Why your signage player is not listed in Windows 10 kiosk mode

What the kiosk list offers

The single-app kiosk flow in Settings creates a fresh standard local account and then asks you to choose the one app that account will run. The list holds Microsoft Edge and UWP apps. Microsoft's single-app kiosk documentation covers that flow and its edition requirement, Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise. Windows 10 Home is not in that list.

Two consequences follow. First, an .exe or .msi player install stays invisible to this flow under every account, and there is no setting that adds a desktop app to that list. Second, a store build installs per account: one installed while you were signed in as an administrator exists only for that administrator, so the kiosk account cannot see it.

Symptoms and what each one points to

• The list shows Microsoft Edge and a few store apps, and your player is absent. Your build is a desktop app. The single-app flow cannot launch it, and that stays true after a reinstall under any account.
• The list is nearly empty, Microsoft Edge aside, on a machine with many programs. Same cause. The list counts store apps, and desktop programs are excluded from it entirely.
• Your player has a store build and is still missing. It was installed under your administrator account. Sign in once as the kiosk account, install the build there, then reopen the kiosk setup and pick it.
• There is no kiosk setup line in Settings at all. The edition is below the supported set; confirm the machine runs Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise.
• A multi-app kiosk you applied opens the player to an empty screen. The player's content folder sits in the profile of the account that configured it. Point the player at a folder outside any user profile that the kiosk account can read.

Checks that settle the build type and the edition

1. Read the installer. An .exe or .msi download is a desktop app. A download from the store, or an .msix package, is the per-account kind. The vendor's download page states which build you are getting.
2. Read the edition. The About page in Windows Settings shows the edition and version. You want Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise for assigned access at all, and Windows 10 1809 or later for the multi-app configuration.
3. Find the shortcut. A desktop player places its Start-menu shortcut in the Start-menu folder shared by all users. Note that full path down, because it is what the multi-app configuration uses to identify the player.

The fix for a desktop build

Route 1, the multi-app kiosk. This is the documented configuration that runs desktop apps, applied as a provisioning package or as a kiosk policy from your device management, as Microsoft's kiosk configuration overview sets out.

1. Install the player from your administrator account, then set its content location to a folder outside any user profile.
2. Note the full path of the player's Start-menu shortcut in the shared Start-menu folder.
3. Build the multi-app configuration: a dedicated kiosk account, an allowed-apps list that contains the desktop app by that shortcut path, and a Start layout that pins the player as the tile the account sees.
4. Apply the package and sign in as the kiosk account. The Start screen shows the pinned player; open it once and confirm full-screen playback.
5. Put a copy of the same shortcut in the kiosk account's own Start-up folder so the player opens at sign-in without a click.

Route 2, Shell Launcher. Enterprise and Education editions can replace the Windows shell for one account with the player's executable. The account signs in and the player is the desktop, with no Start menu at all. On Pro this route is unavailable, which is the edition check again.

Route 3, automatic sign-in. Where the PC sits in a locked cabinet or behind a counter, plain automatic sign-in for a dedicated standard account, with the player's shortcut in that account's Start-up folder, reaches the same screen state with the least machinery.

One rule holds across all three routes: leave the kiosk account a standard account. Making it an administrator so an installer will run removes the lockdown you are configuring, and a locked cabinet is no substitute for it.

Example: one lobby screen, zero listed players

A lobby PC runs Windows 10 Pro and drives a 1920 x 1080 wall panel, with a desktop player installed from an .msi under the administrator account. The kiosk flow created its kiosk account and offered exactly one app, Microsoft Edge. Two players were installed on the machine, the current build and the previous one, so the count ran 2 apps installed, 0 listed, 1 entry shown. That split is the app-type filter, and it settled the desktop-build diagnosis without touching the player.

The edition check then cut the routes from three to two: Shell Launcher needs Enterprise, the machine runs Pro, so 3 minus 1 leaves 2 routes, multi-app and automatic sign-in. The panel hangs opposite a reception desk 10 ft away, so text on the sign was sized at 0.33 in capitals, the 30 ft per inch planning figure divided into 10 ft. The screen sits in a public lobby with no cabinet, so automatic sign-in was the weaker lock and was dropped, leaving the multi-app kiosk.

The multi-app configuration was built with the kiosk account, the player's Start-menu shortcut path, and a Start layout pinned to that one tile. Applied and signed in, the account reached the player full screen on the 1920 x 1080 panel at 1080p, playing from a content folder outside any user profile that both accounts can read. The daily schedule was set to switch the show on at 07:00 and off at 21:00. The job took one provisioning package and no reinstall of the player.

When a dedicated screen is simpler

If this screen's whole job is a playlist, the Windows account layer is the hard part, and a screen without it is easier.

An Android signage unit with our signage player set as the home app brings the show up full screen at power-on and plays images and MP4 from microSD or USB, with no account policy to configure. Set the daily on and off times in the player, say 07:00 and 21:00 for a shop day, and outside those hours it shows black at minimum brightness.

Offline playlist autostart on a signage screen walks that setup through, and Android signage app startup for a single-purpose display covers what starts and what does not. For kiosks that show a web page, how to handle web links in kiosk signage is the companion piece. If the screen runs Linux instead of Windows, setting up chromium kiosk autostart on a Linux panel does the same lockdown with different tools. And if you are still picking the player itself, how to choose a digital signage player lays out the categories, offline players included.

Recommendation: Run the desktop build through the multi-app kiosk on Windows 10 Pro 1809 or later, with the kiosk account standard and the player's content folder outside any user profile. Use Shell Launcher instead when the edition is Enterprise or Education and the player must be the only thing on the screen. Use automatic sign-in with a Start-up shortcut only when the PC itself is physically secured, and switch to a dedicated signage screen when the playlist is the screen's only job.

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