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This page was originally designed and put together by Herb AA7HW.

Amazon Fire HD Tablets can be used by candidates taking in-person license examinations. They are not recommended for administering remote license examinations.

Note that these instructions assume that you will be purchasing a Fully Kiosk Volume License (for ten or more devices). If you do not purchase a Fully Kiosk Volume License, you must license each device individually. The process for doing that is left as an exercise for the reader.

These instructions also assume that you know how to use and configure Fully Kiosk. This is not a tutorial on the use or configuration of Fully Kiosk. If you are not familiar with Fully Kiosk, you can install a trial version of Fully Kiosk on a single device using these instructions.

Note that minor changes may be required, depending upon the firmware version installed on your tablet.

Hardware and software prerequisites

Keep the following Private

  • Your Fully Kiosk License Key. Anyone with access to this license key can unlicense your devices and license their own devices.
  • Your Fully Kiosk PIN. Anyone with access to one of your tablets and your PIN can access your Fully Kiosk License Key. Note that VEs do not need the Fully Kiosk PIN to configure Wi-Fi; they can configure Wi-Fi using the Wi-Fi PIN.
  • Your fully-settings.json file. This file contains both your Fully Kiosk License Key and your Fully Kiosk PIN.

Optionally, create a starting website for your tablets

  • A starting website allows you to customize the home page that will be displayed on your tablet.
  • Here is an example: http://w5yi-vec.org/downloads/tablet.html.
  • Compared with the standard https://exam.tools home page, a custom home page allows the following:
    • You can edit the custom home page to switch all of your tablets from production to the sandbox and back to production by editing your home page. Without a custom home page, you would need to reconfigure all of your tablets to switch between production and the sandbox.
    • You can add a Register for an Exam button that will take candidates directly to your desired registration page showing either a specific in-person exam or a list of all of your exams.
  • If you decide not to create this optional public website, use https://exam.tools instead.

Download the following files onto a distinctively named (e.g. Fully) Micro SD Card

Use a text editor to edit the fully-settings.json file

  • Purchase a license and save the license key in the volumeLicenseKey in the fully-settings.json file. (If you skip this step, Fully Kiosk will run in demo mode.)
  • Change the kioskPin in the fully-settings.json file from "1234" to whatever PIN you wish to use.
  • Change the kioskWifiPin in the fully-settings.json file from "5678" to whatever Wi-Fi PIN you wish to use. Do NOT use the same value for the kioskWifiPin as you use for the kioskPin.
  • Change the startURL in the fully-settings.json file from "http://w5yi-vec.org/downloads/tablet.html" to whatever home page (custom or standard) you wish to use.
  • Put a name for your tablet in the "actionBarTitle" field.

Setup Amazon Fire HD Tablets for Exam Tools

  • Power on the Tablet.
  • If desired, reset your Amazon Fire to factory defaults by clicking on Settings > Device Options > Reset to Factory Defaults.
  • Choose Language (English US).
  • Setup WiFi.
  • Tablet may automatically install firmware update (INSTALLING YOUR UPDATES... Please wait while your Fire updates).
  • Setup > Device Options > System Updates, and click UPDATE button. Ensure that Your device is running Fire OS 7.3.1.5 or newer. Note that Certified Refurbished Previous Generation Fire HD 8 Tablets (8th generation) may need to update first from version 6.3.1.2 to 6.3.1.5 before they can update from version 6.3.1.5 to version 7.3.1.5.
  • Registering your device requires and Amazon Account and Password, thus enabling you to purchase content and charge this to your credit card. Should you wish to skip the registration process:
    • Click Forgot password? when asked to register your device.
    • Click CANCEL when asked to Choose Country or Region.
    • Click NOT NOW when asked to REGISTER YOUR FIRE.
    • Click SKIP when asked whether to Skip Registration?
  • Insert the Micro SD card into the Tablet.
  • Setup your Storage Device (Micro SD Card) by choosing Use as portable storage, then click Done.
  • Open the Files app.
  • Click on the three lines at the top left of the menu bar, and select your SD Card with the distinctive name (e.g. Fully).
  • Click on Fully-Kiosk-Browser.
  • Click CONTINUE in response to the warning ("Your tablet and personal data are more vulnerable to attack by unknown apps. By installing this app, you agree that your are responsible for any damage to your tablet or loss of data that may result from its use.")
  • Click INSTALL in response to the question ("Fully Kiosk Browser: Do you want to install this application? It does not require any special access.")
  • After the Fully Kiosk Browser is installed, click DONE.
  • Open Settings, go to Accessibility, click Detect Home Button on Amazon Fire Tablets, and enable the slider. Click OK to the Warning.
  • Open Settings, go to Apps & Notifications, then go to Special App Access. Click on Display over other apps, and enable this privilege for Fully Kiosk Browser.
  • Open Fully Kiosk Browser.
  • Swipe Left, and click on Settings. Click Other Settings (the final option). Click Import Settings. Click ALLOW in response to the question ("Allow Fully Kiosk Browser to access photos, media, and files on your device?"). Then Click Import Settings again. Click Select Storage at the bottom of the screen and select External Storage. Click fully-settings.json, and click Import (1).
  • Click the back arrow, and select YES when asked whether to Switch Kiosk Mode on?.
  • You can now remove the SD Card.

Manage Fully Kiosk Volume Licenses

  • Manage your Fully PLUS Volume License by entering the Volume License Key you used to configure your tablets. Check the box to indicate that you are not a robot, and click OK. This will allow you to view the number of license you have purchased, the number that you have used, and the number that are available. It will also display the Device IDs (not serial numbers) and the time (in UTC) that the device was registered for each of your licensed devices, and allow you to unregister the device if the device is lost or stolen.
  • It may be helpful label each of your devices with a sequential number (e.g. 101), and maintain a list of devices that cross references the external label, the internal serial number (16 upper case letters and numbers), and the Device IDs (17 characters in two groups of 8 lower case hex digits, a hyphen, and 8 more lower case hex digits). The easiest way to maintain such a list is to configure your devices one at a time (they are automatically registered when you import your configuration file), and record the information prior to configuring the next device.
  • You can view the Amazon Fire HD 8 Serial Number by clicking on Settings > Device Options > About Fire Tablet.
  • You can view the Fully Kiosk Device ID by opening the Fully Kiosk Settings > Other Settings.