Is my understanding of the problem correct or not?
Are there any resources that would allow me to understand this problem more deeply?
1 Like
I also have a wish on Qubes Application Menu: indeed, I would like to show/hide some items of them menu of Q-icon by administration password.
The easy idea is to hide everything of Q->Gear-icon by default and show them after administration enables user’s GUI access to dom0.
But some items related with “Look and Feel” needs to be accessible without requiring administration password. These include settings of appearance, desktop, window manager, panel, display, wallpaper, dock (some of which are not provided by default, some others are part of some other application).
I want some part of settings menu of VMs hidden/shown by administration password. But I want the facility of selecting applications to be listed in Q->…->Qube should be accessible without requiring administration password.
Another problem of the easy idea is Qubes OS specific idea should be insisting at first the user install Qubes OS and try it. A workaround would be a switch to enable password for GUI access to dom0. This switch controls the default. With this switch enabled, the user has less chance of mistakenly modifying data in dom0, less chance of mistakenly installing software in dom0.
If the user owns the PC, this is about mistakes. So, the user might choose an easy password like 5 letters.
If the organization owns the PC, the organization might prefer to use a stronger password. The organization wants to protect the PC from the employee. (The USB-ports for the keyboard and the mouse is converted to PS-port internally. The other USB-ports are mechanically locked and closed. Audio connection is through classical connection through pin-like connectors. Camera is installed internally.)
In a conference, the organizer might choose a password like 10 letters for the conference PC connected to the projector. The speaker copy the VM to the conference PC and give an easy password for the conference and the speaker. Or instead, the speaker might make the VM on the conference PC and copy some data. This is more pragmatic: the organizer gives the newly created qube and the speaker installs applications and copy data.
So, in some cases, we want to have password control on both of use of dom0 and use of each user’s qube. I think these two controls are independent.
3 Likes
Apologies, I should have explained better.
Its just an example of what I used for VM theming / color-coding.
For example I color/ theme each VM and its apps (ie. terminal) to its assigned color.
For example: Work VM: Blue: I theme the terminal and apps Blue so I know its the Work VM.
2 Likes
Agreed. To many things there. A dynamic show / hide or custom option / or different organizational structure / or permission based show /hide would be great.
3 Likes
I found someone with a similar interest.
He mentions “guest mode”. The proposal I quote here is about “user mode”. They are similar.
2 Likes