Support

Kiosk Manager

Setup guide, FAQ and how to get help.

What it is

Kiosk Manager is a Rock RMS plugin for managing the computers by your TVs. It works with the free Works In All Things Kiosk, which turns a Linux computer into a full-screen player for one web page, such as a Signage Player URL. From Rock you can see every kiosk's health, change what it shows and when its screen turns off and on, and restart or reboot it.

It has nothing to do with Rock check-in, and doesn't use Rock's devices.

Requirements

  • Rock RMS 19.4 or later.
  • Kiosks running Works In All Things Kiosk 1.0 or later, on a Linux distribution with systemd (Ubuntu, Debian, Raspberry Pi OS, Fedora, Arch, openSUSE and others), that can reach Rock.
  • Rock RealTime for live updates, which is on by default.

Install

Install Kiosk Manager from the Rock Shop (Admin Tools › Rock Shop). Rock restarts and creates Admin Tools › Installed Plugins › Kiosk Manager, with the Kiosks page.

The pages are viewable by the RSR - Staff Workers and RSR - Staff Like Workers roles. Those roles can also restart kiosks' browsers, turn their screens off and on, and reboot them. Adding, changing and removing kiosks needs Edit on the block (administrators have it). Change this with the Kiosk List and Kiosk Detail blocks' security: Restart Browser and Reboot are separate permissions.

Set up

  1. Check the Internal Application Root. In Admin Tools › Settings › Global Attributes, Internal Application Root should be the address your kiosks can reach Rock at, ideally https://. Kiosks contact Rock there, and Signage Player URLs start with it.
  2. Add a kiosk. On Kiosks, click Add. Give it a name, a campus and location if you like, the address to show (or pick a Signage display), its time zone, rotation, resolution, screen times and nightly restart, and click Add Kiosk.
  3. Link the computer. Rock shows a code and two commands. The code works once, for 24 hours.
    • On a new computer (with Linux installed and on the network), paste the first command. It installs Kiosk with the kiosk's settings, asks nothing except whether to turn off a desktop, and links the computer to Rock.
    • On a computer that already runs Kiosk, paste the second one: sudo kiosk manage <rock address> <code>.
  4. Within a minute the kiosk shows its address and is Online in Rock.

Using it

  • Change a kiosk's settings on its page in Rock. The kiosk picks them up within a minute. While Rock manages a kiosk, the kiosk command on the computer shows the settings but won't change them.
  • Restart, reboot, screen off or on, update: on a kiosk's page, or tick several kiosks on Kiosks and use the action bar. The kiosk does it within a minute; its page lists what it was asked and what came of it. An action that isn't collected within 10 minutes (for example while the computer is off) is dropped.
  • Change times on several kiosks: tick them, then Set Times. Their other settings are kept.
  • Replace a computer: on the kiosk's page, Make New Code, then link the new computer with it. The old one is unlinked at once.
  • Stop managing a kiosk: Remove it in Rock, then run sudo kiosk unmanage on the computer. It keeps its settings and shows the same address.

FAQ

A kiosk says Needs Attention.

It's online, but its browser isn't running while the screen should be on, it couldn't apply its settings (the page says why), it has less than 1 GB of free disk space, or its last action failed.

A kiosk is Offline but the TV still shows the page.

The computer can't reach Rock. It keeps showing its address with its current settings and tries again every minute. Check its network, and that it can reach the Internal Application Root.

“Rock didn't accept the code” when linking.

Codes work once and expire after 24 hours. On the kiosk's page, Make New Code.

The Rock address is http://.

The kiosk refuses it unless the command ends with --allow-http, because its token would cross the network unencrypted. Use https:// where you can; http:// is for test servers.

Update Kiosk says “up to date”.

The computer already has the latest Kiosk release, so nothing was downloaded or restarted.

Does Rock run commands on the computers?

No. Rock can only send the settings on the kiosk's page and five actions (restart the browser, screen off, screen on, reboot, update Kiosk). The computer checks every value before it uses it, and contacts Rock itself; Rock never connects to it.

Uninstall

Rock doesn't run uninstall steps automatically, so the plugin package includes them. When you install from the Rock Shop, Rock keeps a copy of the package on the server.

  1. Get the uninstall script. On the Rock server, open the Rock web folder, then App_Data\RockShop\ and the Kiosk Manager folder inside it. Copy the newest .plugin file somewhere else, rename the copy to end in .zip, and open it. Inside is uninstall\run.sql. If you can't reach the server, email us for the script.
  2. Run it in Admin Tools › SQL Editor. It removes the pages, blocks, tables and settings, and every kiosk's token, so no computer can reach Rock as a kiosk again.
  3. Delete the plugin files from the Rock web folder: Bin\com.worksinallthings.KioskManager.dll and the folder Plugins\com_worksinallthings\KioskManager. You can also delete the package's folder in App_Data\RockShop.
  4. Restart Rock.
  5. On each computer, run sudo kiosk unmanage. It keeps showing its address, and the kiosk command can change its settings again.

Reinstalling later: Rock remembers Rock Shop installs in App_Data\InstalledStorePackages.json, so the Rock Shop will still show the plugin as installed. To reinstall, either copy the content folder from the saved package into the Rock web folder and restart Rock, or remove the Kiosk Manager entry from that file and install from the Rock Shop again. The uninstall script clears the plugin's setup history, so either way it sets itself up from scratch. Kiosks have to be added and linked again.

Report a problem

Email [email protected]. Please include:

  • your Rock version (Admin Tools › Settings › System Information);
  • the kiosk's distribution and the output of kiosk status and sudo kiosk logs;
  • what you did and what you expected to happen;
  • a screenshot of the kiosk's page in Rock;
  • any related entry from Admin Tools › Settings › Exception List.