issue is that for security reasons that logon screens have typically used the equivalent of 16-bit WOW services. It became too easy to hack the .scr files and gain Administrative privileges if you knew how by replacing the .scr with your own .exe.

And that is all I feel comfortable saying about &quot;Waltzin Matilda&quot;.

Bill