Shlv2mgr.exe v1.1.0.0

 

Free Utility

Command Line Utility for Shell Launcher V2

Windows comes with the standard Explorer.exe shell with taskbar, start button, and desktop. Embedded/IoT OEMs looking to make their product look unlike Windows replace Explorer.exe with their own application. To make the shell replacement more manageable, the Shell Launcher features allow you to change the main shell form Explorer.exe to a custom shell executable of your choice. A simple enable / disable capability allows you to switch from custom shell to explorer shell. The feature also allows you to setup different shells for different users.

Shell Launcher V2 was introduced to support UWP applications and work with Intune. For OEMs Shell Launcher V2 required Psexec.exe and XML file to configure Shell Launcher. Psexec.exe is a power full tool that gets blocked by most IT departments. The Shlv2mgr.exe utility only requires administrative privileges to setup and manage Shell Launcher.

Shlv2mgr.exe can be called within a batch file to setup Shell Launcher V2. For example: when you create a customer installer with System Image Manager (SIM), the batch file can be called with a synchronous command.

A default shell must be configured first before Shell Launcher can be enabled or setting up a customer user shell.   To setup different shells for user accounts, the accounts must already exist.

Note: Only supports desktop applications (.exe). UWP not supported.

There has been limited testing. The utilities are provided as is without warranty. Feedback is welcome.

Requires:

  • Windows 10 or 11 Enterprise
  • Windows 10 or 11 IoT Enterprise
  • .NET Framework 4.8

The utilities can be downloaded from here - ShellLauncherV2Utility.zip

 
 

shlv2mgr.exe Command Line Utility

 

 Usage: shlv2mgr [command] [settings]

Commands:

     enable | disable         Enable or Disable Shell Launcher V2    
     get-config               List the status and setings of Shell Launcher V2
     set-defaultshell         Sets the default shell                 
     set-usershell            Setup a shell for a specific user      
     set-customactioncode     Sets a custom return code action. Muiltiple return codes are supported
     remove-customactioncode  Removes custom return code action      
     remove-usershell         Remove a customer user shell           
     Help | ?                 This help page                         

Examples:

shlmgr enable

shlmgr set-defaultshell <path to .exe> <DefaultAction> <AllAppsFullScreen>
  where DefaultAcion - 0=Restart Shell, 1=Restart Device, 2=Shutdown Device, 3=Do Nothing
  where AllAppsFullScreen - True | False

shlmgr set-usershell <user name> <path to .exe> <DefaultAction> <AllAppsFullScreen>
  where DefaultAcion - 0=Restart Shell, 1=Restart Device, 2=Shutdown Device, 3=Do Nothing
  where AllAppsFullScreen - True | False
User account must exist

shlmgr set-customactioncode <user name>  <applicaton's return code> <DefaultAction>
  where applicaton's return code is any return code fomr the shell applicaton i.e. -1, 255, 0, etc. Multiple action codes are supported
  where DefaultAcion - 0=Restart Shell, 1=Restart Device, 2=Shutdown Device, 3=Do Nothing
User account and custom shell must exist

shlmgr remove-customactioncode <user name>  <applicaton's return code>
  where applicaton's return code is any return code fomr the shell applicaton i.e. -1, 255, 0, etc. Multiple action codes are supported
User account, custom shell, and custom action code must exist

shlmgr remove-usershell <user name>
User account must exist
   
 

 
   
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