Optimizing Windows for Digital Signage

We built XOGO to run on multiple platforms, in order to allow our customers to run whatever media player hardware they prefer. For small businesses or those wanting a quick setup experience, an inexpensive player like a XOGO Mini or Amazon Fire Stick 4k will usually suffice. But for enterprise deployments in corporate environments, or for organizations that need their media players to support custom resolutions and multi-screen video walls, Windows remains one of the best options. Let’s examine some of the key considerations when setting up a Windows PC as a digital signage player.

Windows Version

At the time of writing, Windows 10 LTSC (long term service channel) is still one of the best versions of Windows for digital signage. Devices running Windows 10 LTSC are typically designed to do a specific task and don’t need to receive time-consuming Windows feature updates as frequently as other Windows devices.

User Accounts

Windows media players shipped by our OEM partners come preloaded with a Windows administrator account, and a user account that’s used for auto-launching and playing the XOGO Player app. We encourage this approach for any customer using Windows media players, since your device settings are password-protected behind the admin-account, while your signage will automatically begin playing whenever the PC is booted up. The accounts on your device can be local, domain or Microsoft accounts; your choice may be influenced by the type of Windows management scheme that your organization uses (below).

Application Deployment

XOGO uses the Windows Store for application deployment and keeping your XOGO Player app up to date. Although some enterprise customers block the Windows Store for their internal users, we offer an .appx package that can still be deployed on PCs. It still allows the device to communicate with the store and receive app updates.

Operation

In digital signage, preventing “black screens” is critical. Customers need their Windows devices to keep the XOGO Player app up and running at all times, to keep their signage content on-screen. Windows offers a wizard to set up something called kiosk mode, which keeps a single app running at all times (unless interrupted by ctrl+alt+delete), even restarting the app if it were to crash for some reason. Enabling Windows embedded mode is also an option that we recommend, for security purposes.

Management

How can you mitigate risks when using a Windows PC as a digital signage player? Although Windows LTSC is more stable than the home or pro versions, it’s still a full-featured operating system that receives Windows updates. Unplanned updates to the operating system can cause blue screens or invite tampering, since digital signage systems are typically unattended. To keep the operating system functioning trouble-free, it’s recommended to run a remote management and login solution on Windows digital signage players. If your organization has only a few players, it may be possible to keep your devices up to date using a remote login solution like Splashtop, LogMeIn or TeamViewer. For large deployments, a CMMS (computerized maintenance management software) package may be more appropriate.

Typical Build

The steps below are taken by our OEM partners when they build Windows PCs for use as XOGO digital signage players. We would recommend these steps for any organization deploying XOGO Player on Windows PCs.

Step 1:

Install the operating system with a local, domain or Windows admin account. Our OEM partners use two local accounts by default. The Microsoft interface will try to encourage a Microsoft account by default, so pay close attention if you want to instead use a local account. On the setup screen for the admin account, select “domain join instead”. Then type the admin username, i.e. XOGO_Admin.

Step 2:

Decline any additional features or access.

Step 3:

Run all Windows updates. Be aware that it may require several reboots and update attempts, in order to get all Windows updates downloaded and applied.

Step 4:

Optionally, enable Windows embedded mode.

Step 5:

Install XOGO Player. If your device has access to the Windows Store, you can simply search for XOGO Player and install it from the store. For Windows 10 LTSC you will need to use DISM to install the app as described here.

Step 6:

Set up Windows kiosk mode. In the Windows search bar, look for “add, edit or remove other users” and then click the result to get started. Under “set up a kiosk,” start the assigned access wizard.

6b: Create a local user account with a name, i.e. XOGO_User

6c: Choose a kiosk app (select XOGO Player)

Step 6 Note: if you do not see XOGO Player as an option, your version of Windows may require setting up a user first and then installing XOGO Player under that user account, before you can start the Windows kiosk wizard. In this case you may need to type netplwiz into your Windows search bar and run the command in order to allow the user account to auto-login (and subsequently launch XOGO Player) whenever the PC boots up.

Additional Note: After you create a digital signage appliance, you may want to image it to be applied across many devices. In this case it is critical that the contents of the following directory are cleared: C:\Users\XOGO_User\AppData\Local\Packages\XOGO.XOGOSignage_1q9ta2zfgtsee\LocalState

Have Questions?

Feel free to get in touch with us at support.xogo.io for assistance.