[askwhy]

...continued from Part 1

If you view the registry in CeRegistryEditor you can choose to view the Data values for Rank as decimal or hexadecimal (decimal by default) but when you export keys you may notice them in hexadecimal -- this is fine, do not let the hexadecimal rank example below confuse you. How do you decide what values to assign? I suppose you could manually make a numbered list to help sort out which you want where, but I prefer to use reStart to initially get the menu setup how I like it before I export the keys for later use. It gives you a single top to bottom list to work with, and you can put everything in an order you like, then just look at the rank values it assigned afterward.

However you do it, once you have your rank sorted out, you will want to export some registry keys. You could export the entire [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security\Shell\StartInfo\Start] but I would NOT recommend it. Instead, to make sure you are only changing the things you need to change, only export the keys for the shortcuts or folders that you are modifying. Those should be sufficient.

For example, my exported registry key for Total Commander with a decimal rank of 1001 looks like:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security\Shell\StartInfo\Start\ Total Commander.lnk]
"Rank"=dword:000003E9
"Icon"="\\windows\\Start_Icon_FileExp.png"

Anything 'above' it on the menu will have to have a higher rank value (>1001), and it will itself be 'above' anything that has a lower rank value (<1001). Again, rank works great for assigning order as long as you don't mix it with 'Favorite' which happens when you use the 'Move To Top' or the 'iPhone style move' tap-and-hold functions. They don't play nice with rank.

So, now you can customize the Start menu by knowing where to put custom shortcuts and folders, and where to look for and change what icon and rank is assigned to them in the registry (again, reStart is recommended for sorting rank easily). Once you have things the way you like them, it's time to prepare everything for Sashimi.


HOW do I change it automatically after flashing a ROM?

Sashimi. Basically, Sashimi is like a Swiss Army knife for mobile device setup. There are a number of excellent guides such as MurDucky/LuckySe7en's on how to do various things with Sashimi like install applications, provision account setups, and more -- I am going to try and focus here on just the task at hand -- the Start Menu. To get started with Sashimi:

1. Download Sashimi RAW 8.0
2. Install Sashimi RAW to Storage Card (yes, NOT to device, to the Storage Card)
3. Open Total Commander (or other file explorer) and navigate to \Storage Card\SASHIMI

Ok, take a look in here. The only folders we are going to concern ourselves with right now are \Auto\Root, \Auto\Scripts, and \Auto\REG. Their functions are as follows:

\Auto\Root is a file copy repository -- anything in it gets copied to corresponding folder on the device
\Auto\Scripts is where you can place any MSCR (Mortscript) files of which we will use a few to delete things
\Auto\REG is where you can drop any exported registry keys that you want to be auto-imported later

Within \Auto\Root you will want to make a 'Windows' folder, and within that a 'Start Menu' folder, and within that a 'Programs' folder...do you see where this is going? You need to copy any custom shortcuts you added or moved into the corresponding folder within \Storage Card\SASHIMI\Auto\Root\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\ so that later they will be copied into the correct corresponding folder on your device. Also, do the same for any icons you have added, saving a copy in the corresponding folder under \Auto\Root so that when Sashimi runs later it will put them back in the correct places you have pointed to in the registry.

Within \Auto\Scripts you will put Mortscripts to delete any shortcuts you don't want. It can do Delete, Copy, Xcopy, Move, Unzip, and more...and you can also use Mortscripts to change registry keys, but if you are exporting them from a registry editor than making scripts for those same keys would be redundant.

Within \Auto\REG you can drop any exported registry files and when you later run Sashimi they will automatically override any existing settings in the registry thereby restoring your Start Menu.

So, what does a Mortscript for deleting something look like?

Delete ( "\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Total Commander.lnk" )

Yeah, that's it. There are lots of options and Mortscript can do so much more, but that's how you delete something with it. Modify to taste and save as a text file with the .MSCR extension.

One last thing before your preparations are done. Sashimi auto-install leaves its icons on the Start Menu root -- you might want to go into \Storage Card\SASHIMI\Program\INI\ and edit settings.ini so that ShortcutsPath is set to where you want it to put its own icons. Example:

ShortcutsPath=\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Utilities\Tweaks

Ok. Now you're ready for the main event! *WHEW* Whenever you have flashed a new ROM and it is all done with its own setup, navigate using Total Commander or another file explorer to \Storage Card\SASHIMI\Program\Bin\ and run SASHIMI.EXE -- it will set itself up and leave you on the main menu where you can double-click 'Auto' and let it ride! When it's finished just soft-reset and you should be all done....Congrats!


Well, that about does it for now. Suggestions are more than welcome. What's that you say? I go on and on too much? This could have been much much shorter? Yeah, I kinda already know all that, but thanks. *grin*