Prevent Windows from Logging Off (or Shutting Down) using windows settings [closed]

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I'm a system administrator who has full administrative access to a computer lab which dual boots windows and mac machines. I'm looking for a way to prevent users from logging off or shutting down the computer (until my kbox / radmind / bash scripts run at the end of the day.)

Even if you would suggest implementing Active Directory / kiosk mode / other more administratively sound solutions, please don't. Many of the users need administrator access to the computers in order to install their own stuff (albeit temporarily) on the machines. I reimage all of the machines remotely at the end of the day, and I'm confident in that process.

The irony of the situation is that by giving the users administrative access, they could theoretically reverse my changes and find the hidden log off button, or use cmd to shutdown the computer. Don't worry about that. Most, if not all, of the users will be too lazy.

So how do I properly hide the log-off button that is usually at the bottom of the start menu? And how do I hide it on the task manager?

I've tried editing the group policy (gpedit.msc) as specified here. It doesn't work / I'm not sure which options to definitively enable to remove the button.

Using software is an option, but Windows is smart enough to have a force logoff override thingy if a program is blocking shutdown or logoff. Which sucks for me.

Thank you all so much.

Answer 1

There are group and local policies available to remove Log Off from both the Start Menu and the Ctrl-Alt-Del screen.