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Signagelive for ChromeOS Tips and Tricks
Ian Maison avatar
Written by Ian Maison
Updated over a week ago

I would like to purchase Signagelive for ChromeOS or get licences to trial/demo the product - where can I get them?

Please speak to your sales contact at Signagelive who can deal with this request for you. The following telephone numbers will assist your request in speaking with our team.

  • EMEA: +44 1799 530110

  • APAC: +65 3163-2458

Alternatively please contact [email protected] or hop on our Live Chat system and a member of our Support Team will point you in the right direction.

Why do my new ChromeOS Players no longer give the ability to activate Kiosk mode?

Google recently implemented a change in which any commercial ChromeOS device being used in Kiosk Mode, will now need a Google Chrome Device Management (CDM) licence to operate as such. Without this licence, you will not see the option to operate as a kiosk device.

If you do not require operation in Kiosk Mode, please see instructions on running Signagelive as a packaged application on your ChromeOS player here.

My display resolution is not correct when my ChromeOS Player boots up?

The team here at Signagelive have had reports that if the monitor is switched off when the Chromebox is switched on, sometimes the Signagelive output does not fill the entire screen. This is a known ChromeOS issue reported elsewhere. It has been raised with Google, however, the current status is that the issue is under review and we are awaiting a solution. The current resolution is to ensure that the display is powered on before the Chrome device powers on.

More information on the above topics can be found in the following forum articles:

My wireless network access doesn't automatically connect?

When you configure a Wi-Fi connection as part of the initial setup process it is by default shared with all users and can be used by an application running in kiosk mode (ie. Signagelive).

When you log into the OS and configure an additional network connection there is a checkbox "Share with all users" which must be checked, otherwise, the kiosk app will not be able to use that connection.

My Scheduled Reboots are not working, what should I do?

Scheduled Reboots will only work on Chrome if it is installed in full Kiosk Mode. This means that it must be installed as a Kiosk app with Autostart enabled either via the Extensions setup screen or via the Google Management Console if it is enrolled.

Key-press and Interactive touchscreen interrupts are not working. Is there any technical reason why?

Key-press inputs and Interactive Touchscreens are limited to the interrupt key of T on ALL Chrome devices.

When I removed Signagelive from one of my devices it removed it from all of them

By default, all installed applications and settings on a non-managed device (not enrolled in the management console) are synced across devices using the same Google account. If you use the same account to install Signagelive on more than one device and then remove it from one of the devices it may be removed from all devices where it is installed under the same Google account. To ensure this doesn't happen, there are 3 options available:

  1. Disable automatic synchronisation of Apps and Settings in the Chrome Settings. To do this:

  • Open the ChromeOS Settings Menu

  • Near the bottom of the screen click on "Advanced Sync Settings".

  • Uncheck "Apps" and "Settings" and press OK.

  • This will need to be done on each chrome device in which synchronisation should be disabled.

Enroll the Device in the Google Management Console. This will allow you to manage applications and settings for each device individually.

Use a different Google account for each device you need to manage.

Of these 3 options, we would recommend Options 1 or 2 depending on whether you are using the Google Management Console (GMC) or not.

How do I exit Signagelive and boot into the Chrome Operating System when running in Kiosk Mode?

To boot into the operating system instead of auto-starting Signagelive when installed as a kiosk application, you will need a keyboard and mouse, and then will need to follow these steps:

  1. Power off the device and plug in the keyboard and mouse.

  2. Power the device back on and after a few seconds, the machine will start to initialise Signagelive.

  3. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to stop Signagelive auto-starting and to boot in the operating system instead.

Signagelive is just showing a black screen, what should I do?

This is most likely caused due to the known issue with Signagelive for Chrome and unclean shutdowns. At the moment the only way to correct this is to uninstall and reinstall the application. We are aware of this issue and are actively working with Google on a resolution so there is no need to report this to us at this stage.

Select one of the following topics for further instructions:

How can I reset Signagelive for Chrome?

If you would like to reset Signagelive you will need to follow the instructions to uninstall and reinstall (see above) the application. Note that you will need to deactivate your Signagelive licence so that you can activate it against your new install.

How do I view the client information panel?

To view the client information panel, please plug in a keyboard and press Ctrl+Shift+1.

How do I access the client settings screen?

To access the client settings screen, please plug in a keyboard and mouse and press Ctrl+Shift+2.

How do I adjust the volume for my Chrome device?

To adjust the volume as desired please connect a keyboard to your chrome device. If using a standard windows keyboard then the following keys are used to control the volume on a Chrome device:

  • F8 - Mute

  • F9 - Volume Down

  • F10 - Volume Up

Alternatively, a chrome keyboard will have appropriately labelled keys in a very similar position to the F8, F9, and F10 keys for volume control.

How do I switch to portrait mode?

We advise that customers use the built-in display settings in ChromeOS to set the screen orientation. To update the screen orientation in this way:

  • Attach a keyboard and mouse to your Chromebox.

  • Log in to the Chromebox. If Signagelive is already installed

  • Turn the device off and back on.

  • At the Signagelive loading screen press CTRL + ALT + S

  • Log in to the Chromebox

  • Set the display orientation:

  • Click the status area, where your account picture appears.

  • Click Settings.

  • Click Display Settings.

  • Set the Display Orientation to None, 90 degrees, 180 degrees, or 270 degrees.

  • Press Done.

  • Sign out of the device to automatically boot back into Signagelive

What happened to the Screen rotation setting on the Signagelive Setup Screen?

This was removed in version 1.5 because of issues showing responsive web content. It is recommended to use the ChromeOS display settings to set the screen orientation that way. Note that if you have already enabled screen rotation within Signagelive this way the option will still be available to you.

What is interactive kiosk mode?

Interactive kiosk mode is designed for kiosk applications that show static content when they are not being used and interactive applications when they are. Interactive kiosk mode can be enabled via the Signagelive setup screen.

I published an interrupt to my player, why does it not work?

Interrupts in the traditional sense are not supported on Signagelive for Chrome at this time. While it is possible to publish interrupts to the player they can only be used with the interactive kiosk mode and are triggered automatically when a user interacts with the player.

My Chrome Auto Update policy has expired

Chrome devices such as Chromebox, Chromebase, and Chromebits will automatically update following Chrome's Auto Update policy. More information about Chrome Auto Update policy.

Chrome devices that have not reached their Auto Update Expiry (AUE) date will continue to receive OS updates and function with Chrome Education Upgrade and Chrome Enterprise Upgrade.

Please Note

After the Auto Update Expiry (AUE) date is reached, existing and future policies may not work as intended, and technical support will not be provided.

How to check the Auto Update Expiry date on Chrome CDM

Chrome's “Chrome Device Management” portal will allow you to check your player's AUE expiration date. To access this go to:

  • Admin console home page > Devices > Chrome

  • Click Devices.

  • Within here you will see a column for “Auto-update expiration”.

Displaying web-hosted video content

In some instances where a web-hosted video is being displayed on a ChromeOS Player, you may find that your video will stop/freeze after a certain amount of time. We have found that enabling the "autoplay=true" flag that will ensure video content continues playing every time a new cycle of the video content occurs.

How to enable the "autoplay=true" flag

  • Log into the Google Management Console

  • Head to Devices > Chrome > Settings

  • Find the Organisational Unit that houses the Player/device displaying your web page content

  • Under the User and Browser Settings tab, scroll down to the Content section

  • Find the setting for Autoplay Video and click on it

  • In the Allowed URLs field in the Configuration area - enter your URL

    • Include the * wild card within your URL (as per Google's documentation) - this will look something like https://*.yourwebsite.com/*

  • Hit Save

    Image 2023-11-02 at 4.14.03 PM

Upon completing the steps above, the autoplay flag will be enforced on your web page, and any video content on the specified web page will adhere to this setting.

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