You Can Now Run Windows 10 on the Raspberry Pi 3 (tomshardware.com)

Raspberry Pi is finally ready for the full Windows 10 experience. From a report: A new installer lets you put Windows 10 on Arm, including the Pi. And it's made by the same people who got Windows 10 on Arm onto Lumia 950 and 950 XL handset. You can find the Github page here, in which developer Jose Manuel Nieto Sanchez call the tool "super easy to use" and "no-hassle." It requires a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B or B+, a microSD card (he recommends an A1 rating) and a Windows 10ARM64 image, which is linked to from the page where you get the download instructions.

Comments

Then you have two problems

[goombah99]

The only reason to run Windows is to use the Office Suite for compatibility with the modern bussiness world and much of the academic world. Thems the standards regardless of preferences or your personally proven experience with working outside the MSOffice-industrial-complex.

So if the raspi doesn't run Office what's the point of running windows?

You now are running a machine intended for being either a task specific embedded machine or as a light weight computer. Running windows on it instead of linux or some RT os is more of a dare (like scottish cuisine) than a useful idea.

Re:Then you have two problems

[Actually, I do RTFA]

Windows also runs a lot of software that is Windows/Mac only. Visual Studio, Adobe products, Autodesk products. Then there are games (and game dev toolkits). There are also numerous internal apps.

Re:Then you have two problems

[Locutus]

That pathetic excuse to keep Windows around has been around for decades and is false. The iPhone proved that wrong and so has Android. Not to mention, Microsoft has constantly forced massive GUI changes on it's users which has constantly required them to learn a new UI. So even Windows users can learn new user interfaces.

Time for another reason why anyone would want Microsoft Windows on a useful Raspberry Pi. Please note the word "useful".

LoB

Re:Then you have two problems

[rnturn]

Oy! I don't think you understood the point of that statement.

I never heard anybody bitch about their iPhone not looking like Windows. Nor have I heard bitching that Android didn't look like Windows. In both cases, users learned those not-Windows interfaces.

Re:Then you have two problems

[Joce640k]

Windows also runs a lot of software that is Windows/Mac only. Visual Studio, Adobe products, Autodesk products. Then there are games (and game dev toolkits). There are also numerous internal apps.

True, but hardly any of that is compiled for ARM processors.

Yes, it might run under an x86 emulator, but would you really want to? It's already going to be incredibly slow because it runs off an SD card, adding emulation as an extra layer would be borderline masochistic.

This might be useful if you want a familiar Windows user interface while surfing the web but not much more.

Re:Then you have two problems

[TomBauserman]

The average Joe isn't going to be installing an OS on a Raspberry PI. They're going to be buying a POS PC / laptop from wal-mart or best buy.

Re:Then you have two problems

[TomBauserman]

No but the kids at the school I work at can sit in front of any OS and use it because they're used to android, ios, windows, chromeos. The OS they use 90% of the time is ChromeOS. So they are OS agnostic. So the OS doesn't really matter. Just show them how to get to a web browser.

Re:You can now peel off your finger nails

[goombah99]

Not unless you subscribe to Pliers360

One question

[Anonymous Coward]

Why?

Re:One question

[jwhyche]

Why?

That is a the question. We are so consumed with the "can we" that we never stop to ask "should we?"

This will not end well. I don't mean as in end well a business loosing money. I mean as in cities burning and civilization falling. The old ones being release from their eternal prison and walking among us.

This Will End in Ashes and Fire!

One Key advantage

[jellomizer]

Compared to Linux (xwindows) making GUI applications with .NET and Visual Studio is a lot easier. I have seen projects with the Raspberry pi such as smart mirrors or low end kiosks. Which being able to make GUI applications, or that hook up to Microsoft type services such as Active Directory or even SQL server. Just that much easier to accomplish.

Having said that, doing this in Linux isn't too much more difficult, but if you are primarily a Microsoft Developer, thinking Linux Like is a learning curve you may not want to deal with.

Re:One Key advantage

[Waffle Iron]

I have seen projects with the Raspberry pi such as smart mirrors or low end kiosks.

This will be the only smart mirror that spends most of its time showing a popup like this:

Heads up - We're working hard to make your Raspberry Pi even better! We need to restart now and show you spinning dots while we install the latest updates and "telemetry". This could take a few hours or days.

Lose all work and restart now? [ OK ] [ Yes ] [ Confirm ].

"in other news"

[aod7br7932]

"Raspberry Pi 3 Model B mouse took just a day to move the mouse across the screen on windows 10"

Does Win10 "Run" on the RasPI or does it Crawl?

[mykepredko]

My biggest complaint about Win10 is really how slowly it runs on fairly low end machines (which I can load Mint or ChromeOS and they run acceptably). Note that the RasPI 3 runs ChromeOS quite as well.

So you have Win10 executing on the RasPI, but does respond in anyway that is acceptable? This includes loading and executing apps.

The capabilities of Average Joes...

[mykepredko]

And less sarcastically... what about the average joe who would just like to use the OS environment they are already familiar with? That alone is a valid reason to run Windows 10.

How many "average joes" do you know that can properly configure an SD card with an OS to run on a RasPI?

"You Can Now Run Windows 10 on the Raspberry Pi3"

[rnturn]

But the question is: Why would you want to? Are there ARM versions of all the applications that people you might consider running on their R-Pi? If not, then this is an exercise about as pointless as someone successfully running Word on an iWatch.

Re:Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

[geoskd]

I can see a use case for signage or a kiosk terminal where you only need a browser or very specific software like a terminal.

A simple linux distro (virtually any one will do) with chrome, accomplishes this same task, and can be stripped down to run on a 256MB sdcard if absulutely necessary.

Your way requires a several GB sdcard, and introduces god-only-knows how many security holes, all so that you can run a web browser.

Also, if you are selling signs, you probably don't want to have to charge an extra $50 for the sign to account for the cost of the OS license.

TL;DR, MS Windows is the wrong answer if you are not running x86 hardware, and even then, it might still be the wrong answer.

Oh, yeah, sure, I'll get right on that

[SIGBUS]

The link on the Github page points to rg-adguard.net, under an anonymous Russian registration. Sounds legit!

Not really. If I were even considering the idea of running Windows on a Pi, I'd rather get it directly from Microsoft.

so wrong on many levels

[stooo]

>>You Can Now Run Windows 10
That is so wrong on many levels.
Nobody should ever have to run W10.