Overview

To run a Windows-based Player in "kiosk mode" means to prevent visitors from killing or switching away from a running Intuiface experience. It prevents access to File Explorer, the taskbar, the desktop, the Action Center, or any other part of the Windows operating system. Your PC will look and act like its sole purpose is running your experience.

This article includes two methods for establishing a Kiosk Mode.

• Exclusive to Platform Enterprise accounts:
  Using the Share & Deploy Console to automatically activate and deactivate Kiosk Mode. Works with Player only; not supported for Player Classic.
• For Player Classic across all Platform tiers:
  A manual approach that is part of the Windows operating system.

Method One: Using the Share & Deploy Console

Exclusively for Platform Enterprise accounts, users can activate and deactivate Kiosk Mode for any Windows-deployed Player using the Share and Deploy Console.

NOTE:

• This method is not available for Player Classic. Only Player (on Windows PCs) supports activation of Kiosk Mode via the Share & Deploy Console.
• Anti-virus software may prevent Player from turning on kiosk mode.

Prerequisites

• Kiosk Mode requires a Windows account that has auto-login enabled (no password, or automatic password login method). 

Activating Kiosk Mode

NOTE: When using Kiosk Mode, Player 8 will automatically span to all available displays.

1. Visit the Share & Deploy Console and select any of the Windows-installed Players.
2. On the "Preferences" tab for that Player, click the "Kiosk Mode" slider from the off position to the on position.
   
3. A pop-up will ask if you wish to force an immediate reboot of the Windows PC or if you'd prefer to do it yourself later. Choose your preferred option.
   
4. Regardless of the option you choose, when the PC reboots, it will automatically log into a special Windows account that only permits Intuiface Player to run. Player will then run. Your "Player Launch Preference" in the Share & Deploy Console for this Player will determine whether to immediately run the last opened experience or to show Player's Experiences panel.

Deactivating Kiosk Mode

1. Visit the Share & Deploy Console and select any of the Windows-installed Players.
2. On the "Preferences" tab for that Player, click the "Kiosk Mode" slider from the on position to the off position.
   
3. A pop-up will ask if you wish to force an immediate reboot of the Windows PC or if you'd prefer to do it yourself later. Choose your preferred option.
   

Method Two: Manual approach provided by the Windows operating system

NOTE:

• Follow these directions at your own risk, as this is an IT task independent of using Intuiface. We are not responsible for any issues that might occur in your efforts to apply the steps below. Don't do it if you are even remotely hesitant about following these directions. Find the nearest IT administrator to help you.
• This article does not address the use of Windows Embedded. Doing so is also supported but beyond the scope of this Help Center. Please work with your IT Administrator if you wish to adopt Windows Embedded. For reference, lockdown features are discussed here.
• The guidance below does not address the use of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. It is also supported but beyond the scope of this Help Center. Please work with your IT Administrator if you wish to adopt Windows 10 IoT Enterprise.
• If you want to change the Windows 10 boot screen, follow the Microsoft procedure described in Customize the boot screen.

Windows Home edition

It is not possible to set up a kiosk mode. Please use a higher edition of Windows.

Windows Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions

To set up a kiosk mode

The following procedure enables you to configure a Windows account so that logging into that account immediately launches an Intuiface experience within Player rather than launching Windows Explorer. In other words, you're changing the Windows "shell."

Here are the steps for creating a Windows user account that logs directly into a running instance of Intuiface Player:

1. Set up a second Windows account on the target PC with a memorable name like "Kiosk User". This would be an account other than the Administrator account, and it must have a password.

2. Login to this new kiosk account.

3. Set the shell to Intuiface Player using the following steps:

   1. Run regedit
      • open the Start menu and type regedit in the search bar at the bottom.
   2. In the left panel of the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key (this will only change the shell for the “Kiosk User" account):
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
   3. Right-click empty space in the right-hand panel and select New -> String Value
      
   4. Name it "Shell"
   5. Double-click on the "Shell" key and paste the following value (include the quotation marks and the parameter with the / symbol):
      Player: "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Programs\intuiface-player\intuiface-player.exe" /playLastExperience Note: The username value needs to be changed to the local username.
      Player Classic:"C:\Program Files\Intuilab\Intuiface\Player\IntuifacePlayerApp.exe" /playLastExperience

• • • An alternative exclusive to Player Classic is the ability to specify the experience you want to play. However, do not use this option if you plan to update or deploy experiences using the Share and Deploy Console:
      "C:\Program Files\Intuilab\Intuiface\Player\IntuifacePlayerApp.exe" "c:\full\path to\ your experience.ifx"

1. • Refer to Command line options to see all available command line options of Intuiface Player.
   • Close regedit

2. To force autologin for the kiosk account when Windows reboots, follow the instructions in the Microsoft article for a sysinternal tool named autologon:  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autologon

Limitation:

• If you press the Escape key (either on a physical or virtual keyboard), Player will exit and Windows will display an empty black screen. You must log out/login again or start Windows Explorer to restart the Player.
  If you have a keyboard with an Escape key attached to the kiosk, you should capture the Escape key press from within your Intuiface experiences to prevent its use.

To unset the kiosk mode

• To log out of this kiosk-dedicated session, press the buttons <Ctrl-Shift-Delete> on a keyboard and select "Log off".
• Alternatively, if you'd like to return to the original shell configuration or display Windows Explorer, press the buttons <Ctrl-Shift-Esc> on a keyboard to start Task Manager. Select the File menu, choose New Task (Run...) and type the name of what you want to run. For example:
  • regedit to delete or update the registry key we added earlier
  • explorer to open Windows Explorer (this won't bring up the Start menu or taskbar)

You may also reuse the sysinternal tool autologon to deactivate autologon on reboot.

Windows 10 Enterprise and Education

You can use one of the following methods for both Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education. These methods are very useful if you need to deploy to several kiosks, as they are quicker and require less hands-on configuration for each device than the above method. Be sure to follow the steps carefully.

• Use the kiosk wizard in Windows Configuration Designer. It is the most powerful way to set up a kiosk, offering many configuration capabilities.
  OR
• Use the shell launcher feature. It is powerful but requires a good technical understanding of Windows.
  Important: the option UserReturnCodeAction must not be set. Otherwise, you won't be able to remotely deploy experiences or upgrade Player from the Share and Deploy console.

Limitations

• Using physical keyboard key combination Control + Alt + Delete will not be prevented, it will still trigger the account control screen
• Using Control + Shift + Escape physical key combinations will bring the Task Manager on top if the Task Manager has "Always on top" option active.