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https://github.com/syedhassaanahmed/kiosk-demo-electron
Package and distribute Electron Apps and run them in Kiosk mode on Windows 10
https://github.com/syedhassaanahmed/kiosk-demo-electron
appveyor docker electron electron-packager msi powershell windows-10 winehq winetricks wix-toolset
Last synced: 4 days ago
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Package and distribute Electron Apps and run them in Kiosk mode on Windows 10
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/syedhassaanahmed/kiosk-demo-electron
- Owner: syedhassaanahmed
- License: mit
- Created: 2017-08-22T08:04:34.000Z (about 7 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2024-10-29T21:11:03.000Z (15 days ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-10-31T19:12:38.557Z (13 days ago)
- Topics: appveyor, docker, electron, electron-packager, msi, powershell, windows-10, winehq, winetricks, wix-toolset
- Language: PowerShell
- Homepage:
- Size: 3.27 MB
- Stars: 80
- Watchers: 6
- Forks: 17
- Open Issues: 1
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# kiosk-demo-electron
[](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/syedhassaanahmed/kiosk-demo-electron/branch/master)
This repository demonstrates how to package and distribute an Electron App which runs in Kiosk mode on Windows 10. It uses the [Windows 10 Shell Launcher](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/customize/enterprise/shell-launcher) as well as set the kiosk user to [AutoLogon](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/customize/desktop/unattend/microsoft-windows-shell-setup-autologon). Packaging the app as an MSI makes sure we can distribute it to multiple kiosks via an MDM solution e.g [Microsoft Intune](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/intune/apps-add).
**Note:** Shell Launcher feature requires [Windows 10 Enterprise Edition](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41504006/enabling-windows-10-kiosk-mode-using-embedded-shell-launcher).
The project is described in-depth in [this blog post](https://www.microsoft.com/developerblog/2018/04/17/packaging-electron-app-managed-distribution-across-devices/)
## Create Installer
### Windows
`npm run dist` will build everything and create the MSI in `dist` folder.
### Linux
Use `npm run dist:wine`. Script assumes that `Wine` and `dotnet45` (using `winetricks`) are installed and properly configured. If the full path of any of your electron-packager output files is longer than 128 chars, you'll run into [error LGHT0103 : The system cannot find the file](https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/5314#issuecomment-329188877). **Note:** `Light.exe` has a [known issue with MSI validation on Wine](https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=16248&iTestingId=39182) so it had to be turned off with `-sval` flag.
### Docker
`npm run dist:docker` will spin up an instance of [this image](https://github.com/syedhassaanahmed/node-wine/pkgs/container/node-wine), execute the above wine script and then copy artifacts back to host's `dist` folder. Script assumes that Docker daemon is running on host.
## Configure
Kiosk parameters are passed to the installer like this:
```
KioskDemoElectron.msi KIOSK_USERNAME= KIOSK_PASSWORD=
```
All params have a default value as can be seen in [product.wxs](https://github.com/syedhassaanahmed/kiosk-demo-electron/blob/master/tools/product.wxs).
## How it works
- First we package the app using [electron-packager](https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-packager)
- Then we harvest binaries produced by electron-packager using WiX's [Heat tool](http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/overview/heat.html).
- We also copy our PowerShell script into the root of electron-packager output. We could let the harvester take care of PowerShell files as well, but we wanted to explicitly specify them in `product.wxs` with [Custom Actions](http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/wixdev/extensions/authoring_custom_actions.html).
- Output of harvest tool is `heat.wxs` which contains a [Fragment](https://www.firegiant.com/wix/tutorial/upgrades-and-modularization/fragments/) with list of files. We take that as well as `product.wxs` and pass it to the [Candle tool](http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/overview/candle.html). Candle is responsible for preprocessing .wxs files and generates compiled `.wixobj` files.
- Finally we use the [Light tool](http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/overview/light.html) to generate MSI from .wixobj.
- PowerShell Scripts are executed from [WiX Custom Actions](https://damienbod.com/2013/09/01/wix-installer-with-powershell-scripts/).
## Why WiX instead of electron-winstaller (Squirrel.Windows)?
In our case, WiX provides lot of flexibility in terms of configuring the installer;
- Passing params to the setup
- Executing elevated PowerShell during install/uninstall events
- Modifying config files based on setup params
## Troubleshoot
MSI logging can be enabled by executing the installer like this:
```
msiexec /i "setup.msi" /l*v "msi.log" PARAM=VALUE
```
PowerShell log will be written in `C:\Windows\SysWOW64\powershell.log`.
## Telemetry
The solution uses [Application Insights](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/application-insights/app-insights-nodejs) to collect basic telemetry data from the app. To enable it, please create an environment variable named `APPINSIGHTS_INSTRUMENTATIONKEY` and set it to the Instrumentation Key obtained from Azure portal.