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Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

Is there any way to lock down retropie?

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  • C
    Capeman @dunginhawk
    last edited by 21 Aug 2017, 13:56

    @dunginhawk said in Is there any way to lock down retropie?:

    capeman, i must say your advice was 100% spot on... It is EXACTLY what i needed... not hard at all. obviously id love to have a checkbox to do it, but that wasnt hard.. and everything is reversible. by using winscp :)

    thank you again.

    Glad we could help you!

    Vector Artist, Designer and Maker of Stuff: Laser Cut Atari / Pixel Theme Bartop

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      Capeman @HurricaneFan
      last edited by Capeman 21 Aug 2017, 13:58

      @hurricanefan said in Is there any way to lock down retropie?:

      @capeman If you change Start and Select button pushes, how do you shutdown?

      I noted this was an issue. I find that using one of the many auto shutdown options or addons such as the powerblock are a good match for this issue.

      The easiest is the single button GPIO shutdown option detailed in this video.

      There are also lots of demos online of people setting up a "system" on the carousel. Here's one i found on youtube:

      Vector Artist, Designer and Maker of Stuff: Laser Cut Atari / Pixel Theme Bartop

      C 1 Reply Last reply 22 Aug 2017, 01:03 Reply Quote 0
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        lostless @dunginhawk
        last edited by 21 Aug 2017, 14:05

        @dunginhawk I was actually talking about disabling the retro arch configs menu. Not the hot key itself. Lol

        C 1 Reply Last reply 21 Aug 2017, 14:43 Reply Quote 0
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          Capeman @lostless
          last edited by Capeman 21 Aug 2017, 14:43

          @dunginhawk Yes, i recommend what @lostless says.

          It's very easy to disable specific hot key commands (such as retroarch menu and reset) from the controller while still keeping the hotkey functionality for exiting.

          Simply navigate to this folder:
          /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads

          Open the file that corresponds with the controller you want to remove the hot key functions from

          Inside that file you'll see settings that looks like this;

          input_device = "USB gamepad           "
          input_driver = "udev"
          input_r_btn = "5"
          input_save_state_btn = "5"
          input_start_btn = "9"
          input_exit_emulator_btn = "9"
          input_l_btn = "4"
          input_load_state_btn = "4"
          input_up_axis = "-1"
          input_a_btn = "1"
          input_b_btn = "2"
          input_reset_btn = "2"
          input_down_axis = "+1"
          input_right_axis = "+0"
          input_state_slot_increase_axis = "+0"
          input_x_btn = "0"
          input_menu_toggle_btn = "0"
          input_select_btn = "8"
          input_enable_hotkey_btn = "8"
          input_y_btn = "3"
          input_left_axis = "-0"
          input_state_slot_decrease_axis = "-0"
          

          Simply # out any functions you want to disable from hotkey activation.

          Retroarch menu corresponds to input_menu_toggle. I'd also recommend removing save state functions and RESET for kids, they would get confused if the game suddenly backtracked for or jumped to the title screen for no discernible reason.

          And you can switch the exit emulator button to something a little harder to press if you choose, i usually do select + L since that's a weird feeling on the left hand thats less likely to be pressed than start+select. But that's personal preference.

          Vector Artist, Designer and Maker of Stuff: Laser Cut Atari / Pixel Theme Bartop

          L 1 Reply Last reply 21 Aug 2017, 15:22 Reply Quote 0
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            ohmycommodore
            last edited by ohmycommodore 21 Aug 2017, 15:21

            Can a triple button press be set up? High degree of difficulty and therefore less chance of being selected accidentally. My use case is a system that I use, turn on and let my kids use on occasion, insist on shutting down myself, and when necessary I (and I alone) drop into something advanced like RP config or into menus.

            In other words, if it's an interesting discussion... what's the best balance of protection vs not disabling things so completely that it's a hassle?

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              lostless @Capeman
              last edited by 21 Aug 2017, 15:22

              @capeman actually I would leave reset, it's absolutely needed for one game in the world and one game only. X-men on genesis/mega drive. Can't beat the game without it.
              Maybe 2 games. x-men 2 on genesis/mega drive it's used to select the character in the opening level.

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              • C
                cyperghost
                last edited by 21 Aug 2017, 18:33

                @hex @BuZz
                chattr -R +i to

                • /etc/emulationstation/
                • /opt/retropie/configs/
                • .... other folders???

                Will surly lock files from changing

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                • P
                  pjft @Capeman
                  last edited by 21 Aug 2017, 21:55

                  @capeman this is exactly how @Zigurana 's kids mode works.

                  As for your hack to lock down the ES menus, how do you exit ES? Do you have an external shutdown switch or something? That sounds like a big roadblock, or am I missing something obvious?

                  L C 2 Replies Last reply 21 Aug 2017, 22:07 Reply Quote 0
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                    ohmycommodore
                    last edited by ohmycommodore 21 Aug 2017, 21:59

                    Hang on, is it possible at all to simply set a password, and protect some of these things that way? Then they don't need oddball multiple button presses, etc. In my head it's still about keeping things open for who they need to be open for... the "admin" essentially. Closed for the rest who wouldn't (and shouldn't) have the password.

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                      lostless @pjft
                      last edited by 21 Aug 2017, 22:07

                      @pjft basically the way that @Capeman is recommending locks down the system per controller. If you always use the same controllers, you can lock those down and have a another controller or keyboard ,that isn't locked down and use that to shut Down or restart. Or even adjust retroarch setting. The only thing that you still can't get to is the retropie menu without editing the essystems.cfg from a computer or using a keyboard on the pie and manually edit it from there. That's

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                        Capeman @pjft
                        last edited by 22 Aug 2017, 00:45

                        @pjft said in Is there any way to lock down retropie?:

                        @capeman this is exactly how @Zigurana 's kids mode works.

                        As for your hack to lock down the ES menus, how do you exit ES? Do you have an external shutdown switch or something? That sounds like a big roadblock, or am I missing something obvious?

                        I put a posted above with a couple videos to solve this issue. One of them is the GPIO shutdown button and the other is a way to add a shutdown/reset menu as a system to the carousel. These method's do effectively kill the ability to shutdown, as a powerblock user i kind of take that for granted, haha.

                        I haven't tried @Zigurana's kid's settting, only mostly because I usually stick to the officially updatable version of ES. Is his version merged with favorites/collections? I'm hooked on those now, haha.

                        Vector Artist, Designer and Maker of Stuff: Laser Cut Atari / Pixel Theme Bartop

                        H 1 Reply Last reply 22 Aug 2017, 01:00 Reply Quote 0
                        • H
                          HurricaneFan @Capeman
                          last edited by 22 Aug 2017, 01:00

                          @capeman If you own the necessary hardware, it makes sense to use your approach. :)

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                            Capeman @Capeman
                            last edited by 22 Aug 2017, 01:03

                            @HurricaneFan
                            Doing this shutdown method wouldn't require anything extra, set this up before disabling everything else and ES would be pretty kid friendly.

                            @capeman said in Is there any way to lock down retropie?:

                            There are also lots of demos online of people setting up a "system" on the carousel. Here's one i found on youtube:

                            Vector Artist, Designer and Maker of Stuff: Laser Cut Atari / Pixel Theme Bartop

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                            • H
                              Hex
                              last edited by 22 Aug 2017, 02:49

                              I think we can do better if there is a need for Shutdown system

                              Sent from 20,000 leagues under the sea.

                              Powersaver Emulation station : https://github.com/hex007/EmulationStation
                              ES dev script : https://github.com/hex007/es-dev/blob/master/es-tests.sh

                              C 1 Reply Last reply 22 Aug 2017, 10:24 Reply Quote 0
                              • C
                                Capeman @Hex
                                last edited by Capeman 22 Aug 2017, 10:24

                                @hex said in Is there any way to lock down retropie?:

                                I think we can do better if there is a need for Shutdown system

                                What about a single ES lock code that would:

                                1. deactivated the start/select options menus, making just a shutdown option if start is pressed.
                                2. Hides the "retropie" system on the carousel
                                3. locks add/remove favorites command
                                4. Disable runcommand (this might be harder to do since this option isn't integrated into ES)

                                Activated by pressing select 10 times or something similar. Pressing select 10 times again would restore the unlocked state.

                                Vector Artist, Designer and Maker of Stuff: Laser Cut Atari / Pixel Theme Bartop

                                Z 1 Reply Last reply 22 Aug 2017, 11:05 Reply Quote 0
                                • Z
                                  Zigurana @Capeman
                                  last edited by 22 Aug 2017, 11:05

                                  Hi guys,
                                  There was something very similar to this in the kid-mode ui branch of ES I build ages ago (terribly outdated by now, I'm afraid).
                                  It featured the hiding of menu items, systems, and games. It unlocked via the Konami code.
                                  There were two locked modes: kiosk (hiding all configuration menus, but showing all games) and kid (hiding menus and showing only white-listed games).
                                  My plan is still to bring that to the main ES branch, which should be easier to do, now the filtering is in place. However, I want to have the theming refactoring done first, because that would make the theming implementation much cleaner (ie. Not breaking ES when running older themes).

                                  If tetris has thought me anything, it's that errors pile up and that accomplishments dissappear.

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                                  • D
                                    dunginhawk
                                    last edited by 22 Aug 2017, 15:17

                                    capeman thats exactly what I would love to see... while the workarounds you mentioned arent hard, it would be much easier to have a button combo or 10 presses etc... would be a great option.

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                                      lostless
                                      last edited by 22 Aug 2017, 17:28

                                      I was thinking that we can somehow make the retropie menu into a custom collection. So that way only the golden controllers (the ones programmed without restrictions) and a keyboard can easily turn it off and on. I will have to test and see if I can get a solution to work.

                                      P 1 Reply Last reply 22 Aug 2017, 17:29 Reply Quote 0
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                                        pjft @lostless
                                        last edited by 22 Aug 2017, 17:29

                                        @lostless That would be quite ingenious.

                                        I'm not sure that will work, I am very much under the impression that I don't allow stuff from the RetroPie menu to show in some collections - at least Last Played.

                                        Do give it a go and see how it goes. :)

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                                          lostless
                                          last edited by lostless 23 Aug 2017, 04:36

                                          no go and i realized that custom collections relies on the run command commands from the es_systems.cfg to work. i made a retro pie custom collection, but having a system that is now hidden won't work. still thinking how it can be done. I'm no coder.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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