Keyboard Filter (Industry 8.1)

7/8/2014

You can configure Keyboard Filter on a Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry (Industry 8.1) or Windows Embedded 8 Standard (Standard 8) device to suppress undesirable key presses or key combinations.

Normally, a user can use certain Windows key combinations like Ctrl+Alt+Delete or Ctrl+Shift+Tab to alter the operation of a device by locking the screen or using task manager to close a running application. This may not be desirable if your device is intended for a dedicated purpose. However, you can use Keyboard Filter to suppress any key press or key combination that causes an undesirable system behavior.

In Industry 8.1, you can configure a breakout key to break out of a locked down account. When you press the breakout key five times in a row, Industry 8.1 presents the Welcome screen so that you can sign in to a different account. By default, the breakout key is set to the Windows logo key, but you can use Embedded Lockdown Manager (ELM) to change the breakout key.

Keyboard Filter works with both physical keyboards and the standard Windows touchscreen keyboards.

For more information about Keyboard Filter on Industry 8.1, see Keyboard Filter (Industry 8.1) on MSDN.

For more information about Keyboard Filter on Standard 8, see Keyboard Filter Overview (Standard 8) on MSDN.

Common tasks

To change the breakout key

1. In ELM, on the Actions pane, click Set Breakout Key.

2. On the Breakout Key dialog box, do one of the following:

   • Select Type the key to reveal its Scan Code, select the text box at the bottom of the dialog box, and press the key to use as the breakout key.
     The hexadecimal scan code for the key is filled in automatically.
   • Select Enter Scan Code by number, select the text box at the bottom of the dialog box, and enter the hexadecimal value of the scan code for the key to use as the breakout key.

3. Click OK.

Actions

On this window pane in ELM, you can use the following commands:

• Export to PowerShell
  Creates a Windows PowerShell script that you can use to apply the current Keyboard Filter configuration to any device running Industry 8.1 or Standard 8.

• Disable admin filter/Enable admin filter
  Disables or enables the Keyboard Filter from blocking keys for administrator accounts on the device.

• Allow Accessibility/Force off Accessibility
  Determines whether accessibility features that can bypass the Keyboard Filter are allowed.

• Set Breakout Key
  Opens the Breakout Key dialog box, where you can specify the scan code of the breakout key.

  Note

  To disable the breakout key, set the scan code of the breakout key to a value that does not map to a physical key, for example, 0 (zero).

Key categories

Key combinations are grouped into the following categories:

Category	Description
Accessibility Keys	Predefined keys that affect accessibility options.
Application Keys	Predefined keys that affect application behavior.
Browser Keys	Predefined keys that affect internet browser functionality.
Extended Shell Keys	Predefined keys that initiate commonly used functionality, such as launch mail, launch media player, or sleep mode.
Media Keys	Predefined keys that access media player functionality.
Modifier Keys	Predefined keys that are commonly used as modifiers in a key combination.
Security Keys	Predefined keys that affect system security, such as Ctrl+Alt+Delete.
Shell Keys	Predefined keys that affect the behavior of the Windows shell.
All Keys	All predefined keys.
Custom keys	Custom-defined keys.
Custom scan codes	Custom-defined scan codes.

See Also

Concepts

Embedded Lockdown Manager