CODEWITHSUNDEEP
wpfwindowsshelladmin
user814425
user814425

Reputation: 625

Change Win 7 Shell for non-admin user account with autologon

I need a WPF app to run in 'kiosk mode' and this looks like the way to do it. But I'm not clear on a couple of issues:

Does the user account I want to replace the shell for have to be an admin account? Or can I do this for a non-admin account from my admin account?

Once the shell is changed, can I still use autologon? The machine will restart each morning and I want it to go straight to the app.

If I change the shell and use autologon, how can I logon as a different user?

The app is a multitouch app and there won't be a physical keyboard present. It's Windows 7 but I'm not sure if it's Enterprise or not.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1557

Answers (1)

Harry Johnston
Harry Johnston

Reputation: 36348

The kiosk account should not be an administrator.

That's a user registry key (it starts with HKEY_CURRENT_USER) so no special privilege is required. You can make this change from the kiosk user account itself, or, if the kiosk user account is logged in, you can do it from the admin account - go to HKEY_USERS and look for the key associated with the kiosk account. If you know the kiosk account's SID you can find the right key that way, otherwise just use trial and error - the Environment subkey for each user contains their username.

Having a custom shell will not interfere with autologon.

You can bypass autologon by pressing the SHIFT key just before the logon screen appears. You may need to tap it repeatedly to get the timing right. Alternatively, if the machine has a network connection, you could use Remote Desktop to log in remotely.

Upvotes: 1

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