# Windows 9x Shell



## mole (Aug 24, 1999)

This is really part tip/trick, part question, part comment to get some feedback.

There is a rather obscure trick you can do with Windows 9x. In the System.ini file, the line Shell=Explorer.exe tells the OS that Explorer will be the "front end" so to speak that access to the PC will be through in Windows. You can change this to another program if you want. For example, Shell=Winfile.exe makes Windows 9x resemble the old Win3x file manager (even down to the lack of LFN support, so watch those file names). Shell=Progman.exe sets up the Program manager in the same way. I have tried this substitution with Sol.exe, for a 32 bit operating system that does nothing except play solitaire. Freecell.exe and Nc.exe (old DOS version Norton Commander) also work as does a 32 bit menu type applications launcher we use here at work. I suppose that you could even substitute Command.com. Networking and audio are available also, its kinda weird seeing Norton Commander come up with the Windows intro music. With NC your memory resources take a hit, remember the bad old days of 640 K? (Andrew Schulman does some interesting things along these lines in the now somewhat dated but always useful "Unauthorized Windows 95", 1994 IDG Press.)

Why bother? Maybe I need to get a life, but the other day there was a post to the Windows 9x forum, http://www.helponthe.net/tsgbb/Forum1/HTML/004434.html , where the person needing help had possibly reinstalled an early version of Windows 95 (probably "A") over Windows with IE4 or IE5 previously installed. Explorer.exe would not start and the person was in a real jam. PLansdowne suggested a manual uninstall of IE which required booting to the command prompt and some renaming of files according to the MS KB instructions and (I think) extracting of files from a CD. For some folks used to a GUI, that can be a big barrier to get over. That got me to wondering if the Shell= in System.ini were set to Shell=Control.exe, all of the Add/Remove programs stuff would be right there along with all of the other Control Panel applets. (Of course the System.ini would have to be edited from the command prompt to get there, can't have everything I guess).

Question: Would it work? If for whatever reason the Explorer shell refused to load, would this trick provide a GUI alternative to the Command prompt from which to make repairs? Has anybody been bored enough to try similar tricks?

What can I say, its the holidays and work is slow. Idle minds....

mole


----------



## ich (Aug 11, 1999)

I just started playing around with an alternative called LiteStep that's pretty different. I don't know if I like it yet, but I'm trying it out.

------------------
Finagle's Third Law:
In any collection of data, the figure most obviously correct, beyond all need of checking, is the mistake.

Schmidt's Observation:
All things being equal, a fat person uses more soap than a thin person.


----------



## LarryCore (Aug 26, 1999)

Well, it might work. If the problem was really in loading the Explorer interface it would. But, being Windows, that error really could mean something else.

I guess the only way to find out would be to get a machine with that error and try it out. Next time I have one in the shop I'll try to remember giving that a shot. I work faster at renaming files from the command prompt, but I am curios to see if this alternate method would work. As you said, for people not familiar with the command line it could come in very handy.


----------



## mole (Aug 24, 1999)

ich,

I downloaded one of the litestep files, but havn't had the time to plug it in. Which are you or would you suggest trying out? Thanks for the link, it is interesting. I like the idea of tweaking Windows this way. 

LarryCore,

My thoughts exactly, I didn't really want to test the exact situation, re-installing an earlier version of Windows over this one and risk tossing a grenade into a working machine. 

I can imagine some kind of emergency recovery/repair utility that plugs in a stripped down shell in place of Explorer when things get really out of shape. It would probably not have broad application though. Please advise if you do get the opportunity to test it.

Thanks for the replies,

mole


----------



## ich (Aug 11, 1999)

I only got to play with it for about a day before the intermittant problems I've been having made me put things back to MS original. I was running the latest "full" release, not one of the daily releases. I apparently picked up a virus or something as my power management claims that the driver was created in the year 2026. I'm hoping it was just a corruption. I've copied everything over to another partition and set up dual boot so I can cruise the web when I get sick of setting up the system. Once I get everything reinstalled and eliminate the possibility of a virus, I'll start playing with it again. Some of the screen shots of different themes look pretty cool.


----------

