Windows Thin PC CTP Tour

[Derf]

So I figure that we've all got to be pretty worn out on the whole Windows 8 thing after the events that have transpired this weekend, so how about we turn our attention for a little while to another Windows product that's currently in beta testing?
Windows Thin PC CTP has just recently been posted on Microsoft Connect as a, and I quote, "smaller footprint version of Windows 7". Similar to how Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PC's shrunk the footprint of Windows XP, Windows Thin PC does exactly that for Windows 7 - it transforms what is otherwise a fairly bloated operating system into something that you wouldn't be embarrassed to put on your old Pentium III that you have kicking around. Microsoft lists the "recommended" system requirements of Windows Thin PC as...

- 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
- 1 GB RAM, 16 GB available hard disk space
- DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or later version
driver
- Bootable DVD-ROM drive

But of course you should be able to install this on something with a little less oomph without a problem. Anyways, onto the tour.


The first screen you see when you boot from the Install Disc is this incredibly familiar sight - it looks a lot like the Windows Embedded 7 Standard setup (more than likely because that's exactly what this distribution is built from). The rest of the setup past this is exactly like what you'd see when you install Windows 7, so if you're at all curious at what that looks like just pop in your Windows 7 install disc.


Here we are after setup's finished doing it's thing. Of course, once again, not much to see here - predictably it's got the Thin PC branding as well as the Embedded backdrop behind the Window.


So now we've finally gotten to the desktop! It looks pretty much exactly like your average Windows 7 desktop with the exception of that familiar build tag on the bottom right. Again proudly showing Thin PC's origins, it actually identifies itself as "Windows Embedded". It's of course Build 7601, meaning it's got Windows 7 SP1 all preinstalled out of the box.


Here we've got the standard shot of winver, showing that yes, this is indeed Windows Thin PC and not Embedded Standard.


Here we see the first (annoying) difference to your average Windows 7 installation - they removed the Search bar in the Start Menu! I didn't even realize it until I tried to type in a command, pressed enter, and nothing happened. Rough.


Despite this being made for lower spec'd PC's, once you've got the proper graphics drivers all installed you'll be able to turn on Windows Aero just like any other copy of Windows 7.


Looking at the Task Manager (which hasn't been removed in Thin PC, unlike FLP where it was inconceivably MIA), you'll see that Thin PC actually does appear to take up considerably less memory than the average Windows 7 install. Here Explorer is only idling at 8764K, a number I've never seen Explorer drop to on Windows 7.


Finally, even IE9 installs fine and dandy on Thin PC without an issue.

Thin PC does without many of the tradition Accessories included in normal copies of Windows, including Paint, Calculator, and Games. Also, to those curious, the system took up about 2.7GB. Anyways, hope this was an okay break from the madness one's been seeing lately in the beta scene. If you've got any questions but don't feel like installing the build yourself, feel free to ask away - I've got the VM just a click away.

[compgeke]

I'm downloading this as we speak. This seems like a great product for Netbooks and if it has Domain support (not meaning workgroup) this can replace Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs on computers that can't run Windows 7 but can run XP fine.

[soulman]

Now Windows XP users shouldn't have an excuse to upgrade. Easy way for Microsoft to pull the plug earlier on XP.

[compgeke]

Although it depends on whether this will be released to the general public or just VL people like WinFLP was.

[SpiralVortex]

I've been experimenting with this at work, where we're facing the prospect of having to put Windows 7 on some 1.3 GHz Celeron-M laptops with 1GB of RAM and Intel 915 graphics (so no official drivers for 7 and certainly no Aero Glass).

Win7 Thin PC came up with around 330MB of memory usage sitting at the desktop after installation. To my surprise, regular Windows 7 Enterprise, with all the addons it has over Thin PC, came up with... 350MB. Given the difference seems to be so miniscule, we'll be sticking with Enterprise when the time comes as the savings from Thin PC seem almost non-existant. (It also shows just how heavy Aero glass is on the memory footprint, along with graphics drivers in general - the laptop only offers Standard VGA as far as device manager is concerned. I was able to shoehorn some HP Vista-era XDDM drivers onto it in the end).

A shame, as I was looking forward to a genuinely miniscule version of Windows 7. The world of XP and its sub-100MB commit charges seem as far away as ever!

[Rob Jansen]

ThinPC is exactly what WinFLP was, both were build on Embedded versions of Windows, both install with basic functionality, enough to do some work.
With the Windows 7 AIK you can customize the setup, removing some components, but who needs that, it works fine as it is, low footprint, perfect for people that still have an older PC with less RAM but want to run Windows 7 below the recommended specs for the regular version.

If you want to test it yourself, just sign-in to Microsoft Connect and click on downloads, currently there is only an x86 version available.

If you want to see more screens of the entire installation process Just click here.

@SpiralVortex.
Remember that Windows 7 NOT XP-era, that time is behind us, time to move on.
Also people do not force you to upgrade, but when it is out of support in 2014, all updates stop also, so you can chose.
Running Windows Vista/7 on there or running XP and saving up for new Laptops with an better processor instead of the Celeron Type and some more RAM.

Aero is not needed, just use the classic theme to cut some more down on the memory usage (if the laptops are purely for work related).

EDIT:
I think you just installed the version from the disc, I suggest you read the manual that comes with the download to make your own version with less options and it runs in a lower RAM usage.
Also, if you want to scale down even more, look at Windows 7 Embedded itsself, it can be scaled down much more.

[Derf]

Yes, I stuck with the default installation of as Microsoft currently has it configured. I figured it'd be the best representation of the product as Microsoft intends it.

[Rob Jansen]

@Derf.
The EDIT, was meant for SpiralVortex

Anyway, an good job on creating the Tour, it was made on VMWare Fusion right?

[Stannieman]

You can also use windows 7 embedded standard.
With that version you can choose during setup for every component whether you want to install it or not (like nlite during setup). There are also some standard profiles, one of them is "Thin PC", so that's probably almost the same is this verion.

[SotirisMichail]

I just installed it and it's quite fast in vmware with 512MB of RAM.It takes around 314MB with Aero.It seems great for old computers but for netbooks I would recommend Windows 7 Home Premium or Ultimate.Also,Aero in Thin PC doesn't include Aero Peek and taskbar live previews.

[giantsteen]

Maybe they'll switch aero so it'll run on software implementation, ad not hardware implementation, like in Windows 8.

[hounsell]

Maybe they'll switch aero so it'll run on software implementation, ad not hardware implementation, like in Windows 8.

No. That's too heavy a change for what is essentially just a custom image. They're not doing any recoding here, just tweaking the tools to be at their most efficient for low resources. Obviously, with the standard images, the focus isn't on low resources - they're optimised to scale up as well as down.

[sCooByDoyya]

This is on Windows 7 7601 kernel.

[giantsteen]

But then it basically makes no sense. The specs are just like normal Windows 7. This sucks because PC's with lower RAM amounts and lower processors will not have the ability to use this operating system- unless it has customizable options in setup like FLP did.

PS: Is this an Alpha, Beta, RC, RTM, or whatever?

[ultrawindows]

CTP = Community Technology Preview

[hounsell]

But then it basically makes no sense. The specs are just like normal Windows 7. This sucks because PC's with lower RAM amounts and lower processors will not have the ability to use this operating system- unless it has customizable options in setup like FLP did.

PS: Is this an Alpha, Beta, RC, RTM, or whatever?

This is the successor to FLP for all intents and purposes. FLP didn't use different code to Windows XP - it was just carefully packaged and optimised to run with lower resources. That said, the focus has shifted from legacy PCs to Thin Clients, a scenario FLP supported but was not focus.

It's a CTP.

[giantsteen]

Does that mean it's in relation to an RC/RTM?

[linuxlove]

Can anyone else download Thin PC CTP from Microsoft Connect? I only get a 404 Not Found error when going to the link.

[giantsteen]

Just go to connect.microsoft.com and find it. I got the 404 alsoo but I managed to find it fine.

[ggpm]

Now there isn't even an excuse to stay with XP!

[Derf]

Does that mean it's in relation to an RC/RTM?

No, it means it's a CTP. Could be anywhere on the developmental scale. Vidta had pre-Beta 2 CTPs as well as RC CTPs. Judging by the nature of this I fount itll have a long developmental cycle.

@Rob: oh, sorry, was late here when I made my reply - yeah, I made this on VMWare Fusion.

[AttackedbyGlitch]

Has anyone uploaded it to the FTP yet?

[iBetaTosh]

I got the iso.

Edit: uploading it (takes longer than usual so wait an hour or 2 or 3)

@Derf: There were was some missed spellings in your reply

[windows4live]

if microsoft collect all their experience this would be great for the steps to win8

[STKD]

Hm. Won't install on any of the machines I own, netbook or otherwise. Each one fails after the first reboot with the helpful "installation could not be started" message. Very odd.