Tim Meddick wrote:
The original value in XP for this is the word "none" which makes Windows
display just the light-blue background to the welcome screen with no
writing.

Aha! This was what I wanted. Thank you.

I found (by trial and error) that having this entry, but not actually
pointing at an existing file, the "Windows is starting" screen didn't
appear, which gave me a longish period looking at a blank black display.

I deleted the entry, and the "Windows is starting" screen came back.

I've now put the entry back, as "none". I'll wait until my next forced
restart to see what happens as I've just fixed a problem (soundcard
driver) that was causing me to reboot every day, and I'm relishing a
reboot-free period. :-)

--
Steve Swift
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
http://www.ringers.org.uk