Re: Restart the computer from a local web page?

Mussemouse wrote:
Ed Mullen wrote:

Mussemouse wrote:
Hi all.
Sorry for asking this but I try to figure out and learn about local
webpages.
What I would like to have is a autorun file that shows a web page as soon
as a USB drive is inserted. That I made using shellexe.exe ( Just to be
run on Windows computers )
No problem with that.
The problem is that when the user clicks on the restart button in the web
page I would like to execute the program shutdown.exe to restart the
computer... But I can't figure out how to make this happen?

Can anyone point me in the correct direction I would appreciate it very
much.

//Micke

Well, the first issue is getting autorun to work on a USB memory drive.
MS says Windows does NOT support either booting from or autorun from a
memory drive.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/usbfaq.mspx

However, I found a utility that does support this:

http://www.archidune.com/index.php?id=4

I've tested it and it works.

The second issue, as others have indicated, is:

Should an HTML page be allowed to run an executable? No. Will most
browsers allow this? No. You could use Active-X but that would require
Internet Explorer AND require that IE's security configuration be set up
to allow execution.

Further, even if IE is setup you will likely still present the user with
numerous (and possibly cryptic) security messages from IE. Not
user-friendly.

Finally, this all begs the questions:

- Why do you want to do this?
- What are you trying to achieve?
- How are you getting your files onto a USB drive and in the hands of a
user?
- Why reboot? The USB memory drive should autorun (using the APO USB
Autorun utility at the above link) when it is inserted into the computer.

If you can be more specific in what you're trying to accomplish, and
why, that would be really helpful.


Why I want to do this is simple. Most people don't read a paper that instructs them how to do things. When it shows on the monitor they do as they are told. Restart the computer
leave the USB drive in place and insert a bootable cd in the cd drive. If
the computer do not start from USB then in most cases it boots from the cd.

What I am trying to do is to get users that are not used to running anything
else than MS Windos to start up a USB drive with a system on it. A special
written system. As I have said I can write applications in assembler and C
but I do not know anything about HTML and Visual this or that.

So to get the user to do something that for most people are very simple is
sometimes very difficult. Like if the USB drive does not boot then insert a
cd. Boot from the cd. Well, this seems to be very difficult. So I was
thinking that if I show them a web page that tells them to insert the cd
then restart the computer it would be simple. But it seems that even this simple task is to difficult for some. So a
button that tells them to click on it, the Windos style, and reboots the
computer would be a solution. Well I have to figure out something else. Thanks for all tip and all responses.

The system I am trying to get people to use is for a pure security issue. Sitting alone and trying to figure out something that would be simple is not
always easy :D

//Micke


Well, good luck. Because you still haven't provided any significant clue to what you're trying to do nor why you're trying to do it, nor why you're trying to do it the way your are, nor the issue of how you are distributing USB drives to users, nor how you have any clue how each user's system is configured. And you ignored most details of my query.

I know I am totally perplexed and I suspect most other readers here are too.

And, while I love a mystery, until you provide substantive details, I'm tired of this one.

--
Ed Mullen
http://edmullen.net
I asked Mom if I was a gifted child. She said they certainly wouldn't have paid for me.
.

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