Windows Thin PC Installation Step by Step

Microsoft recently announced that Windows Thin PC (WinTPC) is now generally available to Software Assurance customers for download from the Microsoft Volume Licensing site. If you are not a Software Assurance (SA) customer but would still like to try out Windows Thin PC, you can download the WinTPC 90 day evaluation copy from the Windows Thin PC home page.

This article will focus on the installation of Windows Thin PC RTM on VirtualBox's Virtual Machine.
1. Boot Virtual Machine with the installation media and once past through the initial splash screen, select the Language to install, Time and currency format and Keyboard or input method and click Next.

2. In this screen of the installation wizard, click "Install Now" button to begin Windows 7 Thin PC setup

Setup is starting windows will appear.

3. Next, accept the license terms and click on "Next".

4. The next setup step is to pick the installation partition. Since this computer has a new hard disk that hasn't been formatted before, you will only have the option to create a new partition on it. If you don't want to specify a specific partition to install Windows on, or create partitions on your hard disk, click Next to begin the installation.

5. The setup process will now begin to copy files from the installation DVD media to the hard disk. This step of installing Windows Thin PC will take some time. And during the steps shown on this screen the computer will reboot a few times.

6. After reboot, and the next thing you'll see is the prompt to set the user's and computer's name. By default, the computer's name will be username-PC, where username is the username you've entered. Once entered, click next

Note: The user you're creating will be the only user currently available on the system. Like Windows 7 and Vista, the built-in Administrator's account is disabled.

7. In this screen, Windows Thin PC setup will ask you set the administrator password for the user account you have created in the previous step. You'll be asked for a password hint as well. Set the password for the user account and click Next.

8. On next Windows Thin PC installation screen, you can configure Microsoft Windows Updates method. It is the recommended settings to install the Windows updates automatically. But you can choose the "Ask me later" option to make the decision later or select the "Install important updates only" option and continue to install Windows Thin PC Ultimate edition.

9. On the last user input screens where you will choose the time zone and set the current date time settings and click on "Next".

10. Select your network location type. This setting can be changed later, but do note that choosing a profile will have effect on the Windows Firewall and sharing settings. Select network location that appropriate to you and click on "Next".

11. At last! Windows Thin PC will finalize the settings and your desktop will appear.