Desktop on Janik von Rotz

Full size window on Gnome desktop

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 08:09:12 +0200

There is a todo item on my list that takes the record for staying the longest:

Setup Sway

For a while now, I wanted to give Sway a (S)way. Sway is a window manager where you use your keyboard to move windows and adjust their size.

But setting up a new window manager such as this one (there is also Hyprland and many more) requires some time off.

I decided to go half-way before making the full switch. I looked for a Gnome extension that starts and keeps windows in full size and I finally found one: https://github.com/jqno/gnome-one-window-wonderland/

To run Gnome extensions you need the gnome-shell-extensions package.

sudo pacman -S gnome-shell-extensions

Then clone the repo and install it locally.

git clone git@github.com:jqno/gnome-one-window-wonderland.git
cd gnome-one-window-wonderland
 ./build.sh local

Next enable the extension.

gnome-extensions enable gnome-one-window-wonderland@jqno.nl

Now logout and login. New windows should start in full size.

The settings of the extension can be accessed from the “Extensions” app.

Open a Windows Remote Connection using KeePass credentials

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 15:15:16 +0000

KeePass is a highly recommended Passwordsafe. Despite its supposed to be used mainly by private people it’s adaptable for business cases. In my company the KeePass password database is saved on a SharePoint folder and is encrypted with a password and a private key. The key has to be stored on the local machine.

It could be difficult to force employees to store their passwords in the KeePass database as many won’t get along with it. They’ll more likely store their password in third party tools. However storing a users password in another programm as KeePass f.e. microsoft remote desktop can be a security risk because the password is only encrypted in the user context.

With a KeePass I found an easy solution to open a remote connection with credentials from a KeePass entry. The url field of an entry can be abused to run windows commands an pass parameters from the KeePass entry such as password, username or even custom fields.

This example shows how to configure an entry in order to open a remote connection using the stored credentials:

cmd://"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" /c cmdkey.exe /generic:TERMSRV/{S:SERVER} /user:{S:DOMAIN}{USERNAME} /pass:{PASSWORD} & mstsc.exe /v:{S:SERVER} & cmdkey.exe /delete:TERMSRV/{S:SERVER}

Latest version of this code snippet: https://gist.github.com/7449352

Project: Setup Windows 7 Kiosk

Fri, 04 Oct 2013 16:01:56 +0000

The goal of this project is a simple Windows 7 Kiosk installation with nothing else as the newest version of internet explorer installed. A user should not be allowed to do something than can malfunction the system or even elevating the user privileges. I want to show you in this post which GroupPolicies I’ve used and what configurations I made to set up this type of installation.

First I want to commit my principles for working with ActiveDirectory and Group Policies:

The logged in user can…

The setup of the windows workstation is very simple:

The Group Policy Management Console is equipped with newest Windows 7 AMDX templates.

The following section shows the policies I’ve used to restrict the access to the computer and it’s programs.

Desktop background

Add a desktop wallpaper.

Remove Desktop Icons

Remove the default desktop icons.

Remove System Buttons

Remove the start system buttons and the options showed after click Ctrl + Alt + Delete.

Restricted Start Menu

Remove the all items in the windows start menu.

Restricted Taskbar

Denie any possiblity to customize the windows taskbar.

SharePoint Icon

Adds a simple icon to the desktop.

Delete Cache

Delete the browser cache on exit.

Disable Save Passwords

Internet explorer is not allowed to prompt for saving password information.

Hide Menus

Hide internet explorer menus.