Disable Ctrl-Alt-Del and shutdown for kiosk

Question

I finished an app for a client. After talking for a bit he would like me to do an additional app or recommend one for their kiosk.

The client would like a way to prevent the computer from shutting down. They like to disable Ctrl+Alt+Delete (also so processes cant be killed), Alt+F4 to close their browser and no windows button to make the start menu pop up for the user to click or use keyboard to shutdown. Obviously there should be a way to unlock it

I told them i'll look into it but they really don't need it.

They are using Windows 7. Is there a WinAPI call I can use or an already existing app or a lib to do this?

Answer 1

Might be a better way, but AutoHotKey can disable or remap keys for you in Windows. http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/misc/Remap.htm and http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/misc/Override.htm.

It's a little safer than editing the registry yourself anyway. I haven't tried disabling Ctrl+Alt+Del, but it works for capslock and a couple other keys I've tried.

Answer 2

Since Windows 2000, there's a Registry binary key that allows you to remap keys just above the driver level:

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout\Scancode Map

Fortunately, there's also a GUI app which allows you to configure it easily, called SharpKeys (no affiliation, just a happy user). The remap is quite flexible, so far I've managed to remap every standard key (inc. Ctrl, Delete, F4, etc.), even the "multimedia" keys that are on some keyboards.

The app just writes the settings into Registry, so it need not be running all the time - and once you've found a layout that you like, you can just export/import the Registry key through Regedit, no special tools required.

I'd suggest to remap all the "dangerous" keys to something innocent - e.g. map Ctrl, Delete, and F4 to Shift.

CAVEAT: this is a system-wide setting, so if you'd ever need to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete in that system, you'd be out of luck (you'd have to edit the registry key again). Also, the mapping is read only once, after system boots, so you need to reboot to apply the changes.