38 replies to this topic

[Galapo]

1) selecting "display properties-->none"

I'm not sure what that means.

2) "refresh screen" (==>so it cleans the screen of previous info)

Could this be done by a call like this:

rundll32.exe user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters

Regards,
Galapo.

[Lancelot]

I'm not sure what that means.

right click on desktop, click properties, on "Display Properties" select "Desktop" at the top, on "Background" list select "(None)"
===>
is there a way to do that with command or sth else?


ups: I guess there is :> registry, I will check and test the command line rundll line you gave :>.

[Galapo]

Try this from command prompt:

reg add "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /v Wallpaper /f

rundll32.exe user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters

Regards,
Galapo.

[Lancelot]

Could this be done by a call like this:

rundll32.exe user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters

I cleaned hcku\control panel\desktop - wallpaper value to switch setting to none.
than I use rundll32 line you wrote, an error screen came.

Error in user32.dll
Missing entry:updateperusersystemparameters

[Galapo]

than I use rundll32 line you wrote, an error screen came.

You must specify 'UpdatePerUserSystemParameters' and not updateperusersystemparameters!

[Lancelot]

now all homes32 needs is adding this to runbginfo

reg add "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /v Wallpaper /f

rundll32.exe user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters

[homes32]

now all homes32 needs is adding this to runbginfo

reg add "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /v Wallpaper /f

rundll32.exe user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters

the thing I don't like about this is that it wipes the wallpaper. and I can image people, myself inculded not being very happy that my wallpaper was scrapped just to display some basic info when the program is perfectly capable of displaying said info on top of my wallpaper. I appreciated the testing and suggestion though. don't get me wrong!


that being said I found the problem! but not the root cause (yet!) its been right in front of our faces the whole time!
its easiest to see by looking at this image http://img35.imagesh...92/bginfo1b.jpg or you can refresh your desktop and rerun bginfo and compare the screenshots.





see it now? the temp path gets changed from full expanded path (shown in a offline regedit of the software hive before boot) to old DOS 8.3 style path (what it shows in windows environment var)the 2nd and remaining times. the odd thing of it is if you don't have BgInfo startup automatically and manually start it after LiveXP boots it will use the 8.3 format right away. so it would seem that after the 1st time *something* accesses the expanded temp variable windows crunches it down to 8.3

[Lancelot]

the thing I don't like about this is that it wipes the wallpaper.

ups, yes you are right, i missed that since i dont use wallpaper

Here are 2 solutions:
1) LiveXP specific solution:
LiveXP uses

wallpaper

name,
so you can reg add HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper "wallpaper"
make refresh - rundll32.exe user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters
and execute bginfo again .

2) Universal solution:
Bginfo saves original wallpaper name with extension (before it modifies). Lets call it Homes32Wallpaper.bmp
you can read the original wallpaper file name from bginfo registry (HKCU\software\winternals "Wallpaper" "Homes32Wallpaper.bmp")
than remove the extension and regwrite it to desktop wallpaper value (reg add HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper "Homes32Wallpaper")
make refresh - rundll32.exe user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters
start bginfo
I hope it works this time ?

see it now? the temp path gets changed from full expanded path (shown in a offline regedit of the software hive before boot) to old DOS 8.3 style path (what it shows in windows environment var)the 2nd and remaining times. the odd thing of it is if you don't have BgInfo startup automatically and manually start it after LiveXP boots it will use the 8.3 format right away. so it would seem that after the 1st time *something* accesses the expanded temp variable windows crunches it down to 8.3

This is not odd, a gift (FIX) from billy the door, same behaviour on all windows I know, Windows from Billy automatically FIXES %Temp% variable to 8.3.
On your windows (host os), try this:

Echo %temp%

you should get something like that:

C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp

So this line works properly without need of quotes

copy %systemroot%\explorer.exe %temp%

As a result, you can see lots of batches (.cmd, .bat) around internet that use %temp% without quotes

On LiveXP, this fix made after boot (Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run) (Thanks to Galapo again and again), so we can use default temp directory easly with the existant batches.

And bginfo slightly mistaken at this point , it gets the value before value is fixed to 8,3

I dont think this is an issue at all, bginfo shows right info either with or without 8,3 fix, Besides, this does not have anything about bginfo refresh screen issue, bginfo would still cause garbage on screen if somebody changes values (ex: ip, free space). I hope 2) solution works well on runbginfo

[homes32]

2) Universal solution:
Bginfo saves original wallpaper name with extension (before it modifies). Lets call it Homes32Wallpaper.bmp
you can read the original wallpaper file name from bginfo registry (HKCU\software\winternals "Wallpaper" "Homes32Wallpaper.bmp")
than remove the extension and regwrite it to desktop wallpaper value (reg add HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper "Homes32Wallpaper")
make refresh - rundll32.exe user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters
start bginfo
I hope it works this time ?

this is one of the options I am considering and is easy to implement as I already have the functions in place from the "edit" mode.

[SavageSS]

Thanks,
I found on at least VistPE the the refresh option is a must to get the IP or any network info. This seems to load after BGInfo.

Only issue with the refresh is when it does the refresh it collapses the start menu.

Cheers

[homes32]

Thanks,
I found on at least VistPE the the refresh option is a must to get the IP or any network info. This seems to load after BGInfo.

Only issue with the refresh is when it does the refresh it collapses the start menu.

Cheers

I'm glad you find it useful.
sorry. not anything I can do about the start menu refreshing. that happens due to the system call BGInfo uses to reload the desktop.

[homes32]

v4 uploaded. see 1st post for details.

Many thanks to lancelot for his time spent troubleshooting in LiveXP

[homes32]

well its been a long time coming but new version is out! see the 1st post as there are lots of good changes and fixes!

Regards,

Homes32

[homes32]

small update. v7b updates RunBGInfo to correct some cosmetic issues with the "Waiting 00:ss.." tooltip when using Aero themes.