Creating SUBSTed drives before any programs are loaded.

[MrZebra]

For the last few years (This goes as far back as Win95 on my 386 I had back then) I've taken the habit of installing all my programs on SUBSTed drives so that whenever I upgrade, change, repartition hard drives and the letters change, all I need to do is change AUTOEXEC.BAT and then, if D: became E:, programs all run the same since they are installed on U: (Which is E:\Misc - where all my programs are installed)

In WinXP, AUTOEXEC.BAT doesn't get run anymore. So I put all my SUBST commands in a batch file and then put a shortcut to it in Start -> Programs -> Startup. Problem is, as the computer is booting up, programs that are installed on the U: drive (For now, Pegasus Mail, ICQ, Webshots and Seti@Home but I installed WinXP yesterday so more will follow) sometimes (And this is erratic, each boot is different) one or more of these is trying to start before the U: drive is created which results in the program not starting.

I tried moving that BAT file into the registry Run command assuming that this gets run before the Startup folder but it made no difference. Then searching on WinXP sites I found that using GPEdit.msc I could set up a startup script to load that batch file. And it works, it looks cleaner too as I don't see a DOS window popping up. But that still doesn't fix the problem that some programs somehow attempt to start before the U: is created.

I also tried changing the Startup (And Registry Run commands) to point to the real path (Ex: E:\Misc\PMAIL\wpmail32.exe instead of U:\PMAIL\wpmail32.exe) but some programs don't like that (Pegasus Mail says the user doesn't exist or something)

Is there a way to have this batch file run before the user logs in (If a DOS window flashes as soon as the login prompt appears is fine by me)? I know in 95/98, some programs (Mainly Web App Servers and Anti-Virus programs) were starting up before the Username Password Dialog. Can I do that in XP?

[Grendel]

Try adding the bat file to this key as you did to Run.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

I noticed logonui.exe runs in here, and that is the logon screen.

I could only guess if it would work for you. But I am thinking that explorer.exe is going to need to run first, and once explorer.exe is running I would assume any other app could then run???

GOOD LUCK

[MrZebra]

Ok, but how would I have it run my batch file?

Change that value to C:\substdrv.bat and at the end of substdrv.bat load logonui.exe?

In case that fails, that would make my windows unbootable, what file do I need to backup (And restore booted in Safe Mode/Command Prompt Only if needed) I know in Win9x, the registry is in SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT but did that change in XP?

I read on my many searches on the matter that a program called ResHack could be used to modify logonui.exe but it mainly mentionned changing bitmaps and colors. Can this utility be used to make it run some commands too?

My other leads as to a solution (Have yet to try) would be to find a way to run this as a service or put all my startup programs in that batch file.

Ex: instead of putting a shortcut for Pegasus Mail in the Startup folder, I would but this batch file that would run all the SUBST commands and then start Pegasus Mail (And then, all other programs that are running off the U: drive at startup) But I would like to avoid doing that if possible.