Using a Nettop as a Dedicated Zinc Box

To create a dedicated Zinc Box many people have purchased a low cost nettop and configured it to automatically boot up in Zinc. Here's how you can create your own Zinc Box from a nettop or netbook.

  1. Follow setup instructions on your nettop
    1. Connect the mouse
    2. Connect the keyboards
    3. Connect to the monitor or TV
      1. Use a HDMI cable for both Audio and Video
      2. Use a VGA cable for video and a Mini to RCA for audio
      3. Set the computer resolution to match a resolution your TV supports (see TV owner manual for a list of supported resolution)
    4. Connect the power cable
    5. Turn on the net top
    6. Connect the network cable or configure for wireless
    7. Connect to the your in house network and verify that you can access the Internet
  2. Download Zinc for windows (standalone executable)
  3. Setup auto login (Vista Home Premium)
    1. Click Start and type ‘netplwiz’ or click that name on the Start menu
    2. In the GUI window that comes up, uncheck the “Users must enter a username and password to use this computer” box
    3. Click ‘Apply’
    4. In the new dialog box that opens type the name of the account you want to auto-logon by default (if the account is not normally passworded then it blank)
    5. Click OK and exit
  4. Copy Zinc.exe to the start-up folder
    1. Click on Start menu
    2. Click on all programs
    3. Scroll to Startup folder; right click, select open
    4. Drag Zinc icon from desktop into Startup folder
  5. Remove any installed programs that will pop-up with registration requests.

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