Ableton Forum

As I wait for beta 5, i'll post a tweak I use live...

More of a Window$ tweak than a Live tweak, but anyway...

When I use Live in a live environment, I run it as a 'Custom user interface' or 'shell' in Windows XP Professional. Basically what this is if you aren't familiar with it, is replacing Explorer with Live as a shell. This means there is no desktop environment, no taskbar, no start menu, no applets running, etc.

There are many advantages to this when using Live - improved stability, free memory, improved performance, etc. The disadvantage is you lose a practical way to multi-task. (But who needs multi-tasking when you only need to run Live live?)

To accomplish this in Windows XP Pro, type 'gpedit.msc' in the run command. This brings up the 'Group Policy Editor'. Under 'User Configuration' / 'Administrative Templates' / 'System', there is a setting called 'Custom user interface'. By default this setting is 'Not Configured' (meaning Explorer).

If you select 'Enabled' and type in the path to Live (or any application), Windows will boot into Live upon startup without anything else running.

Screenshot HERE

You must include parenthesis if the path to Live contains spaces - ex. "C:\Program Files\Ableton\Live 4.0b4\Program\Live 4.0b4.exe".

Restart computer!

If you do the above & wish to change the setting back, just hit CTRL+ALT+DEL to bring up the Task Manager, hit New Task (Run), type 'gpedit.msc' and change the setting back to 'Not Configured'. Restart and you're back to Explorer. If you use a sound device that requires an applet to be running all the time, then I don't really know what your success will be. I used to use an Emagic EMI USB card that installed itself as a system service and always ran at boot-up. I never had any problems running Live as a shell. If you decide to give it a shot, it won't mess up your system in any way. If for instance you enable this setting & the path or program is not found upon boot-up, Windows$ will load the default Explorer shell.

Unfortunately for Window$ XP Home users there is no Group Policy Editor. If you use Window$ 98, there is a different way to do this & I'll post how to as well as show you some other groovy crap like creating a boot-menu if anyone requests it. But for now, I'll assume noone is still running 98.

neat. wonder if this means i might want to use pro instead of home.

are there any other advantages to using pro from a music/live perspective?

My DAW was preconfigured in this manner already when I picked it up .

kool ass tip, do you know if there is anyway to do this with win2000... also wondering how much improved performance you see in live using this win scheme..



mike

drush, I think the same can be accomplished in XP Home by editing the folling registry key:

KEY: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
STRING: Shell = filename.exe

Change 'filename.exe' to the path to Live ("C:\Program Files\Ableton\...) with quotes if the path contains spaces. I have not verified the above registry key because I don't have an XP Home machine to play with. Verify that is the correct key before making ANY change to it. If you are not completely comfortable using the registry editor DO NOT DO IT!

mikHATz wrote:kool ass tip, do you know if there is anyway to do this with win2000... also wondering how much improved performance you see in live using this win scheme..

The same as XP Pro for Window$ 2000. Type 'gpedit.msc' in the Run command..etc.

thanks dog...

Though I'd resurect this thread since I've just loaded Windows XP Pro on my Live laptop.

Is there a way to set this up as a menu to chose immediately after booting?

For example:
Press 1 for full Windows XP load
Press 2 for Ableton Live as custom shell

That would make it a little easer than having to boot, run 'gpedit.msc', reboot, use Live, ctrl-alt-delete, run 'gpedit.msc', reboot.

Thanks,
-- T. G. --

Thanks, fantastic !

has anyone already tested the registry tweak for XP Home
that dirtybomb has posted ?

Tommy Genes wrote:Is there a way to set this up as a menu to chose immediately after booting?

For example:
Press 1 for full Windows XP load
Press 2 for Ableton Live as custom shell

I'd do it as a multiple partition boot. One that was my stable-as-hell Live partition. And one that was my everyday partition with Explorer and all apps as usual. It would mean that you'd have to do at least two XP installs, but once done (and Ghosted?) you'd be set to stun!

Good luck with that!

Lo-Fi Massahkah wrote:I'd do it as a multiple partition boot...
Good luck with that!

Yeah, I was hoping to avoid the work of setting up a dual-boot (I was running ME and 98Lite on two partitions before XP Pro, so I know...)

Still, gpedit.msc is just a tool for editing registry entries, so I would expect that commands in an autoexec.bat (does XP still have that?) could do the same things. I'm just not sure what the commands are, and I don't really want to hose my registry trying to figure it out.

If I do figure something out, I'll let everyone know.

-- T. G. --

dirtybomb wrote: If you use Window$ 98, there is a different way to do this & I'll post how to as well as show you some other groovy crap like creating a boot-menu if anyone requests it. But for now, I'll assume noone is still running 98.

Well I use Win98 so I'd be interested to hear it ...

I doubt this is possible but curious anyways. Is it at all possible to have a custom user interface enabled for live on one profile and then on the other have the custom user interface disabled?....rather than having to create two separate partitions?

Tommy Genes wrote:Yeah, I was hoping to avoid the work of setting up a dual-boot (I was running ME and 98Lite on two partitions before XP Pro, so I know...)

XP handles partitions on it's own, though. A bit simpler than Win98, I think!

Cheers!

Lo-Fi Massahkah wrote:XP handles partitions on it's own, though. A bit simpler than Win98, I think!Cheers!

You know, it does now doesn't it. I kinda knew that, but I didn't really know that, if you know what I mean.

I'll investigate...

-- T. G. --