The first thing that comes to mind when setting up a Raspberry Pi is installing Raspbian or some other compatible Linux flavor. The best-known variants of Windows are not an option due to architecture and basic requirements… but we must not forget that Microsoft is working on a version of Windows 10 on ARM. Now, how hard is it to install Windows 10 on a Raspberry Pi 3? Thanks to the WOA Deployer for Raspberry Pi 3 by Spanish developer José Manuel Nieto, the whole process is reduced to a couple of clicks.
Windows for Raspberry Pi. Yes, it sounds too strange. All projects based on the mini computer demand stability, compatibility and efficiency, three conditions that Redmond does not hesitate to ignore whenever it sees fit. Of course, we have many questions: how good is performance? What kind of bugs can we expect? Is it even possible to install it at all? I suspect our readers remember the existence of Windows 10 IoT, but the plan of battle is to install Windows 10 on a Raspberry Pi 3 under its ARM edition, so from a certain point of view it is a “full” Windows, beyond the obvious limitations related to architecture. Want to know what you need?
What You Need
In total, there are five items:
- A Raspberry Pi 3 B or 3 B+
- A microSD card with A1 specification or higher
- A Windows 10 ARM64 image (details below)
- A regular computer running Windows 10 1809
- A copy of the WOA Deployer for Raspberry Pi 3 program developed by José Manuel Nieto
The Installation Process
In addition to serving as a download source, its official GitHub page shows us how to get the Windows 10 ARM image, which is not so simple (it requires visiting one of the Adguard pages, downloading the script and waiting for the ISO to be created). However, once you have the .wim file in your possession, all you have to do is open WOA Deployer for Raspberry Pi 3, choose the target microSD card, and indicate the path of the image. Once finished, install the card in the Raspberry Pi 3, and turn on the mini computer.
Some tutorials recommend entering the Raspberry Pi 3 BIOS and disabling throttling so that its SoC always works at the maximum available frequency. Even so, the first boot is quite slow, and it will use 100 percent of the processor for several minutes. Nor can we do much about memory, which is occupied at 50 or 60 percent from startup. An interesting experiment without a doubt, but at the end of the day, I think we all agree: The Raspberry Pi 3 needs double the hardware (at least) to receive Windows 10, and Microsoft must release a truly “lite” edition of its operating system.
Official site and download: Click here
