Disable shortcuts in Google Chrome

Question

Is there a way to disable and replace shortcut commands in Google Chrome. I want to use Chrome for a public computer that only can access one site. Because of this I want to disable keys like Ctrl+Tab, Ctrl+T, Alt+F4 and I want to change F11 to a command like Ctrl+Shift+Alt+J (example) to stop users from exiting full screen mode.

Settings on the network block everything but a specific domain but now I want to block the user from exiting the browser.

Solution 1

I know this question is quite old, but I found a solution that works for me (and probably many others too). If you don't use the CTRL and ALT keys in the browser at all, you can disable them in the OS itself.

Under Linux, I used xmodmap -pke to find out which key is mapped to which code. Knowing the keycodes, I used:

xmodmap -e "keycode 37 = "
xmodmap -e "keycode 105 = "

to disable both left and right CTRL keys (to prevent something like CTRL+W, CTRL+T, etc.), then with:

xmodmap -e "keycode 133 = "
xmodmap -e "keycode 134 = "

both left and right SUPER keys (Windows Keys) (to prevent opening the start menu and such fancy stuff)

and then finally with xmodmap -e "keycode 105 = " I disabled the ALT key (to prevent ALT+F4, etc.).

And optionally, we can disable F1 too, so that the Chrome Support Page doesn't open, with: xmodmap -e "keycode 67 = "

Finally, let Chromium or Chrome lock the rest down for us using Kiosk Mode:

chromium-browser --kiosk http://example.com/

or

google-chrome --kiosk http://example.com/

And right click is already disabled in kiosk mode, so we don't need to change anything there.

With all that done, the end user can only navigate with the mouse within the predefined webpage (And links leading to some other content, of course) and write stuff with the normal characters on the keyboard, but nothing more. Reloading may be still possible (F5), but even that can be disabled with: xmodmap -e "keycode 71 = "

Caution: Please execute xmodmap -pke first to discover if your keyboard or OS have the same keymapping, or you may disable other normal keys without knowing.

Caution 2: Note that if you've done everyhing above and then launch Chrome or Chromium in Kiosk Mode, you can't get out anymore! Only physically pressing the power button or killing the application over SSH or Telnet will let you resume normal operation again.

To make those changes permanent, read the end of this guide: https://stackoverflow.com/a/11219056/3525780

EDIT: To those who have problems disabling the F1, F5, etc. keys, use following as a workaround:

xmodmap -e "keycode 67 = Escape"

(Somehow those "F keys" need to be assigned to an already existing and assigned key)

Solution 2

Having recently encountered the same kiosk-type problem (and not being able disable all keys in Chrome) I eventually found a solution which I thought I would share:

Using node-webkit I created the following package.json file:

{
    "name" : "mykiosk",
    "window" : {
        "fullscreen" : true,
        "toolbar" : false
    },
    "main" : "http://the-one-and-only-allowed.url/"
}

Launch with: ./nw

All function keys are blocked. Ctrl+N/T do not create tabs. It is quite nice

One last javascript/onload trick to disable the right-click context menu:

window.oncontextmenu = function(ev) {
  ev.preventDefault();
  ev.stopPropogation();
  return false;
}

Solution 3

Chrome has Kiosk Mode, but that won't prevent users from using OS keyboard shortcuts (like ALT+F4, which aren't part of Chrome. Windows handles those). To start it in Kiosk Mode, run it using these parameters:

chrome.exe --kiosk http://www.google.com

My public library actually did something pretty awesome: they installed an extremely minimal Debian build on their kiosks, and run Google Chrome on each one. There are no close buttons, and no desktop to get into, so this deters virtually all the CTRL+ALT+DELETE hackers out there. ALT+F4 doesn't work either, and closing the browser by right-clicking opens up another one instantly.

But they forgot to get rid of GRUB's 10 second timeout, which lets users (well, me) get into recovery mode -_-, so I'm working with them to get that fixed...

I'd seriously consider Linux, as you can install it really quickly on multiple computers and basically forget about viruses and security. But the downside is that there isn't a "Administrator Panel" for you to tweak things with. You'd have to whip out nano (sorry, can't get used to vim) and edit some config files.

Solution 4

For me using version 52.0.2743 the --kiosk tag didn't work, but the --app="http://www.example.com" did what I wanted. (Disabled chrome keyboard shortcuts so I could use shellinabox + nano without issue.)

Also works on Chrome Canary (for which the --kiosk tag also didnt' work).

Other possibly helpful links: Chrome support how to make a Kiosk App: https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/3316168?hl=en Kiosk App for Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kiosk/afhcomalholahplbjhnmahkoekoijban?hl=en

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