Preconfiguring a wired network through the Google Admin console

A useful feature of Chrome Device Management is the ability to pre-configure networks on Chrome devices.

  1. After logging in to your Google Admin console, go to the Device Management section.
  2. On the column on the left side of the screen, click Networks. (Your console may say Network instead, under the Device Settings heading)
  3. Select the Organizational Unit (OU) you wish to apply the network to. If you don’t know which OU to select, pick the top level OU to apply the settings to all devices in the console.
  4. Click CREATE ETHERNET NETWORK.  
  5. In Platform access, check the box next to “Chromebooks (by device)”
  6. In Details, create a name for your network.  If your network requires Authentication (802.1X), you can configure the authentication credentials after selecting 802.1X under Authentication. Be sure to click Save when you’re done configuring the network.

 

Please visit Getting started with Chrome Device Management  for more information regarding Chrome Device Management.

How to enable On-Screen Keyboard in Google Admin Console

Enabling the On Screen Keyboard is necessary for certain widgets inside of Arreya, most notably the SMS widget requires the user of a kiosk to input their phone number. While many ChromeOS devices have On Screen Keyboard enabled as a default, the safer option is to enable it in the Google Admin Console. This ensures that the kiosk functions as expected regardless of updates or changes to the configuration or firmware.

 

  1. Log into your Google Admin account at: https://admin.google.com/
  2. From the options on the left, click and expand the Devices category, then click and expand Settings.
  3. Click Device under the settings sub-category.
    on-screen keyboard for digital displays
  4. From here, choose the Organizational Unit for which you would like to enable the On Screen Keyboard. It is important to note that enabling this in a Organizational Unit will change the setting for any device or Organizational Unit underneath it. If you enable it at the top level Organizational Unit, all devices will have On Screen Keyboard enabled.
  5. In the primary window, scroll down until you find a category of settings titled “Kiosk accessibility”
  6. Underneath “Kiosk accessibility” you will find a setting called “Kiosk on-screen keyboard”. Change the setting to “Enable on-screen keyboard” as shown.
    enable on-screen keyboard for digital signage
  7. In the top right of the screen, click Save to save your settings and have the On-Screen Keyboard enabled for your chrome devices.

How to download device logs in Google Admin Console

An important feature for troubleshooting device issues, is the ability to remotely capture and download device logs for a specific device.

  1. After logging in to your Admin console, go to Devices > Chrome Devices and click a serial number to get into the individual device settings.
  2. On the left side of the screen you’ll see the option to Capture Logs. Click Capture Logs to begin the download.device logs for chrome devices for digital signage
  3. Once the capture is completed it will indicate the logs are ready for download from the Details Page. This is the page you should already be on.
  4. In order to download the logs, under the center info screens, look for the category  System activity and troubleshooting. It should be near the bottom.
  5. In this category you should see System logs, click the date listed underneath it to download the logs in a zip file.
  6. Email the device logs to support@arreya.com and we will analyze them for any issues.

 

Please visit Getting started with Chrome Device Management  for more information regarding Chrome Device Management.

How do I force Chrome device display resolution?

 

The Google Admin console allows you to force the resolution and display scale of the internal or external display output for Chrome devices. This may be useful for hardware that doesn’t properly negotiate resolution with the Chrome device. It could also be useful in certain cases where you want to use a lower resolution than what the display is capable of displaying.

  1. After logging in to your Google Admin console, go to the Device Management section.
  2. On the left hand side navigation menu, go to Chrome > Settings > Device to access device settings.google admin display resolution
  3. Select the appropriate Organizational Unit (OU) on the left hand side that you would like to apply the settings to.
  4. Under the Device Settings tab, scroll down, or search for the Display settings heading.display resolution
    Allow user changesAllow users to overwrite predefined display settings (recommended): This allows a user to override these settings in desktop mode.
    Do not allow user changes for predefined display settings: This will not allow these settings to be changed by a user
    External resolutionAlways use native resolution: Use the auto-detected resolution
    Use custom resolution:
    Select this option if you want to force the Chromebox to output at a specified resolution for all external monitors.
    External display width (in pixels)Desired custom resolution width in pixels
    External display height (in pixels)Desired custom resolution height in pixels
    External display scale (percentage)Set a custom external display scale percentage
    Internal display scale (percentage)Set a custom internal display scale percentage

 

My devices show offline in Google Admin Console

My devices show offline in Google Admin Console

If your device status is Offline in the Google Admin console, typically the device does not have a reliable internet connection, or there is something blocking Google from checking the status of the device on your network.

Verify that there is no interference from a Content Filter or Firewall – The most common cause of an offline device, issues with content not showing, or problems pairing a device come from content filters or firewalls that interrupt communication with Arreya. Please follow our instructions for content filters and firewalls – https://arreya.com/kb/allow-past-firewall/

Known Issues

In early August 2020, Google acknowledged that there was a known issue with the Google Admin console and Chrome OS devices that caused the admin console to show devices as offline, when they were actually online and would respond to requests. This does not affect the devices or the functionality of Arreya. The Arreya dashboard status is still accurate in this case.

We will update this article with more information as it becomes available from Google.