Removing programme shell Win XP
 

I Inherited an exhaust gas analyser from a local garage who sadly is closing down after about 80 years, and I have been trying to remove the shell created by the analyser software to give me back some form of control with Windows XP, bit like the issue you get with T4 taking your PC over. I was able to get into Bios menu and amended the date due to the software warning calibration out of date and limiting functionality, but ideally I would like to get into Windows Regedit and hopefully remove the software exe which creates the shell. Is Anyone able to advise if there is another way of getting in to allow the edit?

Try here.
https://realtimeissues.wordpress.com...shell-program/

Thanks for the response but my question is getting the PC into a mode that lets me get DOS to display and then request Reg edit, but this Shell fitted won’t allow me to even get that far.

Close any open programs and restart your computer. ...
Press the "F8" button on your keyboard repeatedly when the first boot menu appears.
Press the down arrow key on your keyboard to select the "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" option.
Press the "Enter" key to boot into DOS mode.

You'll need to boot from a different source. for XP you might still have floppy disk drive on it, or the bios may be able to boot from USB. (you'll need an XP bootdisk or bootdisk image, you could even use a linux bootdisk) Doing that will enable you to edit the startup files to set the shell.

I was able to get in via the safe mode command prompt and change the shell to explorer.exe, however upon restart the pc (it’s not a normal pc has only a hard drive) all I get is black screen on my monitor, so it seems more complex than just changing the exe file over.

So my next step I am going to try and read the registry via a usb lead from another pc and see if I can change it back to the original shell exe file. Unless anyone has any other ideas to get back into the registry?

Are you still able to enter the regedit screen ? Take a look at this page it might give some info re changing the shell.
https://www.winhelponline.com/xp/usershellfolders.htm

On powering up all I can get is a black screen currently. Perhaps if I try shutting down and F8 on start up it might get me to the safe mode again, will try later.

I took the hard drive out and with an interface was able to access it via another desktop pc which I was able to navigate through it content in the hope I could load the external drive registry, following some online guides I was instructed to navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and then load hive, but I’m not sure which file to search under from these options:
-SAM represents the Sam hive.
-SECURITY represents the Security hive.
-SOFTWARE represents the Software hive.
-SYSTEM represents the System hive
I get to the point where I select Load hive and a dialogue box opens asking for Key name” whatever that is?, do I just type the full destination in this box?
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell=????.exe.

Personally I would try to undo the changes that you have made to the reg, then run MSconfig, Sysedit to see what is loading at startup. From there you might be able to halt the analyser programme from loading. I prefer to keep away from the registry unless I am 100% certain and also have a way to back it up.

Boy have I spent too much time on this one. Why did I try to change in the 1st place :duh: Anyway not much to report still have the same story, no VGA, no white dash, nothing. Have tried resetting bios, disconnected battery, and shorting out a two pin terminal. Still a black screen with no signal. No beeps, no Post, power on self test. Have ended up disconnecting as much as I could, and have the motherboard currently hooked up inside to an old desktop power supply just to establish if I can get something on screen, but nothing so far, have left it on for a few hours.

I cloned the hard drive at least that was successful, and can read it, however I have not been able to apply system restore or amend it.

https://i.ibb.co/Ms92G3C/A6-D57-BD3-...42-D2-D2-B.jpg