CCBoot

Thin client solution for education

Every lab PC clean at the start of every class

CCBoot is a diskless boot solution and easy update & recovery software for schools, colleges and training rooms. Students can install, break or change anything — a reboot returns the PC to the image you approved, and a single update reaches the whole lab.

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image for the whole lab
1
hard drives to repair
0
PCs per typical server
70
School computer lab in Mexico City: every desk runs a diskless mini PC booted by CCBoot

Why schools run their labs on CCBoot

The features that matter most when dozens of students share the same PCs all day.

  • No More Viruses, Trojans, and Spyware

    The system will be restored after every reboot, leaving your PCs in a clean state at all times.

  • Easy Updates

    When the “master” PC is updated, the rest of the PCs on the LAN will update with a simple reboot.

  • No More Buying Hard Drives

    Client PCs don’t need a hard drive… this alone could save you THOUSANDS of dollars.

  • Save Money On Human Resources

    One person can handle updates, maintenance, and software rollouts that used to take multiple people hours… or days.

  • Energy Conserving

    Up to 40% energy could be saved, which is environmental and energy-saving.

  • Efficient Cache Equipped

    Equipped with good cache performance, physical memory, and SSD cache support.

  • Windows Domain

    Works perfectly with Windows domain. Login with your domain account, and then load and store personal data on the personal disk.

  • Graphic Boot

    You can set the graphic boot menu anyway you want for easy customization.

How a diskless classroom works

One master PC holds the Windows image with every application the course needs. Lab PCs boot it over the network from the CCBoot server — no local disks to image, patch or replace. Writes during the lesson go to a per-client write-back area and are discarded on reboot.

Teachers and IT staff update the image once in super-client mode, keep a restore point, and roll the change out with a reboot. Students sign in with their Windows domain accounts and keep their own files on a personal disk or network share.

  • Clean, identical PCs at the start of every period
  • Per-course images: one for the CAD lab, one for the language lab
  • Windows domain login with roaming or personal-disk profiles
  • Works with existing lab PCs — only a bootable NIC is required
Download the education PPTHow diskless boot works
CCBoot client and image management used to roll out one lab image

How to use CCBoot in a Windows domain

Join diskless clients to the school domain and let students log in with their own accounts.

How to use CCBoot in Windows domainDomain join, user logon and personal data on a diskless client.
More videos

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Set up one classroom on the trial and see the first clean reboot before you commit.

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Reference thin client for classrooms

The low-power client PC we documented for school labs. Any PC with a PXE-capable network card and enough RAM works just as well — treat this as a sizing example, not a requirement.

CPU
Intel Dual Core 1.80 GHz, 4 threads
Chipset
Intel NM10 Express
VGA
Intel GMA3150
RAM
2 GB, 1 × SO-DIMM DDR3 800 MHz
Ethernet
Gigabit NIC
Power supply
12 V / 19 V DC-IN compatible, 4-pin ATX compatible
Audio
6-channel ALC662 with S/PDIF and power amplifier; sound ports for 2 W / 3 W / 5 W speakers, adjustable hood
CCBoot server console listing every classroom PC and its status
Note: a server matching the wiki hardware example can hold about 70 diskless PCs of this class. For current client and server sizing see client requirements and server requirements.

Success stories

Look what our clients are saying about CCBoot.

NT7Virtual CV school lab in Mexico City running CCBoot diskless clients
NT7Virtual CV (School)Mexico City, Mexico

A school lab in Mexico City moved its classrooms to CCBoot diskless clients.

Read the case

Documentation

Step-by-step guides from the CCBoot wiki.

Browse the full wiki

Common questions

Can students save their work?

Yes. By default a reboot discards changes to the system image, which is what keeps the lab clean. Student files go to a personal disk, a Windows domain profile or a network share, all of which survive the reboot.

Do we need to buy new PCs?

No. CCBoot boots existing lab PCs as long as the network card supports PXE boot — virtually every PC made in the last 15 years does. Remove or ignore the local disk and set the BIOS to boot from the network.

How do we install new software for a course?

Boot one PC in super-client mode, install the software, create a restore point and save. Every other PC in the lab has it on the next reboot. If something breaks, roll back to the previous restore point.

Does CCBoot work with our Windows domain and Active Directory?

Yes. Diskless clients join the domain like normal PCs, group policy applies, and students log in with their domain accounts. The video above walks through the setup.

How many classrooms can one server handle?

A typical server handles about 70 clients; a server built to the current wiki hardware example with NVMe cache and 10G networking handles 100 or more. Several labs can share one server or each have its own.

Is there an academic price?

Pricing is per client PC and varies by country. See the pricing page or contact us with the number of seats — we are happy to quote schools and colleges.

Related pages

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