Earthworm NT Autostart

(last revised 9 October, 1999)

Following are steps needed to have earthworm (EW) start up automatically when a PC running Windows NT Workstation 4.0 boots up.

Overview of the steps:

  1. Create new user 'earthworm'
  2. Setup the PC so that it automatically logs in as 'earthworm' upon reboot
  3. Setup EW so that it starts up every time user 'earthworm' logs in

Note: Selecting menu choices is denoted as follows:

Start->Programs->...

This would mean that the Start menu is to be selected first, then Programs, etc.

Details:

(1) Create new user earthworm
  (a) Click on Start->Programs->Administrative Tools->User Manager
     - User manager window should come up

  (b) Click on User->New User
     - New user window should come up.

      Fill in the fields:
        Username:    earthworm
        Password:    earthworm

      Make sure that the box labeled "User Must Change Password.." is
      NOT checked.

  (c) Setup groups - click on the "Groups" Icon
     - Groups window should come up

     Select all groups in the right hand screen, then click Add, then click OK.
     Back in the New User window, Click OK.
     Back in the User Manager, Click USER->EXIT.



(2) Automatic login

  (a) Start the registry editor:
	Click on Start->Run, type  "regedt32" in the box, then click OK.

  (b) Registry editor window should open. Click the Window titled
	 "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE"

  (c) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE window should come to the foreground. Double click on
	the following:
             Software->Microsoft->WindowsNT->CurrentVersion->WinLogon

  (d) Now we need to create and/or set some values in the registry in the right
      hand section of the window.
	1.  AutoAdminLogon
	    If the AutoAdminLogon exits:
     		- Double click on the AutoAdminLogon field. Enter 1 in the
                  pop up window.
            If the AutoAdminLogon does not exit:
		- From the EDIT pull down menu, choose AddValue.
                  In the pop up window, enter "AutoAdminLogon" in the ValueName
                  box.  Choose 'REG_SZ' for the data type.  Click OK.
                  Enter 1 in the next pop up window; then click OK.

	2.  DefaultUserName
            Click on Edit->Add Value. A dialog box should come up. Fill in:
        	Value Name:    DefaultUserName   click OK, another window
                comes up. Fill in:
                String:        earthworm
            Click OK.
	3. DefaultPassword
           - Follow the step above to add another value:

             Value Name:    DefaultPassword
             String:        earthworm

     When all is said and done, the following values whould be listed in
       the right hand window:

          DefaultUserName     earthworm
          DefaultPassword     earthworm
          AutoAdminLogon      1

  (e) Click on Registry->Exit



(3) Automatic Earthworm Startup during login

  (a) Restart the PC.  If everything in step 1 and 2 was done correctly, the PC
      will automatically log you in as earthworm.
  (b) Make sure that the EW automatic startup script exists -- it should be
      called something like c:\earthworm\run\params\autostart_ew_nt.cmd.
	Example autostart_ew_nt.cmd:
		call ew_nt.cmd
		call startstop.exe

  (c) Click on Start->Settings->Taskbar
     Taskbar window should come up. Click on the "Start Menu Programs" tab.
     Click on "Advanced". NT Explorer should come up.

  (d) By double clicking on the appropriate directories, find:

     c:\winnt\Profiles\earthworm\StartMenu->Programs->Startup

     The right hand side window under Startup should be empty.

  (e) Create a shortcut to the EW automatic startup script: In the right
      hand side window, click the right button, then select New->Shortcut.

     A new window should come up, in the box enter the full path to the
     autostart_ew_nt script, click NEXT, and then click FINISH.  OR click on
     Browse to select the path to the
     script using NT Explorer, highlight the autorestart_ew_nt.cmd, click OPEN,
     then NEXT, and then click FINISH.  Last.  then click OK in the
     TaskBar window.



NOTES OF CAUTION:

  - user earthworm must have a password in order for automatic login to
    work. This means that password cannot be blank.

  - make sure that when creating user earthworm it is added to all groups,
    particularly the administrator group, since earthworm will be the only
    user that can log in once the registry is changed.



CHANGING EARTHWORM VERSION AND CONFIGURATION DIRECTORY

Whenever a new version of Earthworm is installed, or a new
configuration directory is desired, the autostart script
must be updated. Basically, the file autostart_ew_nt.cmd mentioned
above consists of the main command file ew_nt.cmd (which is
located in the params directory of the current configuration),
with the addition of the startstop command which starts earthworm
automatically. Therefore, whenever ANY changes are made to
the local of the active ew_nt.cmd, the
autostart_ew_nt.cmd file should be update.


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