Silent Print + Kiosk Mode

FAQ

• What is Kiosk Mode? 
  • Kiosk mode is a mode for web browsers to allow them to automatically start in full screen and behave in a way to limit what the user can do on the device
• What is Silent/Auto Print? 
  • Silent/Auto printing is the ability to bypass the print dialog the browser normally pops up when asked to print and automatically print, in this case it turnstile and attendance check in take advantage of this.
• What uses Silent Print in Genesis? 
  • "Turnstile → Scanning"
  • "Attendance → Check In → Checkin"
• How can I enable this for those modules? 
  • "Turnstile → Scanning" 
    • "Turnstile → Setup" - and check "Automatically print pass on checkout"
  • "Attendance → Check In → Checkin" 
    • "Attendance → Check In → Setup" - and check "Automatically print pass on checkin"
• Why is there a save dialog appearing (and not automatically printing) whenever I try to print? 
  • Make sure the correct printer is selected for your browser. This can be done in the print dialog, some browser try to save PDFs when they are printed
• What is this "Warning: The PDF is not fully loaded for printing." in firefox? 
  • Firefox can have issues with loading the PDFs fast enough, switching to edge or chrome can fix this issue
• If your browser does not open in full screen, then you are NOT in kiosk mode.  Try switching to another browser type (edge or chrome or firefox) if you are having issues in one of them.  Local settings or policies may prevent you from entering kiosk mode or auto printing and are beyond our ability to diagnose.  Speak to your local technology department to help troubleshoot browser issues.

If after completing this setup you are having issues, open your browser with your new shortcut then hit CTRL-P on your keyboard.  If your browser did not open in full screen and your screen did not automatically print (without you having to hit any dialog boxes) then you must first troubleshoot your browser setup before we are able to offer support.

First Steps

Steps 1-3 are optional.  Use them if you wish to setup your kiosk to automatically login when the browser is opened.

1.  (optional) Make sure "Setup→ Districts→ Basic Params." option "Allow URL Login for Genesis Users" is enabled.
2.  (optional) On the user account that will be used for the kiosk, enable 'Allow URL Login'
3.  (optional) Click the generate URL button and fill in the necessary info to create a url that will allow the user to automatically log in
4. Create a new shortcut icon for whatever browser you will be launching in kiosk mode
5. Launch the browser and launch the print dialog, confirm that it is set to go to a printer you have setup

Google Chrome/Microsoft Edge

• Create new shortcut for chrome,
• Right Click + Properties on the new Icon
  
• Go to the target field under 'Shortcut'
  
• Paste in the following information after the target location surrounded by "..." 
  • --kiosk --kiosk-printing 
• After, paste the login url. The Target field should look something like this: 
  • "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --kiosk --kiosk-printing https://genesis.localhost:443/genesis/sis/view/urllogon?j_username=username&j_password=password&module=turnstile&category=studentscan&action=form

Firefox

• Open Firefox, copy and paste "about:config" into the URL bar and click accept when warned
• Type "print.always_print_silent" into the search bar and hit enter.
• Click + button as shown below
  
• Make sure value is set to true
  
• Create new shortcut for firefox,
• Right Click + Properties on the new Icon
  
• Go to target field under "Shortcut"
  
• Paste in the following information after the target location surrounded by "..." 
  • --kiosk
• After, paste the login url. The Target field should look something like this: 
  • "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" --kiosk https://genesis.localhost:443/genesis/sis/view/urllogon?j_username=username&j_password=password&module=turnstile&category=studentscan&action=form