Assign a UUID to a Thin Client (Windows Embedded CE 6.0)

1/5/2010

As part of the Terminal Services licensing agreement, a Windows Embedded CE powered thin client must have a universally unique identifier (UUID).

The UUID, also known as a globally unique identifier (GUID), is a unique 128-bit integer that is represented as a string. An example of a UUID is 4208fb66-e22a-11d1-a7d7-00a0c982c00d. For more information about the structure that is defined by Microsoft for a UUID or GUID, see GUIDs and UUIDs. For information about the format specification and the algorithms used to generate UUIDs, see this Web site.

Generating a UUID

To generate and assign a UUID to an object other than hardware, you can use the UUIDGEN program that is available as part of Platform Builder for Windows Embedded CE 6.0. The UUIDGEN program uses a time value and your computer network adapter ID to generate unique UUIDs. For more information about how to use UUIDGEN, see this Microsoft Web site, and then search for UUIDGEN.

To generate and assign a UUID to a hardware device, use a unique hardware identifier, such as an Ethernet MAC address, a logic array, and so on, to represent the UUID.

You must store the UUID value in a region of nonvolatile memory on the thin client operating system. You must also make sure that the UUID cannot be erased or overwritten after the thin client has been deployed. This is especially true for thin clients that have software that is upgradeable after it has been deployed in an enterprise network.

See Also

Concepts

Configuring a Thin Client
Reading a UUID

Other Resources

How to Develop an OEM Adaptation Layer
Implementing the OEMIoControl Function