As far as Windows is concerned, LiteSpawn is your shell. But once started, it spawns the shell of your choice (based on settings in the LiteSpawn.cfg file) and then transparently monitors that shell (either LiteStep or explorer) in the background. If the shell should crash, it will catch it and give you the option of restarting that shell, starting a different one, rebooting, logging off or shutting down the machine completely.

• Allows each user that logs in to specify a different shell.
• Allows a default shell to be specified for user's not listed in the .cfg file.
• Prevents having to reboot when your shell bites the dust.
• Allows you to quickly reboot, shutdown or logoff.
• Allows you to switch back and forth between shells on the fly!
• Works well under both 95/98 AND NT.
• Allows each user under LiteStep to specify a different theme.
• Let's you swap themes on the fly.
• Provides crash protection for shells other than LiteStep and Explorer.

c:\litespawn\LiteSpawn -install

• Opens your system.ini file (found the windows directory), finds the [boot] section and replaces the shell entry with the full path to LiteSpawn.

• Modifies the registry entry:
  "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\shell"
  to point to the LiteSpawn executable.
• Modifies the registry entry:
  "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\AutoRestartShell"
  with a value of 0.
• Deletes the registry entry:
  "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\shell"
  if it exists.

c:\litespawn\litespawn -uninstall

[LiteSpawn]
explorer_exe = c:\winnt\explorer.exe
litestep_exe = c:\litestep\litestep.exe

[default]
shell = litestep_exe

[katmai]
shell = litestep_exe

[mrgates]
shell = explorer_exe

[joeblow]
shell = litestep_exe

altshell_name_x = "Shell Name"
altshell_path_x = "path\to\shell\executable"

[Alternate_Shells]
		
altshell_name_1 = "Reveal"
altshell_path_1 = "c:\reveal\reveal.exe"

altshell_name_2 = "Dimension"
altshell_path_2 = "c:\dimension\d.exe"

altshell_name_3 = "EVWM"
altshell_path_3 = "c:\evwm\evwm.exe"

[sally]
shell = "Reveal"

[lameboy]
shell = explorer_exe

[tode]
shell = "Dimension"

If you would like to be prompted at start up as to which shell to spawn you can use the ask_boot directive in your LiteSpawn.cfg. For example: [john] shell = litestep_exe ask_boot = 1 Now when john logs in, a dialog box will pop up and prompt him as to which shell to start. If this flag is not present or is 0 then the default shell listed above will start automatically. Note that even if this flag is specified, a shell entry must still be provided.

[ralph]
shell = litestep_exe
self_terminate = 1

[default]
shell = litestep_exe
ask_boot = 1
start_delay = 10

[default]
kill_delay = 5

[joe]
shift_delay = 3

theme_name_x = "Theme Name"
theme_path_x = "path\to\theme\step.rc\and\modules.ini"
theme_back_x = "path\to\theme\background\image"
theme_mode_x = "tile" | "stretch" | "center"
theme_disp_x = (x_res,y_res)

[Themes]
		
theme_name_1 = "Deception"
theme_path_1 = "c:\litestep\themes\decept"
theme_back_1 = "c:\litestep\themes\decept\background.bmp"
theme_mode_1 = "tile"
theme_disp_1 = (1024,768)

theme_name_2 = "NeXTStep"
theme_path_2 = "c:\litestep\themes\NeXTStep"
theme_back_2 = "c:\litestep\themes\NeXTStep\wallpaper.bmp"
theme_mode_2 = "center"
theme_disp_2 = (1152,864)

[fred]
shell = litestep_exe
theme = "Deception"

[stan]
shell = litestep_exe
theme = "NeXTStep"

*Hotkey Win S "C:\LiteSpawn\LiteSpawn.exe" -swap

*Hotkey Win Q "C:\LiteSpawn\LiteSpawn.exe" -shutdown

• You cannot swap from LiteStep to Explorer while an explorer window is open.
• Currently need administrator level privileges to use LiteSpawn under NT.
• Under Win9x startup programs may not be suppressed properly when swapping from LiteStep to Explorer the first time after system startup. I recommend manually holding down the CTRL key just to be safe.
• May lose system tray icons after swapping shells. This is really more the shell than LiteSpawn. I highly recommend using Mike Lin's TraySaver as a workaround.
• There is a strange Open dialog recursion bug that occurs if you tab to the "Start Other" radio button in the startup dialog with the keyboard. I suggest using the mouse to select this option for now until I can fix it.
• On fantasically rare occasions, hitting CTRL or SHIFT manually while swapping shells can cause the keyboard state to get out of sync requiring you to toggle the key after the swap is done to restore things back to the proper state. (I've never actually seen it happen but technically it could)