STW IT support - Automate a Windows PC?

Hm. Does it need to shut down rather than just sleep / hibernate?

A couple of ways to do it. Use sleep/hibernate rather than powering down or set it up to auto boot then stick it on a plug in time switch. You can write a batch file and stick it in the start up folder to start any app. That said I wouldn't bother. You can get a second hand Brightsign HD unit for £50 or so on eBay that will do the job much better and be more reliable.

Also if you want a nice window display there are lots of ways to create the content. One way to make it look moderately professional is to create a PowerPoint presentation (go easy on the star wipes) then you can save it as a movie file and play it on a loop.

Does it need to shut down rather than just sleep / hibernate?

Sleep or hibernate would be fine.

You can get a second hand Brightsign HD unit for £50 or so on eBay

They look very interesting, are the older units still useful?

save it as a movie file and play it on a loop.

Thanks for that, I never knew you could save a presentation as a mp4 file directly from PP.

Well just paid £55 for older Brightsign on Ebay.

There is still loads of support for it on their website but it just looks like I will saving a PP file as mp4 and sticking it on a SD card.

Thanks gents.

Bit late, but don't know if setting the PC up as a single app kiosk would have done what you wanted?

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/kiosk-single-app

Yeah obviously you've bought that other thing now (doesn't sound like a terrible price either) but this sort of thing is what a Raspberry Pi is perfect for! Loads of decent free/open-source progs for signage/displays etc. Probably a lot more versatile & more powerful hardware depending on how old the thing you bought was too.

Shame you didn't go through with the original Windows laptop plan though, nothing raises a chuckle like a shop sign or whatever displaying the famous Blue Screen Of Death 😂 😉

They look very interesting, are the older units still useful?

Sounds like you are sorted now but the old ones are fine. They are hd rather than 4k/8k but that's not a big issue. They are super reliable ime. I use them a lot and they run all day every day for years. The software still supports them.

There is still loads of support for it on their website but it just looks like I will saving a PP file as mp4 and sticking it on a SD card

You need to download the Bright Author software to set up the SD card and tell it how to play (loop at the end is all you'll need). You can also set a playback timetable but in your situation I'd just put it on a time switch or turn it on the morning, off at night.

Windows has scheduled tasks which may work, only issue will be once the pc is shutdown it’s doubtful it’ll turn on again. Unless you have a way to give it wake on lan, which sends packets to the machine to power it back on. You can poss put it to sleep and then wake up rather then shutdown

nothing raises a chuckle like a shop sign or whatever displaying the famous Blue Screen Of Death

BSOS is mostly a distant memory with modern Windows systems, you can install a BSOD screensaver though, if you want a bit of nostalgia.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/bluescreen

BSOS is mostly a distant memory with modern Windows systems

Try telling that to the internal power error on my 13 month old dell xps

@nickjb - Thanks for the advice.

I have got my Brightsign unit up and running, had to update the firmware but everything else was fine.

I have created a PP and saved it as a MP4, saved it to root on the card and it is looping quite happily, without any other formatting.

That bright Author software is horrible. It seems to be a very steep learning curve, but PP is fine for me.