K-12 assessment reports apps running in Windows 10 background

If the Kindergarten to Grade 12 assessments which are provided by AIR secure browser or Pass a test detect that unauthorized applications are running in the background, which prevents you from starting an evaluation or you have logged out of an evaluation in progress, then you must first manually stop the applications using the tasks. In today’s release, we will identify the cause and then resolve the K-12 evaluation issue unexpectedly, applications such as Microsoft Photos and Microsoft Edge are running in the background in Windows. 10.

First, let’s take a look at some of the key terms used in this post.

1]K-12, a term used in education and educational technology in the United States, Canada, and possibly other countries such as Afghanistan, Australia, Ecuador, China, Egypt, India , Iran, the Philippines, South Korea and Turkey – is an abbreviated form for the audience- supported school grades before college. These classes are Kindergarten (K) and Grades 1-12 (1-12). (If the term was used, “13th grade” would be the first year of college.)

2]K-12 Assessment is a formative and summative assessment of accountability that assesses student learning at the end of the year. It provides an overview of the academic performance of students and schools and allows districts and states to measure how well learning and teaching meet required state standards.

3]the AIRSecure Navigator The American Institutes for Research® app ensures a secure online testing experience for students taking online assessments with a Chromebook computer. When the secure browser is launched, users cannot perform certain hardware functions, such as taking screenshots. Students who take a test and try to switch to other applications and / or websites will be automatically logged out. To maintain a high level of test security, the AIRSecureTest secure browser requires that the Chromebook be set to kiosk mode.

4]Many schools use online tests for formative and summative assessments. It is essential that students use a secure browser that prevents them from using other computers or Internet resources during the test.

the Pass a test in Windows 10 creates the appropriate environment to pass a test:

• Take a Test just shows the test and nothing else.
• Performing a test clears the clipboard.
• Students cannot access other websites.
• Students cannot open or access other applications.
• Students cannot share, print or save their screens without the permission of the teacher or IT administrator
• Students cannot change settings, expand their display, view notifications, get updates, or use the autofill features.
• Cortana is disabled.

Here is a flowchart showing how the Pass a test the application works.

K-12 assessment detects unauthorized applications running in the background

This problem occurs because AIR assessments have a list of applications that are not allowed to run during or before the assessment, and applications like the ones mentioned above are blocked. Therefore, when the applications are preloaded, the evaluation thinks that there is a security breach because the applications are running in the background and logs out the user.

Windows offers Universal Windows Platform (UWP) storage applications, such as the Microsoft Photos application, the ability to register for pre-launch. Pre-launch improves Microsoft Edge performance and minimizes the time it takes to start Microsoft Edge. So, to work around this problem, Microsoft recommends disabling pre-launch of the application using a PowerShell command and pre-launch of Microsoft Edge using a registry key.

Since this is a registry operation, you will first need to back up the registry or create a system restore point in case the procedure does not work.

Once you have taken one of the suggested precautionary measures, you can do the following:

Launch PowerShell in elevated mode, then run the following PowerShell cmdlets:

1. Temporarily disable the Windows Defender Application Guide service because the Disable-MMAgent command fails if this service is running or not in use.

Stop-Service -Name hvsics -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

2. Disable pre-launch of the application.

Disable-MMAgent -ApplicationPreLaunch

3. Restart the Windows Defender Application Guard service. If not used, the command silently fails.

Start-Service -Name hvsics -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

4. Disable pre-launch of Microsoft Edge by setting a registry key.

$registryPath = "HKLM:SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerPreLaunchMicrosoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MicrosoftEdge"
$Name = "Enabled"
$value = "0"
New-Item -Path $registryPath -Force | Out-Null

New-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name $name -Value $value -PropertyType DWORD -Force | Out-Null

5. Create a scheduled task that allows you to reactivate the pre-launch of the application on a specified date.

$A = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute "powershell" -Argument "-Command `"Stop-Service -Name hvsics -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; Enable-MMAgent -ApplicationPreLaunch;Start-Service -Name hvsics -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue;New-ItemProperty -Path `"HKLM:SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerPreLaunchMicrosoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MicrosoftEdge`" -Name `"Enabled`" -Value `"1`" -PropertyType DWORD -Force | Out-Null`""
$revertDate = 
$T = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Once -At $revertDate
$P = New-ScheduledTaskPrincipal -UserID "NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM" -LogonType ServiceAccount -RunLevel Highest
$timespan = New-TimeSpan -Minutes 1
$S = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet -AllowStartIfOnBatteries -DontStopIfGoingOnBatteries -DontStopOnIdleEnd -StartWhenAvailable -RestartCount 3 -RestartInterval $timespan
$D = New-ScheduledTask -Action $A -Principal $P -Trigger $T -Settings $S
Register-ScheduledTask DisableAppPrelaunch -InputObject $D

Note: Together $ revertDate on a date to reactivate the pre-launch of the application. For example, $ revertDate = [datetime]”06/28/2020 17:35”.

I hope you find this post useful.