Boot Windows directly into Steam Big Picture EXCLUSIVELY

[Yoona_939]

Hi,

Having looked around on the web I came across various convoluted instructions to BOOT EXCLUSIVELY INTO STEAM BIG PICTURE INSTEAD OF STANDARD WINDOWS DESKTOP, which I've edited together and simplified below. Bear in mind this is really only suitable for someone who has a PC used exclusively for gaming with Steam, though it is fairly easily reversible.

It worked for me on Windows 7 and Windows 8, and it should work for Vista and maybe even XP. So far I've not noticed any issues - even with controller-enabled non-Steam games that I've created a shortcut to in Steam. It also has the benefit of freeing up memory and CPU cycles from the Windows interface, but it does mean if you need to do other Windows stuff you have to mess about a bit with Task Manager to start Windows Explorer again (or see the Helpful Suggestions below for a simpler method!)

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING IS INTENDED TO BE USED WITH CARE AND I ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT YOU DO TO YOUR PC!

Having said that, it's really quite straightforward, requires no additional software and only takes a few minutes to sort out, though you should be comfortable doing things like editing registry and changing advanced Windows settings.

========================
Part 1: Set Steam startup options
========================

This is the easy bit.

1. Open up Steam in normal windowed mode and select Settings from the top menu

2. Click the Interface tab

3. Select both checkboxes for 'Run Steam when my computer starts' and 'Start Steam in Big Picture Mode' - maybe one day Valve will get these to work properly together so you don't have to follow the rest of this nonsense!

4. Click OK and exit Steam

==============================================
Part 2. Making Registry Edits so that Steam runs as your shell
==============================================

This is the trickier bit and involves some commitment to Steam on your part, though is easily reversible - it will make Steam run instead of your normal Windows Desktop after Windows has booted and you've logged in.

1. Bring up the Windows 'Run' dialogue box, either from the Start Menu or by pressing your Windows key and R at the same time.

2. Type 'regedit' and click OK.

3. Navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]

4. Right click in the folder pane to the right and select 'New > String Value'

5. Name it 'Shell.'

5. Right click on 'Shell' and select 'Modify.'

6. Type in the path to Steam.exe and click OK. By default on a 64 bit system the full path will be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe” - personally I just have Steam installed at root - "C:\Steam" :)

==========================================================
Part 3 (optional): Setup your PC to automatically login to your Windows account
==========================================================

If you are not a complete security nut and only have one account on your PC, you can set it up to automatically login, so you don't have to select a user and/or type a password. Instructions for this varies according to your Windows version. See here for full information:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/f/auto-login-windows.htm

NOW REBOOT YOUR PC AND CROSS YOUR FINGERS YOU DID IT ALL OKAY!

Whilst waiting for your PC to boot up, grab your Xbox 360 Controller and turn it on ready to navigate that lovely Steam Big Picture Mode.

==============
Troubleshooting etc
==============

If you get only a black screen with a cursor instead, or your gamepad doesn't work, or whatever, press control+alt+delete and select 'Task Manager.' Go to File>New Task (Run) and type "explorer.exe" - this should bring back your regular desktop until you log in again. You can also use this method to access Windows if you want to do anything else.

Go back and check that you made all the registry edits exactly right. To remove the Steam bootingness, just delete the 'Shell' entry you added.

===============
Helpful Suggestions
===============

Sanguinjay made the following excellent suggestion to make it easier to start Explorer and access all the usual Windows stuff...

Sanguinjay eredeti hozzászólása:

when running steam in desktop mode add a non-steam shortcut that points to explorer.exe in C:\Windows and before you exit out of steam big picture remember to click that shortcut. for extra credit add a custom image to it so it looks better in big picture more.

================

HOPE THIS WORKS FOR YOU!


PS: My main source for the registry hacking instructions was this handy blog post:

http://oakengearbox.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/how-to-boot-your-pc-directly-to-steam.html

[The Boss]

This works perfectly, however none of my volume keys work. Is there a way to get them working without having to load up explorer?

[The Boss]

Anyone else have this problem?

[Q13E5 ︻デ═一]

USS Mercenary eredeti hozzászólása:

This works perfectly, however none of my volume keys work. Is there a way to get them working without having to load up explorer?

attempt to run explorer.exe to bring up your desktop, then find the software that fixes your shortcut keys for your keyboard and OS. (look for your brand) install that, then restart. that should fix it.

[The Boss]

They work just fine when explore is working. My keyboard isn't anything special it's an HP keyboard with media keys. I mainly use my mce remote to control the volume though. Thanks!

[bigaza2151]

the shell step no longer seems to work for me - [when it boots it runs windows first still]

sorry i just realised i was asking about this a few months back, reason being is ive just made a new steambox with better hardware. its not a huge inconvenience because im using an ssd and before windows has a chance to barely do anything big picture loads but id still rather have steam as the shell

[atomicBRblaster]

USS Mercenary eredeti hozzászólása:

This works perfectly, however none of my volume keys work. Is there a way to get them working without having to load up explorer?

Once you change the Shel, none of the Explorer resources will work unless there's a way to hack it.

I mean...Explorer is the default Windows shell and when it loads, there're lots of other applications that runs with it including the shortcuts and hotkeys.

[atomicBRblaster]

I have a question for all of you using Steam as Shell...I installed my F430 Wheel driver then I plugged it and the Big Picture found it as a XInput device, but apparently there's a bug that I was pressing some button (down) forever turning into a nightmare to use the interface properly...It also make the wheel and the pedals do not work in Project CARS...Buttons works fine.

It's important to say that the wheel works perfectly in another Windows (dual boot) with the same driver, Steam and game version.

Does anyone experienced some similar issue?

Thank you guys and sorry my bad english.

[Q13E5 ︻デ═一]

atomicBRblaster eredeti hozzászólása:

It's important to say that the wheel works perfectly in another Windows (dual boot) with the same driver, Steam and game version.

If what you are saying is true, you are either not running an importent controller service at boot, or you are installing the wrong driver for the controller. project cars uses it's own controller input detection and binding method, but at menu, it uses the input drivers installed on the OS you are using.

[atomicBRblaster]

Q13E5 ︻デ═一 eredeti hozzászólása:

atomicBRblaster eredeti hozzászólása:

It's important to say that the wheel works perfectly in another Windows (dual boot) with the same driver, Steam and game version.

If what you are saying is true, you are either not running an importent controller service at boot, or you are installing the wrong driver for the controller. project cars uses it's own controller input detection and binding method, but at menu, it uses the input drivers installed on the OS you are using. :fscared::bsod:

I already reinstalled the windows that I will run Steam and games only because I was too lazy to do a double check on the system services that I desabled to improve the OS performance.

Talking 'bout that...You or someone else have any clues about which services I can disable (safely) or set to "manual" start to improve the perfomance and be more like a Steam Machine than a Windows machine?

Thank you very much Q13E5...You're certainly right about it. Now I just arrived at home I will begin my work at this...hehehe...

[RUBEN -B-]

LukeLC eredeti hozzászólása:

iStepable eredeti hozzászólása:

This fix works and all but I wonder one thing. Is there a way to have explorer launch automatically after you close big picture mode?

Yes, there is, but it will require you to run Steam a bit differently than normal.

1) Open Notepad

2) Paste the following code:

START /WAIT "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe"
START explorer.exe

3) Change Steam path if necessary. If there are spaces in the path, be sure to use quotes!

4) Save the file as 'whateveryoulike.bat' - it's the .bat extension that matters. Make sure it isn't .bat.txt or something.

5) Open regedit.exe and navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]

6) Modify the 'Shell' string you created in the original tutorial to point to the .bat file you just created, not Steam.exe directly.

What this will do is use a command prompt window to launch Steam, and then it will wait in the background while Steam keeps running. But as soon as you exit Steam the batch file will continue and open up explorer.exe. Note that in order for this to work you will have to exit Steam *entirely*, not just exit Big Picture Mode. If you want Steam to keep running in the background after starting explorer.exe, you'll need to run it again. This could be handled with an alternative batch file, though, if preferred:

START /WAIT "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" steam://open/bigpicture
START explorer.exe
START "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe"

If using this code, be sure to go into your Steam settings and *disable* starting steam in Big Picture Mode. The batch file will force it into big picture on first launch, and then when Steam is totally exited it will launch explorer.exe and regular Steam without Big Picture Mode, so you're back to a normal Windows OS.

AUTO LOG OFF WINDOWS WHEN EXITING STEAM:

This is just awesome! Thanks a lot! I used this to make steam log out of windows when steam is closed or logged out off. It's now almost identical to SteamOS escpecially when using the -steamos bootflag. Both options, shut down steam, and log off, log you out of windows!

I'm on windows 10 and i had to edit the command line a bit by adding some quotes etc, but this should work for others too :
START /WAIT "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -steamos -bigpicture
START logoff.exe

Maybe i will make a extra topic about this one, to get the ultimate Windows steamOS experience.

Next step is to prevent explorer.exe to start when a non-steam game launches, who can help :) ?

UPDATE: it looks like the bootflag -steamos prevents games from opening explorer.exe, i checked after launching watch dogs uplay version, explorer was not running.

Can someone confirm this? or is it just this game ?

Anyways, this gets cooler every day

[User]

When I do that with the -steamos line, when I try to exit out of steam, Explorer does launch...but only the file manager. No start menu or anything.

[Q13E5 ︻デ═一]

iStepable eredeti hozzászólása:

When I do that with the -steamos line, when I try to exit out of steam, Explorer does launch...but only the file manager. No start menu or anything.

try restarting explorer.exe , (in task manager) if it helps.

[User]

Been doing that but it's only the file manager for some reason. I don't know if -steamos is blocking explorer or something but it's pretty weird.

[NissanThanNice]

did you hide icons and start task bar?

[User]

Nevermind, realized I was putting the bat in a different folder in the registry, my bad.