A brief guide on hiding Windows on a Mame Cabinet:
Replacing the Boot Screen
Download Bootskin and install the MAME4 Bootskin
Launch Mame Frontend without going into Windows
Open regedit and find:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Create a string called Shell
Set the string entry to the name and directory location of your front end, for example
C:\arcade\mamewah.exe
(Use YOUR OWN path to the your exe!)
Getting rid of Windows popups
Open regedit and find:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Policies>System
If there is an entry for "DisableStatusMessages" set it to 1 (the digit one). If there is no entry, right-mouse click the "System" word, and select New->DWORD value, and enter "DisableStatusMessages", right-mouse to edit the value of it, and enter 1 (the digit one).
Welcome/Startup/Shutdown/Background Color
To hide the Welcome you'll need to change from the default Windows XP welcome screen to the other style by going to Control Panels >User Accounts >Change the way users logon or off. Deselect the “Use Welcome Screen” checkbox.
To change the login background color from blue to black, use regedit again and navigate to:
HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors\Background
The 3-digit RGB color for black is 0 0 0.
Removing Pop-Up Bubbles
Open regedit and find:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Right-click the right pane, create a new DWORD value, and then name it EnableBalloonTips. Double-click this new entry, and then give it a hexadecimal value of 0.
Hide Desktop Icons
Download TweakUI. Remove all the ticks from the Desktop Icons option.
Hiding the Mouse pointers
Create an invisible pointer scheme in windows using the invisible.cur file. Save the scheme as “Mame”. Apply the scheme. Open TweakUI. Go to the LOGON option, and there is the option to copy your wall paper etc. across to the Logon Screen. Check that, and hit apply.
Replacing the Boot Screen
Download Bootskin and install the MAME4 Bootskin
Launch Mame Frontend without going into Windows
Open regedit and find:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Create a string called Shell
Set the string entry to the name and directory location of your front end, for example
C:\arcade\mamewah.exe
(Use YOUR OWN path to the your exe!)
Getting rid of Windows popups
Open regedit and find:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Policies>System
If there is an entry for "DisableStatusMessages" set it to 1 (the digit one). If there is no entry, right-mouse click the "System" word, and select New->DWORD value, and enter "DisableStatusMessages", right-mouse to edit the value of it, and enter 1 (the digit one).
Welcome/Startup/Shutdown/Background Color
To hide the Welcome you'll need to change from the default Windows XP welcome screen to the other style by going to Control Panels >User Accounts >Change the way users logon or off. Deselect the “Use Welcome Screen” checkbox.
To change the login background color from blue to black, use regedit again and navigate to:
HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors\Background
The 3-digit RGB color for black is 0 0 0.
Removing Pop-Up Bubbles
Open regedit and find:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Right-click the right pane, create a new DWORD value, and then name it EnableBalloonTips. Double-click this new entry, and then give it a hexadecimal value of 0.
Hide Desktop Icons
Download TweakUI. Remove all the ticks from the Desktop Icons option.
Hiding the Mouse pointers
Create an invisible pointer scheme in windows using the invisible.cur file. Save the scheme as “Mame”. Apply the scheme. Open TweakUI. Go to the LOGON option, and there is the option to copy your wall paper etc. across to the Logon Screen. Check that, and hit apply.