Thin Client

New! Dell Cloud Client Workspace Updates for May 2024!

chrismessier Azure Virtual Desktop, Blog, Citrix, Microsoft, Security, VMware Horizon, Wyse ThinOS , , , ,

Wow! The past few months for the Cloud Client Workspace (CCW) team have been busy including just finishing up Dell Technologies World 2024 last week! If you’re not familiar with the CCW portfolio check out our client overview guide to get familiar with our solutions!

I wanted to share a quick run down of some of the key announcements in the past couple months!

🚀 Wyse Management Suite (WMS) 4.4 launched!

  • What’s new in 4.4? Check out here!
  • Reviewers guide here
  • Wyse Management Suite Interactive Demo here!
  • Quick video overview here

🚀 Dell ThinOS 2405 launched!

🚀 New Platforms Launched!!

  • Dell Latitude 5450 thin client laptop! Check out details here!
  • Dell 24″ All In One thin client! Check out details here!

🚀 Dell Windows 10 IoT 2402 launched!

  • What’s new in 2402? Check out here!
  • Third-party application improvements, Dell Application Store updates and more!

🚀 Dell Hybrid Client 2403 launched!

  • What’s new in 2403? Check out here!

🚀New ThinOS DEX Updates!

  • ControlUp, Lakeside, eG Innovations & UXM

🚀 New! Updated Dell Demo Center Interactive Demos!

  • Dell ThinOS Interactive Demo here!
  • Wyse Management Suite Interactive Demo here!
  • Dell Hybrid Client Interactive Demo here!

🚀 Thin Client OS Lifecycle Matrix updated for May 2024!

That’s it for now – enjoy!

Community Resources!

Hope you enjoyed!! Let’s connect & subscribe to blog to get latest updates!

-Chris

Dell ThinOS Monitoring and Telemetry Overview

chrismessier Blog, Security, Wyse ThinOS ,

A new feature in ThinOS 2402 and Wyse Management Suite (WMS) 4.3 is the addition of some great telemetry data on the ThinOS devices. It reports a bunch of info including CPU, memory, storage & network usage along with device network information, connected peripherals, connection broker, currently signed on users, & remote connection info.

In order to get this telemetry data into WMS you need to do the following 2 steps –

  • In WMS, Enable Telemetry Dashboard under System Settings\Device Monitoring
  • On ThinOS, install the Telemetry Dashboard package, go to dell.com/support, select your thin client model and select Applications, Telemetry Dashboard – current version “ThinOS 2402 (9.5.1079) Telemetry Dashboard v1.0.0.8” here.

The telemetry tab in the WMS dashboard will get populated once enabled in WMS & the package is installed on ThinOS:

It’s an easy 1 button configure to enable the Telemetry data in WMS:

You can also view the Telemetry data locally on the ThinOS device under Troubleshooting\Telemetry Dashboard:

ThinOS Telemetry Dashboard\General tab:

ThinOS Telemetry Dashboard\Monitor tab:

ThinOS Telemetry Dashboard\Network tab:

ThinOS Telemetry Dashboard\Peripheral tab:

ThinOS Telemetry Dashboard\Connection tab:

We continue to innovate in Dell ThinOS and hope you found this helpful! Any questions please let me know!

Additional Resources:

Hope you enjoyed!! Let’s connect & subscribe to blog to get latest updates!

-Chris

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Dell ThinOS and Windows 365 Cloud PC Demo

chrismessier Azure Virtual Desktop, Blog, Wyse ThinOS ,

I wanted to create a quick 2-min demo showing the Dell ThinOS bootup and login process to a Windows 365 Cloud PC .

The process is pretty quick and the experience is the same whether it’s Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), VMware Horizon, Citrix Virtual Apps/Desktops, etc…

In this demo I pre-populate the users Azure AD credentials via Wyse Management Suite to speed up login and is an example of what you may use in a kiosk environment.

Enjoy!

Additional Resources:

  • All things Dell Technologies VDI hub here
  • Dell ThinOS & Azure Virtual Desktop here
  • Excellent Dell Wyse community located here
  • Dell Thin Client Community forums here
  • Microsoft AVD Community forums here
  • Great AVD information site & user community here
  • Dell VDI whitepapers here

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New! Dell Cloud Client Workspace and VDI Updates for July!

chrismessier Azure Virtual Desktop, Blog, Citrix, Microsoft, Security, VMware Horizon, Wyse ThinOS , , , ,

Wow! The past few weeks the Dell Cloud Client Workspace team and VDI teams have been busy launching a flurry of new updates! I wanted to share a quick run down of some of the key announcements just happening!

🚀 Wyse Management Suite (WMS) 4.1 launched!

  • What’s new in 4.1? Check out here!
  • My quick summary here!
  • Reviewers guide here
  • Quick video overview here

🚀 Dell ThinOS 2306 launched!

  • What’s new in 2306? Check out here!
  • Updated Microsoft AVD, Citrix, VMware, Teradici, Imprivata clients and much more!

🚀 Dell Windows 10 IoT 2306 launched!

  • What’s new in 2306? Check out here!
  • Third-party application improvements, Dell Application Store updates and more!

🚀 Dell Hybrid Client 2.5 launched!

  • What’s new in 2.5? Check out here!
  • Performance improvements, updates to the UI and many clients updates!

🚀 New Dell Demo Center WMS demo launched!

  • Take a quick test drive of the Wyse Management Suite here!

🚀*New* Implementation Services for Azure Virtual Desktop

That’s it for now – enjoy!

Community Resources!

Hope you enjoyed!! Let’s connect & subscribe to blog to get latest updates!

-Chris

New! Wyse Management Suite (WMS) 4.1 Released!

chrismessier Blog, Management ,

The latest Wyse Management Suite (WMS) 4.1 has been released and I wanted to share some great updates! This has already been rolled out via our WMS Cloud and if you run on-prem, you can download WMS 4.1 here.

If you’re new to Wyse Management Suite and just want a quick peek at it, check out our new interactive demo! You can also check out a quick 1 min video here!

Here’s a quick rundown of the key features and enhancements:

➡️ Support for new thin client solutions: OptiPlex All-in-One, Latitude 3440 and Latitude 5440 with ThinOS, Dell Hybrid Client and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise.

➡️ Management for ThinOS 2306 features & platform expansion

➡️ Management for Dell Hybrid Client 2.5 features & platform expansion

➡️ Management for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 (QR 2306) & platform expansion

➡️ New configuration user interface (ConfigUI) for Windows 10 IoT. Now Win10 IoT, ThinOS, and DHC share a common WMS ConfigUI proving a more modern, consistent and intuitive experience for Dell thin clients

➡️ Migrated the WMS on-premises database to the MongoDB Enterprise version, replacing the MongoDB Community version which has EOL’d (applies to both WMS Standard and Pro versions). The MongoDB Enterprise version provides better security, compliance and Enterprise-grade support.

➡️ Customer-specific requests

➡️ Bug fixes

Cloud Client Workspace: your virtual workspace reimagined!

Some additional resources as part of launch:

New WMS Brochure

New WMS Interactive Demo site

WMS Reviewers Guide

Dell Thin Client Family Brochure

Connect to the Dell Community here!

Hope you enjoyed!! Let’s connect & subscribe to blog to get latest updates!

-Chris

New! Dell Wyse Training via Dell Education Services!

chrismessier Blog, Management, Wyse ThinOS , , ,

Hey all! I wanted to let you know Dell has just released several new Dell thin client and Wyse Management Suite training offerings!

Here is a list of the offerings:

You can check out the various options here!

Enjoy!

Connect to the Dell Community here!

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Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) and Dell Windows 10 IoT Kiosk Mode

chrismessier Azure Virtual Desktop, Blog, Microsoft , ,

Deploying Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) in a Kiosk configuration is a common question we get asked when using Dell Windows 10 IoT thin clients.

The idea is when the device boots, it will present only with an AVD login with no other options present on the desktop, start menu, etc… thus creating a locked down kiosk solution.

By default, this is the behavior with ThinOS & AVD since the device is natively locked down. An example of this is outlined in a previous post here.

We can also do the same thing with Dell Windows 10 IoT by using a great Dell utility included in IoT called EasySetup. You can configure this tool in the Wyse Management Suite console and just specify an AVD connections and remove any other options, icons, configuration, etc.. from the desktop of the thin client. These same steps can be used to configure any other VDI connections, i.e. Citrix, VMware, browser icons, etc..

You can configure by following the steps below;

Configure your Wyse Management Suite (WMS) group configuration to launch the AVD client as shown below.

  1. In WMS, select the Group Configuration you want to edit, and select ‘WES’.

2. In the WES WMS configuration group, go to ‘Wyse EasySetup‘ and enable ‘Kiosk Mode‘. Under ‘Applications‘, section give the connection icon a name, i.e. AVD Desktop and under ‘Application Location‘, enter the path to the AVD client, i.e. C:\Program Files\Remote Desktop\msrdcw.exe

Configure any of the optional settings as desired.

3. Once complete with the settings, click ‘Save & Publish‘ at the top of the page to save settings.

4. Once the device boots up and downloads your updated WMS configuration, it will enable the Wyse EasySetup shell and the end result should be the following below.

Note: The File Base Write filter needs to be enabled in order for the Wyse EasySetup shell to be enabled and applied. If not, you will boot to the normal Windows desktop and not see the single icon as shown below.

5. By default, the ‘Wyse Easy Setup’ policy removes many configurations from the start menu so the user can’t access any settings. If you want to enable some specific Start Menu options, Control Panel settings, task bar settings, etc.. you can toggle many of these features on in the ‘Wyse Easy Setup’ policy.

For example, some of the settings you can enable are shown below. These settings are located the same ‘Kiosk Mode’ section shown above. To see more details of the available Wyse EasySetup configuration options search for the latest the WMS administration guide here.

I hope this helps provide some additional information about using the Wyse EasySetup utility to setup an Azure Virtual Desktop connection in Kiosk mode on Windows 10 IoT thin client.

Hope you found this helpful!

Additional Resources:

  • Prior article on installing the AVD client onto Windows 10 IoT here.
  • Windows 10 IoT admin and release notes here
  • Wyse Management Suite documentation here
  • Dell ThinOS & Azure Virtual Desktop here
  • Excellent Dell Wyse community located here
  • Dell Thin Client Community forums here
  • Microsoft AVD Community forums here
  • Great AVD information site & user community here

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New Dell Wyse ThinOS Activation License & Wyse Management Suite Update

chrismessier Blog, Management, Security, VMware Horizon, Wyse ThinOS , ,

A new Dell Wyse ThinOS enhancement to be aware of is the introduction of a ThinOS Activation License that was introduced as part of ThinOS version 2205 (version 9.3.1129) & Wyse Management Suite 3.7.

This new license is required in certain scenarios as outlined here.

In some cases, you may encounter the following message below:

“Login is denied (ThinOS activation license is not available)”

You will get this for a few reasons as outlined in the release notes here and outlined below.

ThinOS enhancements

  • Added ThinOS Activation devices licenses in Wyse Management Suite—The licenses must be used in the following two scenarios:
    • Devices that are converted from other operating systems must use the ThinOS activation licenses to enable VDI function. Without the ThinOS activation license, you cannot log in to any Broker agent on the devices. The ThinOS activation licenses are used automatically when registering to Wyse Management Suite.
      • For example, you bought Windows 10 IoT/Windows Embedded devices in the past and converted them to ThinOS at one point
      • If you bought a newer platform, i.e. Dell 3420 thin client laptop and ThinOS was NOT installed at the factory but instead onsite, then you will need the ThinOS Activation license
    • Non-PCoIP ThinOS clients that are upgraded from ThinOS 8.6 can use ThinOS Activation license to enable the PCoIP function. Go to Services > WDA Settings > Enable PCoIP Activation License to enable this option in ThinOS 9.x policy. Restart your device for the function to take effect
      • For example, you upgraded ThinOS 8.x without PCoIP and have upgraded to ThinOS 9.x and you use PCoIP with VMware Horizon
  • Support for Dell Wyse Latitude 3420 Thin Client
    • You must have ThinOS Activation devices license for Latitude 3420 to enable VDI function

This license takes effect starting with ThinOS 2205/9.3.1129 & Wyse Management Suite 3.7 as noted in the release notes here.

If you are running into this issue after upgrading to ThinOS 2205, you may need to reach out to your Dell account team to likely purchase the appropriate ThinOS Activation License if you fall into one of the categories.

Alternatively, you can roll back to prior versions of ThinOS until you identify the reason you are getting this license message & purchase the proper ThinOS activation license(s).

The new ThinOS Activation License is discussed in greater detail here, Dell ThinOS – Installation & Activation License User Guide. This document also covers installing ThinOS on newer hardware manually such as the Wyse 3420 thin client laptop IF it is not pre-loaded at the factory.

If you use WMS on prem you will need to export your ThinOS Activation License from WMS Cloud to WMS on prem server as noted here.

Hope you found this helpful!

Additional Resources:

  • Dell Wyse ThinOS 2205/9.3.1129 Release notes here
  • Dell Wyse ThinOS 2205/9.3.1129 Administrators Guide here
  • Dell Wyse Management Suite Release notes here
  • Dell Community forums for ThinOS here
  • Excellent Dell Wyse community located here
  • Dell Wyse ThinOS Technical Support here

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Dell Wyse Management Suite (WMS) 3.6 Install

chrismessier Blog, Management, Security ,

The latest release of Wyse Management Suite, 3.6, is out! I put together a brief summary of the installation process if installing locally on a Windows 2019/2016/2012 server. Alternatively, WMS can also be run as a hybrid cloud solution as noted here. Enjoy!

You can download Wyse Management Suite v3.6 from here along with documentation and release notes here.

  1. Launch the installer, WMS_3.6-xxx.exe and click ‘Next’ to begin

2. Accept EULA and click ‘Next’

3. Choose Typical or Custom and be sure to check off ‘Turn off IE Enhanced Security Configuration’ then click ‘Next’. I selected Typical for this standard install.

4. Provide credentials for both database access and administrator credentials. Note: The administrator credentials will be the login credentials you’ll use to log into the WMS console.

5. I clicked ‘Next’ past this section as it’s specific to using Teradici zero clients which I’m not using. If you are, see more info at page 15 here

6. Select an option to create the WMS service account from the below options.

7. Provide credentials for the Software Vault as noted below.

8. Click ‘Next’ to accept the default security configuration

9. Select the installation and repository location as noted below

10. Once you click ‘Next’, the installation will start!!

11. Once install finishes, click ‘Launch’ at the end and a wizard will finalize the install. You can see more of these final steps here starting at Step 14.

Additional Resources:

  • Wyse Management Suite download here
  • Wyse Management Suite documentation here
  • Excellent Dell Wyse community located here
  • Dell Community forums for Wyse Management Suite (WMS) here

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Dell Wyse ThinOS 9 & 802.1x Configurations

chrismessier Blog, Security, Wyse ThinOS ,

I recently came across an issue that took some time trying to resolve regarding 802.1x configuration on ThinOS 9.1 that I wanted to share.

Ultimately, the issue came down to the SSL certificate name not matching the certificate name entered into the Wyse Management Suite (WMS) configuration.

When the device was trying to authenticate, it was using a certificate name that didn’t match what was in the WMS configuration and failed to authenticate because of this.

Some errors we received in the event log but weren’t very descriptive although it appeared to be a certificate authentication issue based on ‘private key passphrase needed for SSID’ error message.

  • TLS: Failed to set TLS connection parameters
  • EAP-TLS: Failed to initialize SSL
  • WLAN: CTRL-REQ-PASSPHRASE-0:Private key passphrase needed for SSID
  • WLAN: EAP: Failed to initialize EAP method: vendor 0 method 13 (TLS)

Example log:

We then looked at the WMS 802.1x configuration and verified the certificate name, in this case, ‘wyse.pfx’ – note the lowercase ‘w‘. We uploaded again to WMS and verified we got prompted for password so that looked correct.

We then looked at actual certificate we uploaded, ‘Wyse.pfx’, and made note of the case – capital ‘W‘ vs the lowercase ‘w‘ that was entered in WMS console so we changed WMS to match certificate name. We changed it from ‘wyse.pfx’ to ‘Wyse.pfx’. Once we did this and rebooted device, it connected to the network successfully!

Lesson learned, it’s never a bad idea to verify case sensitivity and try to make sure they match to avoid this potential pitfall!

Hope you found this helpful!

Additional Resources:

  • More details on 802.1x configurations noted here
  • If you are new to ThinOS 9.1, here is a quick video overview of some of it’s features.
  • Looking for more details on ThinOS 9.1? Check out the release notes here
  • Excellent Dell Wyse community located here
  • Dell Community forums for ThinOS here

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