Cleanly ending explorer.exe without getting a reboot dialog ?
 

Hello all,

I have a need to terminate the "desktop" (explorer.exe) cleanly, allowing it
to write its settings to the registry (to than overwrite some of those
:-) ).

The problem is that when I "taskkill /im explorer.exe" I get a "Turn of
computer" dialog, which I cannot use.

I can ofcourse get rid of that "turn of" dialog by adding the "/f" argument
to the above taskkill command, but than the programs current settings are
discarded (not written to the registry).

I've also been googeling for a way to ask the explorere.exe proces to
"flush" its settings, but didn't find any leads.

In short, I've got a catch-22 on my hands. Does anyone have an idea how
to break it ?

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Cleanly ending explorer.exe without getting a reboot dialog ?
 

On Fri, 12 Apr 2019 10:54:11 +0200, R.Wieser wrote:
Hello all,

I have a need to terminate the "desktop" (explorer.exe) cleanly, allowing it
to write its settings to the registry (to than overwrite some of those
:-) ).

The problem is that when I "taskkill /im explorer.exe" I get a "Turn of
computer" dialog, which I cannot use.

I can ofcourse get rid of that "turn of" dialog by adding the "/f" argument
to the above taskkill command, but than the programs current settings are
discarded (not written to the registry).

I've also been googeling for a way to ask the explorere.exe proces to
"flush" its settings, but didn't find any leads.

In short, I've got a catch-22 on my hands. Does anyone have an idea how
to break it ?

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Just found out that posting WM_QUIT to the Progman window cleanly shutdown
the desktop process without showing any dialog. The desktop process does the
normal registry writes like it does when pressing the shutdown dialog's
Cancel button while the CTRL+SHIFT+ALT keys are held down. i.e. ShellBags
and CleanShutdown registry values.

FYI, posting WM_CLOSE to the Progman window caused it to show the shutdown
dialog, while WM_SYSCOMMAND(SC_CLOSE) does nothing.

Cleanly ending explorer.exe without getting a reboot dialog ?
 

JJ,

Just found out that posting WM_QUIT to the Progman window cleanly
shutdown the desktop process without showing any dialog.

..... Shucks, I should have thought of trying that myself.

And you just tried that yourself to see if it would work for me, did you ?
Thanks. :-)

The desktop process does the normal registry writes like it does
when pressing the shutdown dialog's Cancel button while the
CTRL+SHIFT+ALT keys are held down.

That info is new to me, and I can't remember having ever encountered it.
Again, thanks. (I did try to cancel, but that didn't shut explorer down)

ShellBags and CleanShutdown registry values.

About that: I found that changing the "vid" value works on every folder
thats not currently visible, without needing tho reboot explorer.exe

The only thing I currently need that forced-kill reboot for is the default
settings for a not-yet opened folder (... \explorer\streams - settings)

By the way, I've decided to start with an automated dialog changes (1), and
do the rest by applying registry changes .
(1) you cannot change byte 0x20 in the toolbar settings to switch the
QuickLaunch bar on on a just-installed copy, because that byte simply is not
there yet.

And good gracious, some dis- or enablers of this/or/that can be put in at
/many/ places in the registry. Tried to keep mine in the HKCU branch. But
even than ...

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Cleanly ending explorer.exe without getting a reboot dialog ?
 

On Sat, 13 Apr 2019 14:29:26 +0200, R.Wieser wrote:

..... Shucks, I should have thought of trying that myself.

And you just tried that yourself to see if it would work for me, did you ?
Thanks. :-)

Can't help it. I HAD to know too, because it's one of my obsessions. :)

That info is new to me, and I can't remember having ever encountered it.
Again, thanks. (I did try to cancel, but that didn't shut explorer down)

You're using Windows XP, right?

Cleanly ending explorer.exe without getting a reboot dialog ?
 

JJ,

Can't help it. I HAD to know too, because it's one of my obsessions. :)

As they say, "it takes one to know one". I recognised it 'cause I tend to
do the same. If not to help the other out, than because of a "need" to know
it myself.

The downside of that is that I'm seldom without /something/ to do. :-)

You're using Windows XP, right?

Yep. XPsp3 pro.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Cleanly ending explorer.exe without getting a reboot dialog ?
 

JJ,

Just found out that posting WM_QUIT to the Progman window cleanly
shutdown the desktop process without showing any dialog.

Bummer ...

I've just found out that when doing so it /doesn't/ save the just-before
enabled QuickLaunch setting/data. It looks like I will have to do a full
reboot there.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser