Setup a Windows 7 PC as a minimum thin client?

0

I have a Windows 7 PC that I want to use a strict thin client.

It should boot and:

  1. A RDP dialog pops up stating which PC I want to remotely connect to
  2. A mail program (Outlook most likely) should open

That is it. No other services (unless strictly needed like TCP/IP and DHCP client) should open, no other programs, etc.

Also, I want to keep the Windows 7 installation it current has. I dont want to format it and change it to a Linux distro or get a Windows 7 ISO and strip it out.

riahc3

Posted 2015-06-30T13:37:08.813

Reputation: 234

2Win7 is not the right choice for a thin client by definition. you might look into Kiosk mode to suit your restrictions, but you cannot strip win7 down that much. all you can do is make most of the features unavailable. – Frank Thomas – 2015-06-30T13:41:54.510

Kiosk mode sounds intresting but still... – riahc3 – 2015-06-30T13:48:13.720

Super User is a place to get help when you are stuck while attempting to resolve an issue. This sounds like you have not even started. Please share with us what you have researched and attempted on you own so far and where you got stuck. – CharlieRB – 2015-06-30T14:26:01.960

Microsoft Enterprise had a version of Windows 7 called Thin PC, which was for this purpose, would be hard to find a legit key for the copies floating out there on the internet though. – Moab – 2015-06-30T17:18:24.080

@moab i asked called Microsoft about that and they actually told me that product doesn't exist.... – riahc3 – 2015-06-30T18:13:57.857

You need to configure the PC in "Kiosk" mode. There are lots of instructions for this on the Internet including ones from Microsoft. Please Google first, ask questions later. – Julian Knight – 2015-06-30T20:40:25.827

nahc3, I have the iso and have installed it. it does exist. – Moab – 2015-06-30T23:47:18.000

@Moab What I ment is that I know it exists but I called Microsoft and they told me it doesn't exist. I personally never found a ISO but I believe you. – riahc3 – 2015-07-01T04:49:51.257

It does exist. Its just not being sold. Microsoft stop selling new Windows 7 licenses awhile ago. The current product is called Windows 8.1 Embedded. Here is an old website.

– Ramhound – 2015-07-01T11:29:49.547

You can download a 90day trial version of Thin PC on the page Ramhound posted above. – Moab – 2015-07-02T14:00:58.020

Simply use a Linux-based thin-client if all you want to do is connect via RDP to some remote server. Seriously, even doing a parallel installation alongside your W7 is probably "thinner" than what you'd save by attempting to clean out W7. – 0xC0000022L – 2019-09-21T19:33:43.690

Answers

1

When I had to do something similar, I used Group policy and the Custom UI setting.

Write a small 2 button Windows Frorms Application - one to shell Outlook, one to shell mstsc.exe (RDP).

Distribute this to your machines in the same location (C:\MyApp\launcher.exe) and then setup either kiosk mode or a windows Custom UI to launch this application only on login.

The Custom UI registry key can be found at (on 2012R2 DCs anyway...) User Settings\Policies\Admin Templates\System\Custom User Interface

Fazer87

Posted 2015-06-30T13:37:08.813

Reputation: 11 177

-1

Personally I would just uninstall anything you don't want then go into msconfig (you can just type it into the windows search bar and press enter/return) in here you can choose which programs and processes run at startup etc.

This will enable you to make just Outlook and RDP launch at startup.

for uninstalling multiple programs at once use something like http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

I would post screenshots but I'm currently on a W10 build sorry.

David Golding

Posted 2015-06-30T13:37:08.813

Reputation: 339

I'd like to point out Bulk Crap Uninstaller which I found quite useful (and it's FLOSS). But it's not what the inquirer asked about.

– 0xC0000022L – 2019-09-21T19:31:05.957

Asked: 2015-06-30T13:37:08.813

Viewed: 4 043 times

Active: 2019-09-21T19:00:55.160