How much time to get up and running with SureLock?
Well..just did a quick test. I was able lock down a "fresh" Windows Mobile device in less than a minute, 54 seconds to be precise. Following steps were taken (Note: SureLock Studio was already installed on the desktop):
- Launched SureLock Studio
- Clicked New button on the toolbar to create a new project
- Added Internet Explorer as allowed application
- Clicked Build button to generate the CAB file
- Clicked Install button on the toolbar to transfer CAB file to the mobile device (connected with the desktop over ActiveSync) and installation was started automatically
- Once CAB installation was completed, SureLock started on the device locking it down to just Internet Explorer
Project creation and CAB building took 15 secs whereas installation took remaining 39 seconds.
Once the CAB has been built, we just have to install it on other handhelds as long as there is no change in the kiosk configuration which will require building the CAB file again.
New SureLock Studio features
Latest SureLock Studio release consists on the following new features:
1. Option to display WiFi Signal Strength icon on the kiosk launcher screen
2. Option to display IP address on the toolbox screen
3. Display current date and time on the kiosk launcher screen
If you don't know already what SureLock does, here is an intro. SureLock is a complete lock down tool for Windows Mobile based handheld devices. It controls what users of your devices can access on the handhelds. SureLock blocks unwanted programs, internet access, games, camera, phone calls, activesync, autorun etc on the device. For more information please visit SureLock page on our website.
Locking down WM 6.5 devices with SureLock
Latest WM 6.5 user interface is remarkably different than the earlier versions. Especially the location of Start menu button and the Start menu (Honeycomb look) itself. Latest version of SureLock Studio handles these differences nicely. SureLock now fully supports WM 6.5 devices. Check out the latest release.
Feature Checklist of Mobile Device Management tools
Mobile Device Management (MDM) refers to the approaches or solutions used by companies to remotely manage their mobile devices (PDAs, Smartphones, Laptops, Netbooks). Variety of devices involved pose a big challenge for anyone who intends to implement a Mobile Device Management Solution. In fact, a single solution may never fully satisfy the all the requirements. Hybrid solutions (multiple solutions from different vendors doing complimentary tasks) is a common approach that is used to solve this problem.
Here is a checklist of features that a typical Mobile Device Management solution should have:
* Remotely initiated Software Installation
* Remotely initiated Software Un-installation
* Device Inventory tracking (Including Firmware versions and information about various hardware components)
* Software Inventory tracking (Including OS versions and versions of installed third-party applications)
* Backup and Restore of critical business data
* Control user access to certain approved applications and features only
* Physical Device Tracking with GPS (View the device location on a map)
* Remote locking in case of attempts for unauthorized access
* Remote Wipe in case of attempts for unauthorized access
* Remote Control for administrative purposes (Remotely view device screen and perform user actions like mouse clicks or stylus taps).
* Device Health Check (Alerts and manual detection of issues)
* Gather Device Data for Audit purposes (e.g. Call Log Information, Information regarding SMS and Network usage etc.)
* Capability to send Alerts and Messages to mobile users
* Generate Reports
All of the above features can be further classified into various sub-features. That makes it really hard for any one solution to solve the Mobile Device Management problem. 42Gears is also attempting to solve this problem by developing multiple tools such as SureLock Studio, AirLink and WipeMyDevice.
42Gears develops mobile device management tools for enterprises. Read more information about our products here.
Programmatically modifying SureLock Settings
One of the common requests we received from some of our customers was for a solution to make it possible for a third party application to programmatically change the SureLock Security password on the device.
We have implemented a generic solution to update SureLock settings on the device without having to reinstall the SureLock CAB files. Solution includes a new module, Supervisory Update (supupd.exe) which takes new SureLock settings (like security password) as command line parameters. For e.g. an application can change the password by launching supupd.exe with the following parameters:
\Program Files\SureLock\supupd.exe /changepwd
Here is a sample code (.NET C#):
Process proc1 = new Process();
string oldPassword = "0123";
string newPassword = "9876";
proc1.StartInfo.FileName = "\\Program Files\\SureLock\\supupd.exe";
proc1.StartInfo.Arguments = "/changepwd " + oldPassword + " "+ newPassword ;
proc1 .Start();
In future we will add more options to let applications change other SureLock settings, like adding and removing "approved" applications.
SureLock Studio : New Release (2009.10.4)
We are pleased to announce the release of SureLock Studio v2009.10.4. This release has some nice feature additions:
- Select "Approved" program from Standard Programs List. No more typing of long paths.
- Merge multiple cabs into a single cab to make deployment easier
- Selectively enable hardware keys
- Option to change border color of the Kiosk Main Screen
- Access Remote Manager from a new toolbar button
SureLock Studio supports WM 6.5 devices
We have done extensive testing of SureLock on WM 6.5 environment and the software has behaved perfectly well. That puts WM 6.5 on the supported list of platforms. Here is the latest list:
Supported Platforms:
* Windows Mobile 6.5 (Classic & Professional)
* Windows Mobile 6.1 (Classic & Professional)
* Windows Mobile 6.0 (Classic & Professional)
* Windows Mobile 5.0 (Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phone Edition)
If you have any questions or feedback about SureLock Studio, please let us know.
SureLock Studio: New Release (2009.09.15.0)
We have released SureLock Studio v2009.09.15.0. This release has some new feature additions:
- Phone Signal Status Indicator on the Kiosk Main Screen
- Speaker Volume control
- Align Screen (Stylus Calibration) support
SureLock Studio: New Release (2009.08.31.0)
We have released SureLock Studio 2009.08.31.0. This update has fixes for phone keys control and user interface on the device.
For any feedback on this release, write to support_nospam@42gears.com (remove _nospam).
How to disable RAPI Security on a Windows Mobile device?
Remote Manager has features to access the Windows Mobile device from the desktop. You can use Remote Manager to access window properties, reset device or capture device screenshots.
The above features cannot be accessed if RAPI (Remote API) security is enabled on the device. Attempting to perform any remote operation with RAPI disabled will bring up the following screen in SureLock Studio.
RAPI Security error
As stated in the message if the error is not due to problem in ActiveSync connection, then it's mostly due to RAPI security setup on the device. To use the Remote Manager features the RAPI security can be disabled on the device. This should be done only for development and testing purposes only.
Remote Manager provides an option to disable the RAPI security. On the Remote Manager screen, click on Device Config button. You should see the following message.
Device Config Message on desktop
As mentioned in the above message, look at the device screen. You should expect to see the following.
Device Configurator on device
On the device, Tap on Turn OFF button to disable RAPI Security. The status text on the device screen will change to Off. Go back to Remote Manager screen in the SureLock Studio on desktop and those features should work without any problems.
Once the SureLock has been tested you can Turn ON the RAPI security again.