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Thread: Internet Explorer Kiosk

  1. May 9th, 2004, 02:35 PM #1
    jinxy
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    Internet Explorer Kiosk

    I had not heard of this before, some of you may find it interesting.

    If you ever run into the situation in which you need to have a computer sit out in the open to display a website for presentation, and the machine is pretty much going to be open to the public, there is a little known function built into Internet Explorer called Kiosk mode. It can be run easily enough by clicking "run", and typeing "iexplore -k".
    The "-k" enables the kiosk mode, and opens up Internet Explorer to go to the full size of the screen. They can only click on things that would be located within the browser unless a person uses shortcut keys to move to other Windows functions. The only page that displays is whatever is set for the Home page. In other words, it is not possible to type in a new web address.
    Found this info here:http://www.adminjournal.com/
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  2. May 9th, 2004, 02:44 PM #2
    MrLinus
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    Actually, it's kinda easy to get out of (unless MS finally changed it). Right-clicking on links to open in a new window will result in an IE opening with a standard window (I got the joy of discovering this at a private school where the kids would do this activity often). Security by obscurity is not a good thing. To be truly effective, have the website locally (no internet access) and implement local and computer policies that limit which programs run.
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  3. May 9th, 2004, 03:26 PM #3
    jinxy
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    implement local and computer policies that limit which programs run
    To be fare the article does mention Hardening at the bottom. I will have a look when i have time to see if microsoft have resolved the issues you raised

    Jinxy
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  4. May 9th, 2004, 04:07 PM #4
    slarty
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    I don't think any kiosk-type applications really use iexplore -k. Instead they use their own native wrapper for Internet explorer (or maybe even another browser), which can veto certain operations so that they can't just visit a web site which links to file://c:/

    In some cases this could be as simple as a .hta

    In any case, with .hta or with internet explorer, it's generally difficult to prevent the user quitting with alt-f4 (unless you don't have ALT or f4 on the keyboard (which is the case on some kiosks))

    Slarty
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  5. May 9th, 2004, 04:15 PM #5
    Tedob1
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    not secure but still very interesting. there are time i require a full screen. until now ive been using <F11> but a shortcut with 'iexplore -k www.mypage.com' as the target works even better. thanks!
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  6. May 10th, 2004, 12:13 AM #6
    jinxy
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    Had a look at microsofts help and support site. There does not seem to have been any improvment in security of the kiosk feature. Below is all i can find,

    View products that this article applies to.
    This article was previously published under Q258864
    SYMPTOMS
    When you press CTRL+N while you are operating Internet Explorer in kiosk mode, a new instance of Internet Explorer starts, but it is not in kiosk mode.
    RESOLUTION
    To work around this behavior and prevent users from opening new instances of Internet Explorer while in kiosk mode, you can implement a policy to restrict the CTRL+N key combination.
    STATUS
    This behavior is by design.
    MORE INFORMATION
    For additional information about kiosk mode in Internet Explorer, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
    154780 How to Use Kiosk Mode in Microsoft Internet Explorer

    Basicaly not alot.
    What happens if a big asteroid hits the Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad. - Dave Barry
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