Why doesn’t the Kiosk application start automatically after the upgrade?

Summary

After upgrading the Kiosk Hardened Image or the Kiosk Application, you may encounter rare cases where the Kiosk Application does not start automatically after booting into the operating system.

This article explains the possible causes and provides guidance depending on how the Kiosk was deployed and whether boot hardening is enabled.

Startup Configuration Overview

The Kiosk startup behavior differs based on the deployment method:

1. Hardened Image Deployment

When the Kiosk is deployed using the Hardened Image, the system includes a Task Scheduler configuration that:

• Monitors the shell process.

• Blocks access to the Windows operating system (displaying a white screen) until the Kiosk UI is launched.

• This is part of the boot hardening feature, which is enabled by default.

2. Manual Kiosk Application Installation

When the Kiosk Application is installed manually:

• The Kiosk UI Launcher is added to Windows Startup to enable automatic launch.

• The Task Scheduler tasks (used for boot hardening) are created but remain disabled.

If boot hardening is later enabled from the Kiosk Management Console:

• The Task Scheduler tasks will be enabled.

• The Kiosk UI Launcher will be removed from Windows Startup (as the scheduler takes over the autostart function).

Behavior Summary

Troubleshooting: Kiosk Not Starting After Upgrade

If the Kiosk does not start automatically after an upgrade, perform one of the following actions:

1. Enable boot hardening and ensure that all related Task Scheduler tasks are enabled.
   or

2. Enable and then disable boot hardening again. This will re-add the Kiosk UI Launcher to Windows Startup.

Recommendation

We strongly recommend keeping boot hardening enabled.
This feature significantly enhances security by preventing unauthorized users from accessing the Windows backend before the Kiosk UI has fully launched.