Shell Launcher (Industry 8.1)

December 16, 2014

You can use Shell Launcher to replace the default Windows 8.1 shell with a custom shell. You can use any application or executable as your custom shell, such as a command window or a custom dedicated application.

You cannot use Shell Launcher to launch a Windows Store app as a custom shell. However, you can use Windows 8 Application Launcher to launch a Windows Store app at startup. For more information, see Windows 8 Application Launcher.

You can also configure Shell Launcher to launch different shell applications for different users or user groups.

For more information about Shell Launcher on Industry 8.1, see Shell Launcher (Industry 8.1) on MSDN.

For more information about Shell Launcher on Standard 8, see Shell Launcher Overview (Standard 8) on MSDN.

Default shell

If Shell Launcher cannot find a configuration for the current logged on user, Shell Launcher uses the default shell configuration. You must have a default shell configuration defined for Shell Launcher.

You cannot delete the default shell or specify a different user or group for the default shell configuration. You can only configure which application to launch as the default shell and the action to take when the shell application exits.

Actions

On this window pane in Embedded Lockdown Manager (ELM), you can use the following commands:

• Export to PowerShell
  Creates a Windows PowerShell script that you can use to apply the current Shell Launcher configuration to any device running Industry 8.1 or Standard 8.

• Add a shell
  Opens a new Shell Launcher Properties dialog box in which you can create a new Shell Launcher configuration.

• Enable Shell Launcher/Disable Shell Launcher
  Enables or disables Shell Launcher. If Shell Launcher is not enabled, the device launches the standard Windows 8.1 or Windows 8 shell.

• Refresh
  Causes ELM to reload the current Shell Launcher configuration from the device.

• Properties
  Opens the Shell Launcher Properties dialog box in which you can modify the currently selected Shell Launcher configuration.

• Delete
  Removes the currently selected Shell Launcher configuration. You cannot remove the Default Shell configuration.

Shell Launcher properties dialog box

In this dialog box in ELM, you can use the following commands:

Launch Application

This section defines what application is launched for a specific user or group. You can configure the following options in this section:

• User or Group Name
  Defines the user or group for the specific configuration. Click the Browse Local Accounts button to select a user or group from local accounts present on the device. Click the Browse Domain Accounts to select a user or group from domain accounts if the device is joined to a domain.

• Shell Executable
  Defines the application to launch as the shell. Click the Browse button to browse the device for the application to launch.

Application Exit

This section defines what action Shell Launcher takes when the shell application exits. You can take the following actions upon exit:

• Restart shell
• Restart system
• Shut down
• Do nothing

You can configure the following options in this section:

• Unexpected Close Action
  Defines the action that Shell Launcher takes when the shell application exits unexpectedly, or exits with a return code that is not mapped to a valid Shell Launcher exit action.

• Return Code Actions
  Maps an exit code returned by the Shell application to a valid Shell Launcher exit action.

See Also

Concepts

Embedded Lockdown Manager