How to install Windows 10 on your Raspberry Pi 2

Raspberry Pi

Once Windows 10 is already on the market, perhaps the ideal solution to update all those computers equipped today with Windows 7, 8 or 8.1, it is time to see if, as Microsoft promised at the time, the agreement reached with companies such as the person in charge of Raspberry Pi 2, has made it possible for there to be a version of Windows 10 capable of running smoothly on our card.

Before continuing, tell you that it is more than easy to install the Windows 10 IoT version In our Raspberry Pi 2, this must be recognized, and for this we only need our card completely clean of software, an SD memory according to Microsoft of at least 8 GB (here any type of card with an SD adapter is valid) or a USB reader and a computer other than MAC since one of the files that we must start is .exe and it will not work on MacOS.

Download the Windows 10 IoT ISO

Raspberry Pi

Downloading the Windows 10 disk image for Raspberry Pi 2 is very simple and fast since, as you surely know, we are talking about a very special version of the operating system where everything necessary to function has been included. This makes us talk about a file whose weight is only 517 MB so we are not talking about several GB, far from it.

This file you can download it from wherever you want, that is, Microsoft is distributing it for free, so there are many pages that have the file indexed on their own servers, so you can choose one of these pages, Microsoft's own or the link to the Microsoft github repository that I leave you here.

Once the file is downloaded, we must mount it, if you use Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 on your computer, this file will be mounted automatically as a virtual optical drive. Unfortunately, I have not tested it with a Windows 7 machine since I have Windows 10 on mine, although I suppose it will not be too complex to mount it with programs like daemon Tools.

Once we have the virtual drive mounted, we must enter it and look for a file called as Windows_10_IoT_Core_RPi2, we execute it and it will install a couple of applications on our computer. These will appear in the applications menu under the Microsoft IoT heading. Their names are WindowsIoTCoreWatcher y WindowsIoTImageHelper.

Creating our own ISO

Raspberry Pi

Once we have installed the previous files, it is time to prepare our SD card. This is done very simply, we just have to insert the card into our computer. In this step it is very important that we Let's make sure that the computer has read it and is completely accessible. It never hurts to format it and leave it completely "cleaning”For the installation of the new operating system.

Now is the time to look for the image we need. We will find this in Program Files -> Microsoft IoT -> FFU -> RaspberryPi2, in this folder look for the file named as flash.ffu and run it. At this point it must be taken into account that the file is configured to perform a formatting of the card so, if you have a file that you do not want to lose, it is better to make a backup copy first.

Booting Windows 10 IoT on the Raspberry Pi 2

Raspberry Pi

If you have come this far without a doubt you have practically all the work "complejo" done. At this point, we basically only have to remove the SD card from our computer and connect it to the Raspberry Pi 2. We turn on our card and after a few seconds we should be able to see the Windows 10 logo on your screen.

So far it is best to arm yourself with patience since the system takes a long time to install correctly, tell you that at this point there came a time when I thought something must have gone wrong, I decided to go get an ice cream from the fridge and eat it quietly, long minutes later the front-end of Windows 10 IoT finally started.

At this point tell you that Windows 10 IoT UI for Raspberry Pi 2 is very basic, much more than certain Linux interfaces for our card so try not to despair because of how basic and simple it is.

Getting started with Windows 10 IoT

Raspberry Pi

Right after installation it is appropriate to run PowerShell to be able to configure the connection with which the Raspberry Pi 2 will be able to connect to the internet. This program, because the card does not have WiFi, offers good and interesting advice on how the developer should work.

If after all this you are still interested in using Windows 10 IoT on your Raspberry Pi 2, tell yourself that you will have to install a development environment on your main computer which in turn will be in charge of sending data about applications for execution on the card. This may sound complicated or complex but I can assure you that nothing is further from the truth, from Microsoft they promise that this will be streamlined and simplified in the future.

Another option is to install Vistual Studio Community which is the free version with development tools of the famous program Visual Studio from Microsoft, unfortunately the professional version of this program is priced at $ 1.200, something out of the reach of many users who would surely know how to enhance and help the implementation and use of this system.

Once you have these steps clear, you can begin to enter the installation Windows IoT Core Project Templates which provides the perfect framework for IoT applications.


Be the first to comment

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.