Support Request: SiteKiosk causing inconsistent user experience against GPO

Ticket ID: 21294	Creation Date: 1/15/2015 6:23 PM	Product: SiteKiosk Classic Windows	Attachment: -
TicketType: Support Request	Version: 8.9.0	Language: English
Views: 39515	Last Modification Date: 2/13/2015 5:41 PM	Platform: Windows
Level: Closed	IE: 11.0
Bug Status: Not Fixed	User account: Administrator	Bug Frequency: Unknown

Support Request: SiteKiosk causing inconsistent user experience against GPO

Reproduction

Set autoadmin logon and "disable screensaver" paramaters via Group Policy on a domain computer. Reboot using power button. There is a possibility that instead of auto-logging on and launching SiteKiosk, the machine will stick at the logon screen.

Description

We are working on deploying SiteKiosk to our timeclock machines. The idea is to have group policy define the auto logon and "replace UI" settings, launching Sitekiosk from a batch script which calls the proper config file.

However, in testing to make sure this works should the machine be powered off by the power button (or power failure), I've discovered that about half the time, it does not auto-login, and instead sticks at the login page.

I tried using the Security Manager feature to call Sitekiosk and let it control the autologon and program launching, but again, if the machine is powered down outside of SiteKiosk, this causes unexpected behaviour.

Additionally, the handpunch mechanism we use relies on a custom OCX plugin that communicates with a palm-vein reader attached via USB - which then sends biometric data back to a server for authentication. I am now seeing that despite the OCX being installed and working outside of SiteKiosk, the same web page will not find the OCX correctly, despite working previously.

So, I need to know how I can *just* launch SiteKiosk without it trying to do ANYTHING to the autologin or screensaver functions. I don't want the security manager touching my stuff. At all. I just want to run SK with the profile I've created from a command line.

Answer: (1)
Re: SiteKiosk causing inconsistent user experience against GPO	1/16/2015 4:49 PM
The System Security Manager will only affect the Windows SiteKiosk user account that gets created during installation. You can choose to run SiteKiosk under a domain account instead. If you require a domain user or other user than the default local SiteKiosk user, you can specify SiteKiosk to use that account instead of the default local SiteKiosk user. To do this choose "Customized" from the SiteKiosk Quick Start menu then click OK. In the Startup Options select the "Run SiteKiosk automatically at Windows startup(auto start)" and leave shell replacement selected in the drop down. Uncheck the box labeled "Settings only apply to the restricted SiteKiosk user account". Then check the box labeled "Log on automatically at system startup" to select a different user for SiteKiosk to run in autostart. Click the Settings button to enter the credentials for your domain user. I recommend test SiteKiosk first by letting it function normally using its own Autostart settings described above to see if you can replicate the behavior. There are no known issues with the Autostart being consistently interrupted. Then you can test out the custom settings you applied through group policy.