Windows 10 kiosk build - Embedded Shell Launcher vs Custom User Interface

Question

_{Wednesday, August 3, 2016 2:04 AM}

Hi,

I'm currently evaluating Windows 10 as a kiosk device that launches Internet Explorer and need some help. Have been through the info here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/manage/set-up-a-kiosk-for-windows-10-for-desktop-editions

Have been testing two different scenarios - 

1. Windows 10 Enterprise - Installing the Embedded Shell Launcher feature and configuring the kiosk account to replace the shell with IE
2. Windows 10 Professional - Using the group policy setting 'User Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Custom User Interface' to configure a policy that applies to the kiosk account to replace the shell with IE

I'm trying to determine the differences between these two methods. So far I can only find that the Embedded Shell Launcher has the ability to automatically take an action if the application is not running (restart app, restart or shutdown machine).

Besides this (and licensing costs), are there any other advantages/disadvantages of one approach over the other for this scenario?

Thanks

All replies (2)

_{Thursday, August 4, 2016 1:59 AM ✅Answered}

Hi,

There is no doubt that your scenario configuration is reasonable, from my survey, Classic Windows application only was supported in Enterprise and Education edition.

 

In addition, for Custom user interface, it means user can specify an alternate user interface for Windows.

The Explorer program (Explorer.exe) creates the familiar Windows interface, but you can use this policy to specify an alternate interface.

For more information, please refer to this article.

Custom user interface

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc975911.aspx

 

On the other hand, for Shell Launcher,

User can use Shell Launcher to replace the default Windows 10 shell with a custom shell. We can use any application or executable as our custom shell, such as a command window or a custom dedicated application, can also configure Shell Launcher to launch different shell applications for different users or user groups.

But one thing we need to notice, we can’t use Shell Launcher to launch a Universal Windows app as a custom shell.

For more information, you can refer to this link for assistance.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/mt571994(v=vs.85).aspx

 

one more thing, it's not possible to activate Kiosk Mode on Windows 10 Pro using Microsoft Intune Standalone. But we could create a custom MSI application that could configure it.

Hope my clarification can give you some prompt.

 

Sincere regards

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_{Wednesday, May 3, 2017 12:00 PM | 1 vote}

...and you all may be interested to know (based on my recent experience) that the command string length in the Shell Launcher has a maximum length of 128 characters..and I've not found that specifically documented anywhere.

Boz