Sully Posted May 14, 2018 Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 I've been configuring a workstation at work that will run a browser in kiosk mode. I'm using a GPO on the server to control some items, but have hit a bit of a roadblock. The workstation is Windows 10. In kiosk mode, the task bar will still appear on the screen. I want the task bar locked down so that the only button on the left side is the power button. The date/time, wifi, etc will all still appear on the right. I just don't want the users being able to open any of the apps in the "start menu". I can't seem to get rid of the "all apps" button. Anyone know which option(s) that would be in the GPO? OR Is there any way to get rid of the task bar completely or maybe put a fake overlay in its place? Any other ideas or suggestions? TIA!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted May 14, 2018 Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 This link might point you in the right direction http://www.intowindows.com/add-or-remove-all-apps-button-from-windows-10-start-menu/ Not sure how much GPO stuff works with windows 10. I've heard some of it is bugged or had been missing early on, hopefully they have fixed most of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShowHBK Posted May 14, 2018 Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 How handy are you with windows boot scripts? If you create a boot script on login and add "taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe" then the explorer will never load and in turn the start bar will be 100% gone. After that, tell the script to load whatever program you want the kiosk to run and that will be the ONLY thing running. Once you want to shut it down or do any work, just hit Windows Button + R and run the explorer to get it back. That should do what you are asking. The limitation you are working with here is that the start bar is part of "explorer.exe" and can't be run without it. I had a piece of software a while ago called "Display Fusion" that allowed me to mess with the task bar. It's worth looking into for sure. I know Display Fusion has some stuff you can do where you can lock the damn thing or have it hidden on a secondary virtual desktop. for example, you could run your Kiosk on Desktop #2 and have the start bar ONLY show on Virtual desktop #1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted May 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 This link might point you in the right direction http://www.intowindows.com/add-or-remove-all-apps-button-from-windows-10-start-menu/ Not sure how much GPO stuff works with windows 10. I've heard some of it is bugged or had been missing early on, hopefully they have fixed most of it. Ugh. I had this enabled, but missed the drop-down box on the left side to choose to fully disable it. It doesn't show it in the link you provided though. Just happen to see it on my workstation. Now that I'm at work and looking at it, there's more I need to lock down. Will most likely need to do the startup script deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted May 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 How handy are you with windows boot scripts? If you create a boot script on login and add "taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe" then the explorer will never load and in turn the start bar will be 100% gone. After that, tell the script to load whatever program you want the kiosk to run and that will be the ONLY thing running. Once you want to shut it down or do any work, just hit Windows Button + R and run the explorer to get it back. That should do what you are asking. The limitation you are working with here is that the start bar is part of "explorer.exe" and can't be run without it. I had a piece of software a while ago called "Display Fusion" that allowed me to mess with the task bar. It's worth looking into for sure. I know Display Fusion has some stuff you can do where you can lock the damn thing or have it hidden on a secondary virtual desktop. for example, you could run your Kiosk on Desktop #2 and have the start bar ONLY show on Virtual desktop #1. There are scripts already in place. I'll have to look into modifying them. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted May 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 How handy are you with windows boot scripts? If you create a boot script on login and add "taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe" then the explorer will never load and in turn the start bar will be 100% gone. After that, tell the script to load whatever program you want the kiosk to run and that will be the ONLY thing running. Once you want to shut it down or do any work, just hit Windows Button + R and run the explorer to get it back. That should do what you are asking. The limitation you are working with here is that the start bar is part of "explorer.exe" and can't be run without it. I had a piece of software a while ago called "Display Fusion" that allowed me to mess with the task bar. It's worth looking into for sure. I know Display Fusion has some stuff you can do where you can lock the damn thing or have it hidden on a secondary virtual desktop. for example, you could run your Kiosk on Desktop #2 and have the start bar ONLY show on Virtual desktop #1. I'm not a programmer by any means and have no clue when it comes to this stuff. I edited an existing script to put the taskkill command in there. When the computer boots up, all I get is a black screen. I'm assuming it's because I don't have any other commands after it. I just wanted to see what it would do. I need IE to launch in Kiosk mode. How would I do that? TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted May 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 Ha! Nevermind. Figured it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted May 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 And after a couple reboots, the logon script is no longer working. There were no changes to the script. All I did was reboot the workstation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssFo Posted May 14, 2018 Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 Log into the pc and browse to the location of the script (DOMAIN\SYSVOL\POLOCIES\ and manual run it. Does it still run or error out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShowHBK Posted May 14, 2018 Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 I'm not a programmer by any means and have no clue when it comes to this stuff. I edited an existing script to put the taskkill command in there. When the computer boots up, all I get is a black screen. I'm assuming it's because I don't have any other commands after it. I just wanted to see what it would do. I need IE to launch in Kiosk mode. How would I do that? TIA! Happy you figured this out... To explain what happened, the black screen actually means that the script worked perfectly. You logged in... but nothing else loaded! haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShowHBK Posted May 14, 2018 Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 Log into the pc and browse to the location of the script (DOMAIN\SYSVOL\POLOCIES\ and manual run it. Does it still run or error out? Please let us know the results of this when you run it. Did you run any updates on the Kiosk? If so, something might have changed in an update. Make sure to ALWAYS disable windows updates when using a Windows system as a Kiosk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted May 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 There were so many problems with the workstation, I ended up resetting it and starting over. Now that I have it reconfigured, I've added the script, but it stops at a command prompt at C:\Windows\System32 This is my batch file: @echo off taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe start /max "C:\Users\skhrkiosk\iexplore.exe -k" I then threw in the cd\ after the taskkill, so it looked like this: @echo off taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe cd\ start /max "C:\Users\skhrkiosk\iexplore.exe -k" Now it just stops at a command prompt windows at C:\ Why is it not starting IE? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted May 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 Just realized i need \desktop\ after skhrkiosk. Ugh. Trying again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted May 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 Nope... still stops at a full screen command prompt at: C:\ I don't know why it's not launching IE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted May 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 Sometimes typing/talking things out helps. I removed the quotes from the batch script. It works now. Geesh. What a PITA! This is why I'm not a programmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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