Windows 8 - Airplane Mode (FlightMode) Setting - Remove option.

[Janx]

Hi, we have just come across this potential headache with Windows 8 and students.

 

On our laptops students have the ability to turn flightmode on and off from the charms menu. This disconnects all wifi and hides available networks but doesn't affect the wifi (on/off) light itself, so have no visual reference that there could be a problem for the next logged in user.

 

Searching using the usual places only seems to give us replies of how you enable/disable the option, but having the option removed altogether would be ideal, but without removing the whole charms menu.

 

Has anyone here in education come up with a solution or workaround for this at all?

[UTCPlymouth]

I'm also experiencing the same issue, I've looked through GPO to no avail. Would be interested if anyone has a solution.

[MarkGE]

Same problem here, 1900+ tablets in our system and students are causing havoc toggling this 'FlightMode' option. They're on standard "User" level accounts on the tablets.

 

Desperately need a fix for this

 

I checked into Microsoft group policy reference to see if there's a setting for this - there isn't.

 

Group Policy Settings Reference for Windows and Windows Server:

Download Group Policy Settings Reference for Windows and Windows Server from Official Microsoft Download Center

 

Do we have to whip up a registry hack to make this happen? Has anyone done this?

 

Thanks in advance,

[smithson83]

Holy proverbial, this never crossed my mind. Just checked, our pupils have access to this also. I was just about to roll windows 8.1 Ent out. Slight oversight MS... Anyone found a workaround for this?

[AngryTechnician]

I've been looking into this for a while but have not found any way to disable it.

 

It is unfortunate that wireless drivers don't update the hardware light, but there is a visual cue: the logon screen has an airplane icon on it instead of showing the wireless signal. If this becomes an issue for us we will simply need to retrain teachers as to where to look.

 

I've also been unable to locate any entries in the event log that correspond definitively to airplane mode being activated so that I can nail the offending users; all I've found so far is 'network disconnected' entries, which could be for a variety of reasons.

[ShadowPeo]

Although I do not consider this overly substancial contribution, I have (kind of) narrowed down what is being turned on/off with the Airplane mode. The bad news is (and why it is only kind of narrowed down) is that it is unique to each PC/Wireless card/Install

 

There are references to a radioEnable DWORD in the registry that is at 1 when wireless is enabled and 0 when it is disabled, in my case these were in the following locations

 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0002]

 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0002]

 

Now just to see if there is a quick way to enumerate the registry on a schedule (including on startup and shutdown) and change all radioEnable DWORDS to 1 if in the 0 state

[bald_pig]

Although I do not consider this overly substancial contribution, I have (kind of) narrowed down what is being turned on/off with the Airplane mode. The bad news is (and why it is only kind of narrowed down) is that it is unique to each PC/Wireless card/Install

 

There are references to a radioEnable DWORD in the registry that is at 1 when wireless is enabled and 0 when it is disabled, in my case these were in the following locations

 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0002]

 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0002]

 

Now just to see if there is a quick way to enumerate the registry on a schedule (including on startup and shutdown) and change all radioEnable DWORDS to 1 if in the 0 state

 

Could be done with a logoff script?

 

[color=#000000][font=monospace]Set Shell = CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )[/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=monospace]Shell.RegWrite "[/font][/color]HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0002[color=#000000][font=monospace]\[/font][/color]radioEnable [color=#000000][font=monospace]", 1, "REG_DWORD"[/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=monospace]Shell.RegWrite "[/font][/color]HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0002[color=#000000][font=monospace]\[/font][/color]radioEnable [color=#000000][font=monospace]", 1, "REG_DWORD"[/font][/color]

[markwilfan]

Anybody got any further with this? I can't believe this omission by MS. I found this a year ago when we were looking at rolling out Win 8 and this was a big kicker for us.

 

The only way I can think of getting around this is to allow the network choice on the lock screen so students can turn airplane mode off themselves. In any case it sounds like more support time

[RobFuller]

This is still an issue in Windows 10

 

Did anyone find a solution?

[3s-gtech]

For Windows 10, I used User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Edge UI

 

Make sure you have the latest ADMXs. I think this'll work on all versions of 10, but I've only tested with 1607.

 

Not sure how to do it with 8 though!

[RobFuller]

For Windows 10, I used User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Edge UI

 

Make sure you have the latest ADMXs. I think this'll work on all versions of 10, but I've only tested with 1607.

 

Not sure how to do it with 8 though!

 

Which setting as I don't see one applicable? (Will double check I'm on latest ADMX templates)

[3s-gtech]

Allow edge swipe --> Disabled

 

If you don't have this setting, you'll need to update to the latest Group Policy Templates.

[RobFuller]

Doesn't help as they are using the hardware key!

 

Windows 10 doesn't honor the BIOS setting to disable the airplane mode hotkey as it had done previously in Windows 7. We set it to only turn bluetooth on and off not WLAN but its completely ignores it. I think it's possibly a driver issue with the button and the OS.

[RobFuller]

So I've found a workaround, for reference if anyone is in the same boat as I was.

 

I found two devices on my Dell laptops called Airplane Mode Switch and Airplane Mode Switch Collection, disabling these devices cease the function key/wireless switch from toggling AirPlane Mode!!

The next tricky problem was disabling them en mass, the simplest solution I came up with was using Device Manager Viewer from Nirsoft Alternative to device manager of Windows. I then used the following two commands to disable the devices on our affected laptops.

 

devmanview /disable "Airplane Mode Switch"

devmanview /disable "Airplane Mode Switch Collection"

 

Bingo, the switch/hotkey is now disabled, halaula! Not the "correct" solution sure but it works reliably!

[Michael]

If you disable the Action Center altogether, does it not resolve this?

 

User config > Policies > Admin Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar

 

Remove Notifications and Action Center and Remove the networking icon policies.

 

The Action Center GPO is Windows 10 or later, so a regedit might be needed for Windows 8 if you can identify where the change is being made!

[RobFuller]

If you disable the Action Center altogether, does it not resolve this?

 

User config > Policies > Admin Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar

 

Remove Notifications and Action Center and Remove the networking icon policies.

 

The Action Center GPO is Windows 10 or later, so a regedit might be needed for Windows 8 if you can identify where the change is being made!

 

Not for us as the hotkey/physical switch continued to work regardless of GPO settings. (Note this is Windows 10 its effecting)

Edited February 8, 2017 by RobFuller

[Jawloms]

So I've found a workaround, for reference if anyone is in the same boat as I was.

 

I found two devices on my Dell laptops called Airplane Mode Switch and Airplane Mode Switch Collection, disabling these devices cease the function key/wireless switch from toggling AirPlane Mode!!

The next tricky problem was disabling them en mass, the simplest solution I came up with was using Device Manager Viewer from Nirsoft Alternative to device manager of Windows. I then used the following two commands to disable the devices on our affected laptops.

 

devmanview /disable "Airplane Mode Switch"

devmanview /disable "Airplane Mode Switch Collection"

 

Bingo, the switch/hotkey is now disabled, halaula! Not the "correct" solution sure but it works reliably!

 

Anyone found a native way of doing this? If not, then I'll use this as it looks good...

[Arthur]

Anyone found a native way of doing this? If not, then I'll use this as it looks good...

 

www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-10/192737-solved-disabling-airplane-mode-wireless-buttons-without-bios-settings.html

[NeoNebula]

In some cases, you can change Group Policy settings to restrict access to the option to turn Airplane mode on and off. This can be especially useful in an educational environment to prevent students from accidentally turning off Wi-Fi. Check the Group Policy settings related to managing wireless connections to find the appropriate options.

[DavonPotter]

That does sound like a tricky situation. I haven't encountered this issue with Windows 8 in an educational setting, but it sounds frustrating. One potential workaround could be to explore group policy settings or registry tweaks if they allow you to disable or hide specific features without removing the entire charms menu. It might also be worth checking if third party software solutions are designed for managing such settings centrally across multiple devices.