Create Shortcut that is Full Screen

Righc click on the shortcut, select properties, select shortcut tab, and in the Run box click the dropdown arrow and select Run Maximized

But I also want the toolbars to not return when I make the window non full screen.  In other words, I want there to be no toolbars whatsoever - like when you open an new window in JavaScript and set toolbars to "no".
Thanx

Here is the answer:

1. Create a shorcut on your desktop to IEXPLORE.EXE.

2. Make sure that the shortcut works correctly.

3. Edit the shortcut's target properties to read like this:

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -k

Notice that the "-k" is attached on the end.  This puts the browser into Kiosk mode.

Another fun tip!:

If you would like the user to ONLY have access to the browser and lock the ability to change any system settings without any fuss, all you have to do is edit the following registry line on the targer computer:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell

All you have to do is change the shell from "explorer.exe" to "iexplore -k".  

So, when the user logs on, they can ONLY get to the browser! (Note: Computer savvy people will know to hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, so you will want to create a policy to lock out task manager)

bcurtis  http://www.experts-exchange.com/info/expertonly.html says:
"Please propose an "Answer" only when you are sure it will solve the questioner's problem. It is difficult for experts to find questions in need of answers when members interested in only obtaining points have locked questions."

When you "answer" a question, rather than posting a comment, it removes the question from the active question queue until either the person posting the question has a chance to respond, or until you convert your answer to a comment. This is unfair to the person posting the question.

Once the questioner sees a comment that he feels answers his question, all he has to do is click Accept Comment As Answer in the Green Bar for the comment he wishes to select. (You don't see that link, but the questioner does).

Also all you have done is combined what pjknibbs said and what I said.

RobotMan, to remove the toolbars, just make sure the home pag for the browser is a local file that uses

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="javascript">
window.open ('newpage.htm', 'newwindow', config='
height=100,width=250,left=350,top=0,
toolbar=no,menubar=no,srollbars=no,resizable=no,
location=no,directories=no,status=no')
</SCRIPT>

to launch a window, whatever size you want, without toolbars. If they close the window they will see the one with the toolbars.

Sorry,
bcurtis - I want to not only create Short cut to IE, but to a certain web document, i.e. http://robotman/cfdocs/billet/index.cfm.

singleton - Your idea is okay, but I need the window openned to be Full Screen and w/o toolbars when the user goes to the site through a shortcut.  I can't open up another window as well.

pjknibbs - This might work, but the I don't want to open up IE only, I want to open a certain website.  In other words, I need an Internet Shortcut that opens IE in kiosk mode.

singleton - This might also work, except that I need IE to go to a certain site that is not the Home page.

bcurtis - Just a little more help and you've got it.  How do put the user on a site other than Home?

bcurtis - also, the user NEEDS to be able to close the window - As in Full screen mode (not maximized mode).

If you create a shortcut with a path like so:

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -k http://robotman/cfdocs/billet/index.cfm

this will open the page http://robotman/cfdocs/billet/index.cfm in kiosk mode. Sounds like that is what you need, right?

But I don't fully understand what you want, since you seem to contradict yourself and some things don't make sense:

"I need an Internet Shortcut that opens IE in kiosk mode."
You can't do that at all, since an Internet Shortcut is JUST a URL, and will open in the default browser, be it IE or Netscape or something else. I believe the only way you can do this is to have a page that uses JavaScript to open the page you want in a new window with the properties you want.

What I gave you is a Windows shortcut that will open the page in IE in kiosk mode. Note that kiosk mode is Full Screen (NOT maximized) which means it is the entire screen, so you get no task bar, no nothing.

Later you say:
"also, the user NEEDS to be able to close the window - As in Full screen mode (not maximized mode). "

I think maybe you meant "As in maximized mode (not full screen mode)".  The user can close the window in either case, but in full screen mode (like what you get in kiosk mode) there is no title bar, so no little 'x' to click.

I'm confused by your comment RobotMan, since bcurtis (no dishonor intended), used other people information in what was posted as an answer.  I fail to make sense of what you said in terms of saying " and then you've got it ".  Quite confusing.  Thus, I am just listening for the outcome.

Asta

Singleton,

Forgive me for thinking that I had the correct answer, if you look at the first post you will notice that it SPECIFIES FULL SCREEN and says nothing about the ability to close. Naturally, a person would assume from the skimpy requirments given, that this would fill in the requirments that the user wanted. Also, when I saw this question, I thought was the first poster. Not until I submitted it did I see the other comments, but I felt the lockout part of my answer was what the author was shooting for so I did not followup with a correct post.

So I humbly ask you to please refrain from flaming "conchita" for making the same transgression I did. He probably had the same thing happen to him.

I am here to help and haven't ever relied on this site for support (heck, didn't even know about it until 2 days ago). To have any form of help that I have to offer met with a condesending attitude such as yours and the accusation that I am repackaging your input in the form of an answer is both insulting and also insightful of the kind of person you are.

Guys... Guys...  Calm Down Please...

I'm no idiot and I won't give only one person some points because he/she wrote down a collaboration of other peoples’ answers.  If you don’t believe me, check my history.  I am don’t care half as much about the points as I do about getting the answer that helps me do what I need to do and I am willing to give points to all who helped me arrive at my final goal.  

With that said, I will try to put my question in a better way.  
In IE 5, there is a “Standard Button” on the “Standard Buttons Toolbar” that allows one to change the browser to “Full Screen” mode.  This is not a maximize button; it makes the browser the same size as the screen, as in kiosk mode, while putting the “Standard Buttons” Toolbar and the Minimize, Maximize, Close window buttons into “Auto hide”.  This mode is what I want to reach from some kind of a shortcut that is on the users desktop.  I am not sure what kind of a shortcut is needed, as long as I can specify the target URL.  Kiosk is similar to Full Screen mode, though the two are not the same -- try the two out and you will see the difference – mainly that the Minimize, Maximize, Close window buttons are not present, although this is not too much of a problem.  

Conchita – I tried your last comment, “"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -k http://robotman/cfdocs/billet/index.cfm”, and I cannot get to the correct page.  I also tried changing the URL, but that did not work either.  I only got the generic “Server cannot be found” error page no matter what the URL.  Is there a more particular format that must be used to ensure that the correct URL is reached???

Please don’t be alarmed by my directing comments with one person’s name.  I do this for everyone’s benefit.  If I just said that, “ I tried your last comment”, no one would know which comment I am making a reference to.

"Kiosk is similar to Full Screen mode, though the two are not the same -- try the two out and you will see the difference – mainly that the Minimize, Maximize, Close window buttons are not present, although this is not too much of a problem."
That's correct. Kiosk Mode has NO Toolbars. There do not appear to be command line options for specifying what you want, so I doubt it's possible.

"I tried your last comment, “"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -k http://robotman/cfdocs/billet/index.cfm”, and I cannot get to the correct page.  I also tried changing the URL, but that did not work either.  I only got the generic “Server cannot be found” error page no matter what the URL."

It will work with any URL that can be reached from any normal IE window. The problem must be with the URLs you are using. Try:

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -k http://www.experts-exchange.com

Works right for me ...

conchita, I tried it out again and got it to work.  I really would rather the user can see the Minimize, Maximize, Close buttons that Full Screen mode allows.  I am going to wait a little while to see if anyone else has any suggestions along this line.  Thanx.

That's what I expect - the kiosk mode is not quite what you're looking for.

Anyway, all I really did was add more detail to the previous suggestions of using the -k option, pjknibbs posted the idea first.

bcurtis If you thought you were the first poster, how did you get down to the comment box at 09:44AM PDT, without scrolling past one comment the previous day at 11:44PM PDT, another at 04:33AM PDT, and a third at 04:48AM PDT

In what way did I flame conchita?

Singleton,

I figured that "conchita" answered the same as me in another post...guess I was wrong.

Well, I admit it! I guess I am a fraud. The feeble excuse that I put forth in my previous post betrayed me! I DID see those 2 other posts! And then posted my own in order to inflate my own ego!

But....Due to your superior intellect, I was caught and exposed as a fraud! I feel so cheap and promise to never again go against you! I would be a moron to post an answer to a problem that was already posted two times. I actually have no idea about how computers work! Microsoft's operating systems and browsers are a complete mystery to me. As a matter of fact, I don't even know how to perform a live debug!

This is seriously a new relevation for me! Now I have to notify my Project Manager about by resignation and think about employment in the janitorial field!

Many thanks to you Singleton. Your Sherlock Holmes detective work paid off!

As a matter of fact....aw, forget it...this is my last post on this stupid end-user topic...could care less. Have at it Singleton....flame me all ya want. There is no way to defend myself against zealots.

Everybody...sorry for the rant. Just got a tad mad.

singleton,
You suggested right clicking and choosing "Run Maximized".  Is there some choice somewhere that allows one to run in "Full Screen" mode?

Singleton,

I figured that "conchita" answered the same as me in another post...guess I was wrong.

Well, I admit it! I guess I am a fraud. The feeble excuse that I put forth in my previous post betrayed me! I DID see those 2 other posts! And then posted my own in order to inflate my own ego!

But....Due to your superior intellect, I was caught and exposed as a fraud! I feel so cheap and promise to never again go against you! I would be a moron to post an answer to a problem that was already posted two times. I actually have no idea about how computers work! Microsoft's operating systems and browsers are a complete mystery to me. As a matter of fact, I don't even know how to perform a live debug!

This is seriously a new relevation for me! Now I have to notify my Project Manager about by resignation and think about employment in the janitorial field!

Many thanks to you Singleton. Your Sherlock Holmes detective work paid off!

As a matter of fact....aw, forget it...this is my last post on this stupid end-user topic...could care less. Have at it Singleton....flame me all ya want. There is no way to defend myself against zealots.

Everybody...sorry for the rant. Just got a tad mad.

Singleton,

I figured that "conchita" answered the same as me in another post...guess I was wrong.

Well, I admit it! I guess I am a fraud. The feeble excuse that I put forth in my previous post betrayed me! I DID see those 2 other posts! And then posted my own in order to inflate my own ego!

But....Due to your superior intellect, I was caught and exposed as a fraud! I feel so cheap and promise to never again go against you! I would be a moron to post an answer to a problem that was already posted two times. I actually have no idea about how computers work! Microsoft's operating systems and browsers are a complete mystery to me. As a matter of fact, I don't even know how to perform a live debug!

This is seriously a new relevation for me! Now I have to notify my Project Manager about by resignation and think about employment in the janitorial field!

Many thanks to you Singleton. Your Sherlock Holmes detective work paid off!

As a matter of fact....aw, forget it...this is my last post on this stupid end-user topic...could care less. Have at it Singleton....flame me all ya want. There is no way to defend myself against zealots.

Everybody...sorry for the rant. Just got a tad mad.

Robotman: I am pretty sure the following will do the trick:

Firstly create a text file on your desktop called 'dummy.htm' with the following text:

<HTML>
<BODY onload="window.location.replace('http://www.experts-exchange.com');">
<BODY>
</HTML>

replace the experts-exchange URL with the URL of your choice.

Next create a windows shortcut to execute the command:

C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe -k file:c:\windows\desktop\dummy.htm

Save the shortcut and voila!

If you don't want the HTM file on your desktop, you can put it anywhere, just remember to put the appropriate folder name in your shortcut.

Sorry the command above needs to be in quotes as follows:

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -k c:\windows\desktop\dummy.htm

RobotMan I am not sure what "full screen" mode means.

Right clicking in the shortcut gives one the choice between normal, minimized, and maximized.

Maximized is the one that gives you the two boxes between the "-" (minimize) and "x" (close) buttons.

Perhaps by "full screen" you mean dragging the sides and top/bottom to fill the screen and then closing the browser. It should reopen in normal mode to that configuration  until someone drags the sides again.

A normal window that is set to full screen sometimes comes up not complgin=kennethso; uverything, or with some stuff slightly outside the margins (unlike maximized which does not have this problem), but if this mode satisfies you, then the task becomes extremely simple. A shortcut to any html file should bring up the default browser in that mode.

I hesitate to mention it, because bcurtis may see the need to post three more of his self depricating rants, but the distinction between what he did, and what conchita did was that he posted a combination of two comments as an "answer", while conchita posted as a comment, which the rest of us have done.

For all who do not know what "Full Screen" mode is in IE, Right Click on your "Standard Button Toolbar".  Then, choose "customize" in the menu that appears.  A window should open that w/ the title of "Cusomize Toolbar".  Scroll through the buttons to add in the left menu.  Eventually, you should find one that is called "Full Screen".  Add this to your toolbar and close the window.  Afterwards, go to any page and click the "Full Screen" button.  The window will take up the entire window and will drop its borders, as in Kiosk mode.  However, you will notice that the Close, minimize and maximize buttons are autohide and wil return when you move your mouse to the top right of the screen.  More importantly to me, you will notice that the Start Menu is also now Autohide, regardless of what it was before - as long as you remain in this window in Full Screen mode.  That way, you can go to the start menu and move to another program, which is not as readily available in Kiosk mode - (Ctrl - Tab, Ctrl - Alt - Delete / Choose program / switch to).  The users who will need this are computer computer ignorant.  If I tell them that they can no longer see the start menu, then they will freak because it is what they are used to and will not know how to change windows, even if I teach them.
Please try the Full Screen mode out - that way you'll know Exactly what I am asking for.
Sorry for the confusion,
~ RobotMan

Sad ears listening for a final excellent outcome here, while I go off to ponder all of this.  So many words flood my mind, but I've placed a stop sign at my iterating them...now.

---
In Full Screen mode, only the Standard Buttons toolbar is present and you cannot see the taskbar. To run Internet Explorer in a window when you load a channel, follow these steps:

On the View menu, click Internet Options.


Click the Advanced tab.


Under Browsing, click the "Launch Channels in full screen window" check box to clear it, and then click OK

excerpt from http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q172/6/05.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0  which I post ONLY because a prior IE I recalled reading about had problems of only opening in "FULL SCREEN" mode due to channels.... who knows, alternative maybe.


Asta

Well you learn something every day. I don't have an answer for you.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q150/6/00.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q182/3/50.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q211/3/35.ASP
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q236/3/61.ASP

seem related, but none of them seems to me to be exactly what you are asking for. Perhaps you can't get there from here.

Okay, well since there doesn't seem to be a way to do this normally within IE, you can do a kind of registry hack that will do what you want. You can write a batch file to change the full screen value to yes, then launch your page, then back to no.

You need to create two registry files:

file: fullscreen.reg looks like so:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"FullScreen"="yes"

When merged into the registry, it
The file normscreen.reg will look the same, but replace "yes" with "no".

Now you can create a batch file, mypage.bat that looks like:

regedit /s fullscreen.reg
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" http://www.experts-exchange.com
regedit /s normscreen.reg

Now you can out all these in the same directory and create a shortcut to the batch file on the desktop (or wherever you want it). You'll probably want to set the shortcut to "Run minimized" since it will open a DOS window to run in otherwise. You will also probably want to change the icon - you can make it an IE shortcut icon or whatever by selecting "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" and then selecting the icon you want from that list.

You might be able to use javascripting as well if YOU are designing the page. Post this querry in the Web Development section.

I did make a posting linking to this page in the Javascript page / I am developing the page.
Thanx

conchita!!!  
That is ALMOST exactly what I need!!!

The only problem left is that I want the DOS menu to close right after it completes the task - is there an EXIT function that will close the window?  Could I run the window in silent mode?  If you can think of any thing to hide the UGLY DOS window from the user's eyes?

As an aside, can I delete "mainkey.reg" right after the old settings are restored?  Would I do that by - "del mainkey.reg"?
 
Thank you so much.  This is very, very close!!!

By the way, settings aren't being reset after I close the window.  Isn't there a way to execute IEXPLORER and not wait for it to close to continue to the next task?

I tried the following, with the "/Q", which I thought was silent mode - but the window still opens.  Can that be avoided?!?

: Set Full Screen
regedit /s /Q RagingMaenFullScreen.reg

: Launch the page
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" http://robotman/cfdocs/billet/index.cfm

: Set Full Screen
regedit /s /Q RagingMaenNormScreen.reg

The DOS window is not being opened by regedit. The /s switch to regedit tells it to merge silently. It's coming up because you're running a batch file. I don't think you can run a batch file without a DOS box opening, although if you tell your shortcut to run minimized, at least it will be minimized and will have the icon you give your shortcut.

To make it finish the script immediately instead of waiting for you to close IE, you would run IE in the background, by using

START "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" http://robotman/cfdocs/billet/index.cfm

But there are two problems with doing that. First, you might change the settings back to normal before IE has actually read them, so it will run with normal settings instead of full screen. Second, if it manages to read the settings before you change them back and starts full screen, then when you close the window it will save the settings for that window - full screen.

So you have to do the change after the window is closed, which means you have to wait for it to close.

Only way I can think of is to write an app in C++ (or VB or Delphi) to run in the background and wait for it to close. But there might be a scripting language that can do it. Maybe even simple DOS scripting will do it, but if so, I don't know how.

Anyone? Maybe python or pearl can do it?

Oh, I think TCL/TK can maybe do it.

conchita,
  Do you know a way to edit which buttons show up in the toolbar using the same method as above.  I want to remove the back button from the standard toolbar when the user runs the batch file, like how you set the FullScreen property.  If this is too much hassel, just let me know and forget about it.  I tried looking through the toolbars section using regedit, but that was only third-party toolbars, not standard toolbar buttons.  I am sure that there must be a place where all the buttons are kept!!!

Yuck - looks like it's stored in a nasty format under a couple of GUIDs in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar.

It should work out if you open IE and change the toolbar around to what you want it to look like, then close the window (so it will save) then open regedit, go to Toolbar and export the key (Registry | export registry file). Then you can copy the imortant parts of that into your existing registry file to make full screen. You'll need the GUID names (the nasty numbers) under the root Toolbar and under Toolbar\WebBrowser and I think that should do it.

I'll try it and let you know
Thanx

Sorry...  I couldn't get it to work.  Maybe you can get it to work.  
P.S.  If you can, I'll throw in another 25 points and another A!!!

Don't worry about the points - it's not important. Here's what I did:

Remove the back button from IE and close the window. Open IE back up and make sure it cam up without the back button and the configuration is what you want it to be.

In regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar.
Now, with 'Toolbar' highlighted, go to Registry | Export Registry File.
In the "Export range" section, make sure "Selected branch" is selected, and that the box says "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar" (if not, just paste it in there). Save it as tb.reg or something.

Now, open up tb.reg and the previous reg file, I called fullscreen.reg, in notepad or some other text editor. Copy everything from tb.reg into into fullscreen.reg. Now in fullscreen.reg you should have the following values under
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar]
"LinksFolderName"
"ShowDiscussionButton"
"{1E796980-9CC5-11D1-A83F-00C04FC99D61}"
"Theater"

You can get rid of LinksFolderName, ShowDiscussionButton, and Theater. (That means delete the name in quotes AND all the stuff after the '='.

Now you can delete all of [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\Explorer] and
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\ShellBrowser].
So just delete from the key name until you get to another key name.

The last one is [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser]. Here you should have
"{01E04581-4EEE-11D0-BFE9-00AA005B4383}"
"{0E5CBF21-D15F-11D0-8301-00AA005B4383}"
"ITBarLayout"
You can delete ITBarLayout, but leave the other two.
If you have anything in your key that I don't list here, you shouldn't need it.


Okay, now ...

change the script to look like

: Backup the current settings
regedit /e mainkey.reg "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main"
regedit /e toolbar.reg "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar"

: Set Full Screen
regedit /s fullscreen.reg

: Launch the page
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" http://www.experts-exchange.com

: Restore the old settings
regedit /s mainkey.reg
regedit /s toolbar.reg

: delete the temp files
del mainkey.reg
del toolbar.reg