Decision guide
Kiosk mode, or a real thin-client experience?
Windows ships with lockdown features, and for a single-purpose screen they can be enough. For a managed fleet of access endpoints, the engineering does not stop at the first policy.
The short answer
What is the difference between Windows kiosk mode and a thin client?
Windows kiosk features such as Assigned Access and Shell Launcher restrict a device to one application or a replacement shell, configured through policy and XML. They are a lockdown mechanism, not an endpoint product: you design, test, document and maintain the configuration yourself, and there is no purpose-built user experience, branding or fleet-wide access screen. A thin-client experience — what XPC provides — gives users an intentional access screen with approved connections and endpoint actions, configured centrally from a portal and maintained by the vendor as Windows changes.
DIY
Kiosk configuration
You own the design, testing, documentation and maintenance.
3
Steps with XPC
Log in, install the MSI, enable XPC Mode.
Central
Fleet configuration
Connections and branding managed from the XPC Cloud Portal.
Where kiosk mode genuinely fits
A single self-service screen, a static display, or a one-off device running one application are all reasonable uses of built-in Windows lockdown. If the configuration is small and unlikely to change, building it yourself is fine.
Where it starts to cost
The effort appears once the estate grows: exceptions per site, peripheral behaviour, recovery when a session fails, updating the configuration as Windows changes, and documenting it well enough that the service desk can support it at 2am.
- Configuration is engineered and maintained in-house, indefinitely.
- There is no branded, purpose-designed access screen for users.
- Endpoint actions such as disconnect and shutdown must be designed in.
- Every change is a policy change rather than a portal setting.
What a thin-client experience adds
XPC provides the finished experience: approved connections, explicit endpoint actions, per-organisation branding, and central control of which devices are in XPC Mode — with the ability to suspend it and get the Windows desktop back.
Both keep Windows
Neither approach replaces the operating system, so this is a build-versus-buy decision rather than an architectural one. The full engineering comparison is on our XPC vs Microsoft Kiosk page.
Build, or deploy
Locking a screen is the easy part. Supporting a fleet is the work.
XPC is the maintained product where kiosk mode is the maintained project.
Questions we are asked
Straight answers.
Is Windows kiosk mode free?
The features are part of Windows, but the design, testing, documentation and ongoing maintenance are engineering time your team pays for.
Can kiosk mode present multiple remote connections?
Only if you build that experience yourself. XPC presents the approved connections as a designed access screen out of the box.
Does XPC use Assigned Access under the hood?
XPC is its own Windows access shell with central configuration and reversible activation from the XPC Cloud Portal.
Work out your own numbers
Two calculators, using your figures rather than ours.
Nothing is stored and there is no form. Enter your estate size and rates, then copy or print the result as a one-page business case.
Keep reading
Related guides.
Windows thin client
Turn the Windows PCs you already own into focused thin-client endpoints — without replacing the operating system.
Read the guideCitrix endpoints
A focused, brandable Citrix access endpoint on existing Windows PCs, with Workspace app and its optimisations left intact.
Read the guideRDP & RDS endpoints
Give RDP and Remote Desktop Services users one locked screen that launches the right session, on hardware you already own.
Read the guideAVD & Windows 365
A focused endpoint for Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 Cloud PCs, running on the Windows devices you already manage.
Read the guideOther VDI platforms
Horizon, Amazon WorkSpaces, Parallels RAS or a browser workspace — XPC presents whatever client or URL you approve.
Read the guideConvert a PC to a thin client
Extend the life of ageing PCs by turning them into access endpoints — a software change, not a procurement cycle.
Read the guideCompare the alternatives
XPC against IGEL, UniconOS, ThinScale, Dell ThinOS, LEAF OS, 10ZiG and Microsoft kiosk features.
See all comparisonsThin-client simplicity, without leaving Windows.
Five PCs are free forever. Log in to the XPC Cloud Portal, install the MSI, enable XPC Mode.