HP ThinPro - BareMetal with HP ThinUpdate

Introduction

Do you want to reimage your ThinPro Thin Client device?  Perhaps you would like to update it to the latest ThinPro release without using a HP Device Manager template. A great way to achieve this is to create a bootable USB key using the free HP ThinUpdate tool.  Using the ThinUpdate tool you will select a ThinPro image for your Thin Client model.  The tool will wipe an inserted USB key, format it and download onto it the selected ThinPro image.

Install the HP ThinUpdate tool.

The ThinUpdate tool can be downloaded from the Software and Drivers section of support.hp.com.  The actual tool is not Thin Client model specific, but if you do enter in your model you will be directed to a location where you can download the tool.  One such location, for the T655 is:

https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers/hp-elite-t655-thin-client/2101137492

Download the tool and double click on the downloaded executable (in this case sp156567.exe).

Click Next on the wizard start page.  Accept the licence agreement and click on Next.

On the Location to Save files page, click on Change if you would like the .msi file saved to a different location.  Click on Next.  After the installer file is extracted double click on it to start the installation wizard.  Click Install on the Ready to install  HP ThinUpdate page.  Click Finish on the HP Thin Update setup wizard page.

Create a USB BareMetal install USB key

Insert your USB key into the device on which you installed the HP ThinUpdate tool - ensure you have copied any important files on it to a safe location.  Open the HP ThinUpdate tool from the Windows menu.  If prompted agree to download any updates.  Select Download a thin client recovery image to a local storage USB flash drive. 

The Image Downloads window appears.  In the Platform pull down menu select your thin client model.  In this case I select the T630.  In the Operating system pull down menu select the version of ThinPro that you would like to install.  In my case I select Thinpro 8.1.0  In the Images pull down menu select the ThinPro image you would like to install.  In my case I select the ThinPro 8.1.0 SP6.2 4096MB x64 Image.  Ensure that the USB flash drive appears in the Target area and then select Create.

A warning message appears advising that all data from the USB flash drive will be erased.  Click on Yes.

The USB flash drive is formatted and the download begins.

A completed successfully window appears when the USB key creation process finishes.

Perform a ThinPro BareMetal build on the HP Thin Client

The next sequence of instructions may be different, depending on your Thin Client model.

Insert your ThinUpdate USB key into the thin client.

Power on your device and click on ESC to enter the Startup Menu.  Click on Continue Startup.

The Loading UKit window appears.

The Imaging Tool main selection menu appears.  Select option 1 - Image Write Mode and press Enter.

The Image selection window appears.  Type in the number corresponding to the image you want to apply to the Thin Client device.  In my case I select Image 1 which is the ThinPro 8.1 SP 6.2 image.  Press Enter.

You will be presented with warning message and asked if you wish to continue.  Type Y for yes and click on Enter. The image writing process will take about 2-3 minutes to complete.

When the image operation has completed click on the Enter key to return to the main menu.

Click on 3 and then Enter to exit.

Remove the USB key and press Enter again.

After a few moments you will be at the hp ThinPro Continue Setup page.  Complete the wizard as required.

Conclusion

The HP ThinUpdate tool is very easy to use.  It only takes minutes to update or revert a Thin Client ThinPro OS to a factory reset state.  It is free to download as well.  Indeed there is a lot that is very pleasing about this useful little tool from HP.  I hope you have enjoyed reading this little blog and I wish you the same success in your Thin Client BareMetal reimaging tasks.

HP ThinPro - Deploy a Wallpaper Image

Introduction

HP Device Management (HPDM) is used to manage the HP Thin client running the ThinPro Operating system.  The ThinPro OS (Linux based) is a very secure environment.  I have been working with HPDM and HP ThinPro extensively for the past couple of years.  In the next series of blogs I will be discussing how to use HPDM to implement common OS tasks.  In this blog I will show you how to deploy a new wallpaper picture to your ThinPro estate.  The process has four steps:

1) Deploy the new wall paper image to a test device.

2) Set the new image as the desktop wallpaper on the test device.

3) Send a capture profile task to the test device.

4) Deploy the new profile to your pool of HP ThinPro devices.

Deploy the new wall paper image image to a test device.

You can start this by creating a local directory and copying the desired wallpaper image into this directory.  Do this on the HPDM server.  In my case I create a directory called FilesToSend, and I copy a picture of an Airbus aircraft into this directory.  

I then open the HPDM console and navigate to Manage Devices and right click on the test thin client, to which we are going to send the image.  We then select Send Task.

The Template Chooser windows appears.  Select File and Registry in the category column and select _File and Registry in the Template column and click on Next.

The Task Editor window appears.  In the Content tab click on Add.  The sub-task chooser window appears.  Click on Deploy Files and click on OK.  The Deploy Files window appears.  Click on Add from Local and select the wallpaper file.  In the Path On Device section enter in /tmp/.  

Click on OK and then OK.  Provide a name for the template, such as SendWallpaper and click on Generate on the Package Description Editor - Files to Deploy window.   

Click on OK to send the file to the test device.

Set the new image as the desktop wallpaper on the test device.

On the test ThinPro device click on the lower left hamburger and select Switch to Administrator and enter in the credentials when prompted.  Click again on the hamburger and select Control Panel.  Click on Appearance and then click on Desktop.  You will see a Theme drop down box - select Image and and then click on Choose a file.  In the Find a background image windows navigate to /tmp/ and select the sent image.  Click on Open and then Apply.

Send a capture profile task to the test device.

Now that we have sent the new wallpaper file to the test ThinPro device, and set this as the background wallpaper - we can capture this new configuration into a profile template.

In HPDM, right click on the test device and select Send Task....  The Template Chooser window appears.  In the left hand Category column select Settings.  In the right hand Template column select _Capture Profile.  

Click on Next.  The Task Editor window appears.  Enter in a name for the template such as Airbus Wallpaper and click on OK.

Deploy the new profile to your pool of HP ThinPro devices.

Having captured a new profile with a new wallpaper image, we can then deploy it at will to other ThinPro devices.  In the HPDM console navigate to Manage Devices.  In the right hand pane, select one or more ThinPro devices and click on Send Task.  The Template Chooser window appears.  In  the left hand column under Category select Settings.  In the right hand column under Template select the profile captured in the above section.  Click on Next and then OK to send the profile, with the new wallpaper image, to the selected ThinPro devices.

Conclusion.

The HPDM console can seem a bit confusing at first - however, as you perform more tasks you will become very comfortable very quickly.  It won't be long before you realise that indeed it is just as easy to manage these Linux based ThinPro devices as it is to manage your Windows devices.  I hope you have enjoyed this little blog and wish you much success in your own administrative tasks.