Need your Windows device to ONLY be used for the Time Tracking Kiosk?
Putting a Windows PC into Kiosk Mode with Assigned Access
On Windows 10:
- Open Settings and navigate to Accounts>Family & Other People.
- Click on "Add Someone Else to This PC"
- Windows 10 will guide you toward creating a Microsoft account by default. If you'd rather create a local user account, click "I don't have this person's Sign In Information" & click "Add User without a Microsoft Account" to create a new local user account. Enter a name. like "Kiosk" and create a password.
- Next, Set up Assigned Access. Under Settings > Family & Other People > Other People click on Set Up Assigned Access.
On Windows 8.1,
- Open the PC Settings and go to Accounts>Other Accounts> Add an Account
- Sign in Without a Microsoft Account and then click Local Account to create a local user. Enter a name like "Kiosk" for the user account. You may want to create a user account with a blank password to make it simple for anyone to access kiosk mode even if the system becomes locked or needs to be rebooted.
- The account will be created as a standard user account with limited system permissions. Leave it as a standard user account. Don't make it an administrator account.
- On Windows 8.1, head to PC Settings > Accounts > Other Accounts and click “Set Up an Account for Assigned Access”. You may need to sign into the account a single time so the first-time setup process runs before you configure Assigned Access, although this step isn’t necessary on Windows 10
Assigning Access
Select the user account you created and select the app you want to limit the account to. Here are the limitations:
- Windows 10 Professional: Only new “Universal Windows Platform” apps bundled with Windows 10 or installed from the Windows Store can be selected. Unfortunately, you can’t choose the Microsoft Edge web browser.
- Windows 10 Enterprise or Education: In addition to Universal Windows Platform apps, you can choose an installed desktop applications to limit a user account to.
- Windows 8.1: You may only select Store apps, also known as Modern apps or Metro apps, including the “Modern” version of the Internet Explorer web browser.
When you’re done, sign out of your current user account and log into the Assigned Access account. Windows will automatically open the app you chose in full screen mode and won’t allow a user to leave that app. Standard features like the taskbar and Start menu won’t appear, and the charms bar and app switcher won’t appear on Windows 8.1. Press the Windows key or Alt+Tab and nothing will happen.
To leave Assigned Access mode on Windows 10, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete. On Windows 8.1, press the Windows key five times quickly. The account will actually still be logged in and the app will remain running–this method just “locks” the screen and allows another user to log in.
Automatically Log Into Assigned Access Mode
Whenever your Windows PC boots, you can log into the Assigned Access account and turn it into a kiosk system. While this isn’t ideal for all kiosk systems, you may want the device to automatically launch the specific app when it boots without requiring any login process.