Getting started with Windows® MultiPoint™ Server

Hi, I'm James Duffus, Group Program Manager for Windows MultiPoint Server, a shared computing solution for education that allows multiple students to each have their own desktop experience sharing a single PC.

Earlier this year we announced the availability of Windows® MultiPoint™ Server 2010. For schools that lack the resources and infrastructure to support 1:1 computing, WMS 2010 offers a cost effective, easily managed way to provide access to information technology to more students. There has been loads of interest from around the world, but I've noticed the need for a simple set of "getting started" instructions. This is that post.

To get started with WMS 2010, download and review the Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 Deployment Guide, which includes hardware configuration guidelines. Picking the right hardware for the number of users you will have on the system and the workloads they will be running is critical to delivering a good desktop experience. Each user station has its own monitor, keyboard, mouse and headset using either off-the-shelf USB2.0 hubs and multi-headed video cards, or USB connected multi-function hubs from our hardware partners. Once you have the right station hardware the user experience will depend on the capability of your CPU. Table 2 of the Hardware Requirements and Performance Recommendations is a great resource to understand how many users your hardware can support.  

With the right hardware configuration to meet your needs, download an evaluation copy of the product from https://connect.microsoft.com/wms/SelfNomination.aspx?ProgramID=5532&pageType=1. Note that you will need the latest 64-bit driver for your video hardware. The included generic VGA driver is not capable of creating the extended desktop WMS 2010 requires to create user stations.

The evaluation download is full released product and the activation period can be rearmed up to three times by following the instructions on the site.

Any questions not answered in the Deployment Guide may be answered in our  Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 TechNet library or at our Windows MultiPoint Server TechNet Web Forum.

Let us know what additional information would be useful.

Thanks,

James Duffus
Group Program Manager – Windows MultiPoint Server