Windows 7 Taskbar prevents boxee autostart to work fine

[alexreusch]

Hi,

I had the problem, that when I put boxee in the startup folder, it loads the application after starting windows, but then the new Windows 7 taskbar gets in the foreground and I cannot control boxee with my remote control. I need to use the mouse and select the boxee application (so the taskbar disapears and the remote control works normally).

I found a simple trick which starts boxee with a little VBS script. Simply put this script in the autostart folder (instead of the boxee shortcut) and the problem is solved. It waits 3 seconds before it starts boxee. This is enough to get rid of the stupid taksbar effect. Worked for me... just in case you have the same problem ;-)

[alexreusch]

Am I the only one with this issue? I don't know why this happens, but it looks like when windows 7 starts, the tasbar requires some time as well and can put itself in the foreground of other applications that have been started through the startup function.

I am using a flash drive to boot windows and boxee, so maybe boxee just starts to fast compared to the taskbar process... Some additional waiting seconds, and it's working fine.

[Baehoo]

I was running into this problem as well, on build 7077 of Windows 7. I performed an upgrade to 7100 (RC1) and the problem disappeared.

I don't know if it was actually the upgrade, or something I did unknowingly aside from that, since I wasn't really *trying* to fix it. Very happy it is working now though, as it was quite annoying.

[alexreusch]

I am on RC1 (7100) too. Problem not fixed for me, so I was using this script.

[maruf82]

Right click on the Taskbar and Uncheck "Lock the Taskbar". That fixed the problem for me. I am running Windows 7 Eval. build 7100.

[cogadh]

Thread necromancy.

If you note the date of the posts, this thread is about 6 months old and the issue as described was related to the alpha version of Boxee, not the beta. In the beta, the taskbar issue appears to be caused by having the Windows DPI setting to high. I believe if it is set anywhere above 120%, the problem occurs.

[jurjen74]

Well DPI is not the (only?) problem...
I have Win7 on ION330HT (x86, Home Premium) and I have the same problem with DPI at 100%. System is English with Dutch localization.

[vancity]

I am running the latest v0.9.23.15885 on Win7 x64 (Acer Revo 3600) connected to a TV, and have to enlarge the fonts to be legible.

With Boxee in the Startup folder, I would always have to click Boxee with my Mobile Mouse (on iPhone) to make the taskbar disappear, then I'd switch back to the Boxee iPhone app to navigate. It was a pain.

Thanks alexreusch, that simple script solved my taskbar issue. I forget how easy VB scripting is.

[bradford88]

A good way to have boxee boot directly is to create a new user account named "boxee" and in log into that account.

run regedit.
(backup your registry by clicking file>Export)

navigate to key| HK_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon

If there is already an entry named "Shell" then double click it. change "exporer.exe" to the location of Boxee. (C:\Program files\[your user account name]\boxee\Boxee.exe)

Click OK

user accounts usually associate to a parent registry and thus won't have any shell entry. so you will probably need to create one. this is how to do it.

Once navigated to the Winlogon key, click Edit>New>String Value.

name the new string "shell", and double click on it and type in the location of Boxee (C:\program files\[your account name]\boxee\boxee.exe.

now everytime you open this user account, you will boot right to boxee with no windows shell. which is nice for lower end machines as you have only 6 or so process running.

to undo this just navigate to the WINLOGON key in the registry and change the shell back to explorer.exe.

for an added bonus you can set accounts to log on without a password and set the boxee account as the default account so you can boot right into boxee with no windows.

if you ever need to use your computer, you have to ctrl+alt+delete to log out, and log into the windows account, which is a hassle but good if you have lots of laptops like i do

[MDicnMan]

A good way to have boxee boot directly is to create a new user account named "boxee" and in log into that account.

run regedit.
(backup your registry by clicking file>Export)

navigate to key| HK_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon

If there is already an entry named "Shell" then double click it. change "exporer.exe" to the location of Boxee. (C:\Program files\[your user account name]\boxee\Boxee.exe)

While this seems like a great idea, I do not see how you are doing it. Boxee needs the video drivers and directx to work and if explorer is not loading, they never run adn Boxee errors out on launch.

Did I miss something?