Locked System where ALT/Shift/S not working and no second Admin account

Broome Museum now has two Secure Lockdown for Chrome Licences purchased about a week apart. Both are being used in Kiosk mode to a single (but different) site.
The one we've had up, working successfully, for a while has decided to go on holiday today :)
The screen appears to be locked (on the correct site) with no action via keyboard or mouse recognised. A physical power off/on reboots the computer back to the correct site, but keyboard and mouse still not recognised. The mouse and keyboard have been tired on another PC and are ok. I've also tried a different mouse & keyboard on the PC in question without success.

This is effectively a dead computer unless I can get it back into a non Secure Lockdown (i.e. Windows) screen so that I can see what is going on. Is there a "back door"?
NB: the machine is running Windows 7 Pro.

BTW: I've seen the page "Recover from a Locked Down Account where Alt-Shift-S is not Working" on the Support Forum, but do not have access to a second Admin Account. NB: the on-screen install instructions recommend deactivating UAC, which I did!

Thank you,

John Kennedy
Broome Museum

Inteset Support said to check that USB was enabled in the BIOS set-up:

Ok, I powered up the PC in question and got into the BIOS. This does indicate that USB Controller is enabled.
PC still inaccessible when Windows is up – i.e. the correct file is on the screen (a local pdf file), but the keyboard and mouse are not being recognised.

Some notes:
•  keyboard and mouse are both USB connected (i.e. not WiFi).
•  Keyboard and mouse both work normally when in BIOS set-up mode.
•  There is no Internet connection to this PC.
•  It was running ok as a Kiosk for nearly five days before this problem arose.
•  PC is in use by the public so no way of knowing if this situation is due to a particular sequence of keys, or what????


John Kennedy

I'm still stuck with an effectively "dead" PC - no one have any fresh ideas?

Tks,
John Kennedy

For reference:

In the System Settings > Machine Level tab, if you have the "No USB Drives" option selected, Secure Lockdown will not allow new USB devices to register with the OS. If a USB device is already registered on a particular USB port (ie: the keyboard) it will remain available. But, if you unplug the keyboard and place it in a different USB port, it will not register with the OS or work. You must plug it back into the original USB port. If you disable Secure Lockdown, then the keyboard should register on the new USB port.

Have you tried plugging the keyboard into all of the USB ports?

If you have remote access software to the system such as LogMeIn or Teamviewer, you'll be able to navigate using the remote keyboard.

The problem occurred for me after the Secure Lockdown Kiosk Mode had been running successfully for 4 days.

To the best of my knowledge no one moved the USB plugs for the mouse and keyboard in the back of the PC - they would need to be down on their knees and in full view of a museum custodian!

Yes, I can try the mouse & keyboard in one of the other USB ports - there are six. However, I think that is clutching at straws and how many combinations of two plus in six ports are there?

I'd love to disable Secure Lockdown (that's what I'm trying to do), but with the mouse and keyboard not recognised HOW?

I do not have any remote access PC management software installed.

PS: I now know that if I had a second admin account loaded then I could get out of this. However, that being the case then why does Secure Lockdown software advise to disable UAC when going through the enable process?  

Ho, bloody, hum ...

John Kennedy
Broome Museum

UAC prompts will appear each time Secure Lockdown is run. So, your users will see the prompt if they log in or reboot to the locked down account. They could then choose to reject Secure Lockdown from running, thus expose some areas of Windows where they should not have access.

Yes, I 100% understand that, and that's why I disabled UAC!

However, Inteset Support is telling me that I can only get out of my situation if I have a second Admin account I can swap to - surely that cannot be true?

I have a dead PC, which is embarrassing in a museum situation. Surely I do not need to rebuild Windows to get out of this situation - i.e. mouse & keyboard not recognised once in Windows and hence unable to disable Secure Lockdown.

John Kennedy
Broome Museum

If you have tried plugging the keyboard into the 6 USB ports and it did not respond, you will need to start from scratch and rebuild the OS since none off the alternatives are available to you.

All fixed now thanks.
I got out of our problem by sitting on the floor and systematically plugging the keyboard and mouse into every possible combination of USB ports until I found the working (which must have been original) ones.

I no longer have "No USB Drives" ticked in the Secure Lockdown Machine Level tab.
NB: IMHO, and especially after my hassles, "No USB Drives" is a misnomer, when what you actually appear to mean is "No USB Ports"!

Thanks and regards,
John Kennedy
Broome Museum

Our next release of Secure Lockdown will break out the "No USB Drives" into two parts: "No Removable USB Drives" and "No New USB Devices." That should clarify the functionality more and provide some additional flexibility.