A powerful feature of the DX Studio Player is the ability to lock down Windows and stop a user performing any other functions other than those available in the DX Studio document. For example, if you have a display kiosk running an interactive tour, you don't want people to be able to ALT-TAB or CTRL-ALT-DEL out of the application and access the Windows desktop.
To lock down a PC into kiosk mode, you must first compile your DX Studio document as an EXE. Normally this document should also be set to 'change screen resolution to fit document' in the document's properties.
Save the EXE to the main hard drive, eg. C:\kiosk\myapp.exe
Open a Command Prompt window (Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt), and navigate to the directory the EXE was saved to.
e.g.
cd \kiosk
You can now choose between two different boot modes...
| • | Auto-launch only |
The EXE will run automatically on boot, but the current user must provide login details every time. CTRL+ALT+DEL is still available.
To enable this mode, type the name of the EXE followed by the flag /KioskBoot (please note this is case sensitive)
e.g.
myapp /KioskBoot
| • | Complete kiosk mode |
On power-up, the system will automatically log in with the username/password provided and launch straight into the kiosk EXE. All system commands such as ALT+TAB and CTRL+ALT+DEL are disabled.
Ideally, you should configure a dedicated user account, for example 'KioskUser'. You should be logged in as this user when you configure the /KioskBoot mode.
To enable this mode, type the name of the EXE followed by the flag /KioskBoot (case sensitive), followed by the username and password to be used to log in (again case sensitive).
e.g
myapp /KioskBoot Administrator adminrules0k
or
myapp /KioskBoot KioskUser password
Removing kiosk mode
To undo the changes made my /KioskBoot, you should open a command prompt to the directory of the EXE and launch it with the flag /NoKioskBoot.
e.g.
myapp /NoKioskBoot
This restores the PC to normal operation with no auto-logins and no application launch.
To get to a command prompt in complete kiosk mode, hold down SHIFT as Windows boots and you will be able to login as a different account. Run the app from a command prompt with the /NoKioskBoot flag and restart. Log in to the original account, and CTRL+ALT+DEL will now be active again. You should now be able to terminate the player. Launch the EXE again with the /NoKioskBoot flag from this account to completely remove the kiosk mode.