Member Avatar for spadez

Hi guys,

I would really appreciate your help. I have been asked to find out how to set up a laptop designed to go into shop, so that users can ONLY use the internet. They cannot run programs, make / delete existing files or anything else that will cause problems. The laptop will be secured but people would still be able to reboot it so it must go straight into the internet when it reboots.

I dont know a whole lot about this kind of thing so I need your help! Can this be done with vista or do I need additional software? Also I understand that this might be able to be done under linux but my boss has only just brought a vista licence.


Regards,

James

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For a reliable, long‑term kiosk on Vista you need more than a fullscreen browser dropped into Startup. Quick hacks (as and hinted) are easy to bypass and won’t stop file changes or users who boot from USB or press Ctrl+Alt+Del. A practical, secure approach uses three layers: a locked user environment, a hardened shell (kiosk browser), and disk/boot protection so changes are discarded or undoable.

Recommended components (proven in real kiosks)

  • Use disk‑rollback or session protection so every reboot restores a known good state (examples: Faronics Deep Freeze).
    Deep Freeze product page
  • Run a purpose‑built kiosk browser/shell that limits navigation, blocks downloads and provides an admin unlock (examples: KioWare, SiteKiosk).
    KioWare
  • For Vista specifically, consider Microsoft SteadyState (was the Microsoft tool for locked sessions).

Practical deployment checklist

  • Create a dedicated non‑admin kiosk account; keep a separate admin account for maintenance.
  • Make the kiosk app the user’s shell (or install kiosk software) so nothing else is reachable after logon. Back up the registry before changing shell settings.
  • Protect BIOS/boot order with a password and disable alternate boot devices to prevent USB/CD bypass.
  • Use NTFS permissions and Group Policy (or the kiosk software) to remove access to cmd, Control Panel and Task Manager.
  • Test failure modes: unplug network, crash the browser, and reboot to confirm the system returns to the locked state.

Troubleshooting notes

  • If users still get out, check the account isn’t an Administrator and that disk‑rollback is active. If Vista Home is in use, some gpedit features won’t be available—commercial kiosk software + Deep Freeze is often the fastest reliable route.

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Member Avatar for William Hemsworth

I'm not sure if this is possible with Vista, there's probably already software available on the internet to do this, but if you planned on doing it manually, you need these 3 main things:

  • To be able to disable all system hotkeys, so the internet explorer can't be closed.
  • Make the window fullscreen, so the taskbar isn't visible.
  • Make the program run on startup.

In programming, the first two points could be quite easily achieved. As for the third point, you just need to add the program to the 'Startup' folder.

Member Avatar for compuchip

thats easy set your browser to startup automatically and password lock the rest of your computer

Member Avatar for spadez

Thank you for the reply. I don't believe it's possible to password protect features like you mentioned.

Member Avatar for William Hemsworth

I made a small program which if you add to startup, should do what you want. To close the program, press and hold each key (in the right order) C - L - O - S - E

I hope this helps.

IEStarter.zip (25.19 KB)
Member Avatar for William Hemsworth

Sorry, fixed quite a bad bug.

IEStarter.zip (25.23 KB)
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