Desktop Peek: Is it possible to turn it off for a Client PC?

I've had luck with disabling Peek on a desktop, however when I join a domain and try to disable it with a domain client account (active directory user), it seems to not work at all.

Mind you, I did try to edit the registry. Not only that, I even tried going to HKEY_USERS\SOFTWARE\Policies\... (the rest of the path). I created keys for those, and properties, set the values appropriately. No luck.

Can this be done for a client account?

Using settings is not an option, since access is blocked. It must be done via registry or Group Policy.

cereberus said:

That is an option you can change from settings in latest Dev/Canary build. Of course, nobody knows if there will be a Group Policy set to prevent users doing this. Admittedly I cannot see why companies would bother to reatrict tgis feature.

The more pertinent question is why you want to?

It'd be for a public workstation at a public library. User base is anywhere from old enough to use a computer to...we have one guy who comes in, he's 95. For the older users, the Desktop Peek is very hard to work with. Most don't understand why all of their windows are suddenly gone and how to get them back. So, I basically want to get rid of it.

It basically runs the same command as Windows D which issues a Minimize all windows. The windows are still there is the Task bar, so it is not as if they all suddenly closed to the nether regions of the OS.

bro67 said:

It basically runs the same command as Windows D which issues a Minimize all windows. The windows are still there is the Task bar, so it is not as if they all suddenly closed to the nether regions of the OS.

Hmm, I didn't know about Windows key+D I wonder if there's a way to trace the actions of that key combination through the registry in an attempt to disable it.

Berton said:

On my Win10 I have Peek turned Off in Taskbar settings. Hovering the mouse dims the open windows, toggle-clicking minimizes or restores them. For public use I'd go with a Standard account, easier to prevent unwanted changes. Or maybe KIOSK mode.

By standard account, do you mean Local User Account? Not really an option, we have 150 computers in our network. They all login with the same username via a 3rd party app, users login with a number and PIN.

cereberus said:

No - @Berton meant a standard account rather than admin account. I would be very surprised if the account gave admin rights to users.

I cannot say if turning off Peek is restricted if using a standard account though.

I actually thought about doing a test just to see where the registry edits go and if the setting holds up, but apparently there's a way to switch a Local account to an AD account. The thought process would be to disable Peek on a local account, then migrate the account to AD. I did see a tutorial on this on Spiceworks, granted I've never done this.