Explorer does not behave correctly when it is not the Default Shell

Last reviewed: November 27, 1998
Article ID: (e)000001

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When using a shell other than explorer.exe, on a per user basis, (i.e. it is possible that each user has a different shell) explorer does not function correctly in that it attempts to load as the main shell.

CAUSE

Explorer.exe looks at the [boot] section of the system file: system.ini for the 'shell' entry to determine if it is the default shell. Under Windows NT this is not actually an entry in system.ini but rather an entry in the registry that is mapped by the following entry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE:

Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\system.ini\boot\shell

Which has the value SYS:Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.

Which in turn maps to Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key. This is a global key value and therefore a per-user shell setting (under HKEY_CURRENT_USER) will not work.

WORKAROUND

See (e)000002.

STATUS

This behavior (can you believe it?) is by design.

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