Windows 10 S

[Al_NetSupport]

As a vendor we aren't convinced either. If you want windows with all the extra features removed so it behaves like ChromeOS, you may as well go for ChromeOS in the first place. The app store lack of solutions is key, but preventing persistent services being installed and run will hugely limit options.

 

But if you do decide to go this route, they do at least have one or two good Windows 10 universal apps ready to go - https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/p/netsupport-school-tutor/9nblggh1ntsq?rtc=1

[Arthur]

I might be being thick, but where can I get it?

It's not possible to download it, but you can simulate the functionality of Windows 10 S with Device Guard in Windows 10 Enterprise or Education.

 

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/appconsult/2017/06/15/porting-and-testing-your-classic-desktop-applications-on-windows-10-s-with-the-desktop-bridge/

 

The first answer could be "get a Windows 10 S machine", but there are some challenges:

 

1. At the time of writing, Windows 10 S isn’t available as a standalone operating system. You can’t buy a copy of it or you can’t download it, for example, if you have a MSDN subscription. It has been announced only as pre-installed on new devices.
    
    
   
2. Even if the second option would be available in the future, you wouldn’t be able to use it for testing: the reason is that, as already mentioned before, the code integrity checks enforced by Windows 10 S don’t make sure only that you can get applications exclusively from the Store, but also that you can’t manually install any app package, unless it’s signed with the Store certificate (which, as you can imagine, it isn’t a viable option for any developer, since only Microsoft own this certificate).
   

As such, none of these options would work for a developer, because you will be forced to publish your application on the Store before checking if it’s compliant. So does this mean that there’s no way to test if a Desktop Bridge application is compliant with Windows 10 S without publishing it first?

 

Say hello to Device Guard!

Device Guard is a specific Windows 10 feature and, as described in the official documentation, is a combination of enterprise-related hardware and software security features that, when configured together, will lock a device down so that it can only run trusted applications that you define in your code integrity policies. Long story short: thanks to this feature, you can create some custom policies that apply a set of code integrity checks to make sure that only applications that satisfy them are allowed to run. This feature is widely used in the Enterprise world, since it reduces the chances that, intentionally or unintentionally, an employee can run malicious code or install an application which isn’t allowed by the company.

 

The Desktop Bridge team has released a set of policies for Device Guard that can help you to simulate the same code integrity checks applied by Windows 10 S on a regular Windows 10 machine, but with less limitations.

[Arthur]

Windows 10 S can now be download from MSDN.

 

www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-releases-windows-10-s-isos-msdn-subscribers

 

If you're an MSDN subscriber, we've got some good news for you. Microsoft is now making available official Windows 10 S ISOs for developers, meaning MSDN subscribers can now download, install and activate Windows 10 S on any device.

 

Microsoft says the availability of these Windows 10 ISOs are primarily for developers and the education market. The availability of these ISOs mean more people can download and use Windows 10 S, without needing to buy a machine that comes bundled with it.

 

MSDN subscriptions are pretty expensive, but it likely won't be long before those ISOs get mirrored online elsewhere.

 

[b]en_windows_10_s_version_1703_updated_july_2017_x64_dvd_10928916.iso[/b]
SHA-1:   bbee654d384ae14ba2b64f149e25dfaef7d5754b
SHA-256: 25639e506fd98587a76dd31438041f39f9d21efa3b8fe4995dd42be9328651b8

[b]en_windows_10_s_version_1703_updated_july_2017_x86_dvd_10929774.iso[/b]
SHA-1:   6f7184df5ce261d62bb15d6c0b02a330c0b652bc
SHA-256: 6c456620337c8b2ef2976ec4b2e2b5689491bfc77ecbf1df46e5ab2caa3bc585

[Arthur]

www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-s-is-ready-for-testing-but-just-barely

 

Nearly three months after publicly announcing Windows 10 S, Microsoft has finally made the newest member of the Windows 10 family available for developers and IT pros to download and test.

 

As of last week, the Windows 10 S code is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for anyone with a Visual Studio subscription, on the MSDN Downloads site. The files are in ISO format.

 

In addition, Microsoft says it plans to make the files available this week to existing Windows Education edition customers, who will be able to use an Update Assistant tool to convert existing Windows 10 installations to Windows 10 S for testing.

 

At the launch event, Microsoft positioned Windows 10 S as the ideal operating system for educational deployments. The new edition is a locked-down configuration of Windows 10 Pro that runs only apps that are included with Windows 10 or available through the Windows Store.

 

In an emailed statement, Microsoft cautioned that this release is strictly for developers and is not suitable for widespread deployments:

 

We especially want EDU-focused devs to continue to innovate and make apps that teachers & students would use from the Windows Store. Next week, the ISO will be made available for Education customers alongside an Update Assistant tool as a test experience for them to make informed buying decisions regarding Windows 10 Pro EDU or Windows 10 S for their schools and classrooms. Because it's a raw ISO link with limited installation guidance, only working on specific devices and versions of Windows 10 or in virtualized machines, this is very much meant only for developers and IT pros -- not consumers to broadly download/switch to Windows 10 S.

My testing of the Windows 10 S ISO confirms that those cautions are necessary.

 

Installing Windows 10 S in a Hyper-V virtual machine was quick and problem-free. The Windows Store version of Office 365 Personal installed without any issues.

 

By contrast, copying the Windows 10 S installation files to a bootable USB flash drive and performing a clean install on a current model Dell XPS 9360 caused two major headaches.

 

First, the installation didn't include drivers for multiple devices, including some system-level components that are closely tied to performance and power management.

 

Normally, it would be a simple matter to update those drivers by downloading the necessary files from Dell's support website. But because those driver files are delivered as executable programs, they won't run on Windows 10 S.

 

I was able to install the missing drivers using an expert-level workaround, copying the driver file repository from a previous Windows 10 Pro installation on the same machine and then updating each missing entry individually from Device Manager.

 

The second problem was more serious: Office 365 wasn't available from the Windows Store on this device, and trying to install Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook 2016 from the Get Office app or from the Start menu shortcuts simply resulted in a blunt error message: "The thing you're looking for isn't here."

[Arthur]

Windows 10 S is now available for schools...

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/education/windows/test-windows10s-for-edu

[free780]

So any laptops you have about that came with Win 7/8.1/10 home you can't install to? Despite paying ESS. Someone else have a read and see if I misunderstood.

[Arthur]

Someone else have a read and see if I misunderstood.

That's my understanding too.

 

So any laptops you have about that came with Win 7/8.1/10 home you can't install to? Despite paying EES.

If you have EES you would be able to upgrade the three OSs you mentioned to Windows 10 Education and then to Windows 10 S.

[free780]

So not as easy as a re-image with SCCM.

[Arthur]

Windows 10 S is Dead, Long Live S Mode

 

When Microsoft announced Windows 10 S, it was immediately clear that this SKU didn’t fit well into Microsoft’s lineup. It was pitched as a complete product and that it could also be upgraded (for free) to a full version of Windows but based on documents I was able to view, Microsoft is changing course with Redstone 4 to make the idea of S fit better into the company’s portfolio of Windows 10.

 

Microsoft pitches Windows 10 S as being streamlined for security/performance and while this isn’t new information, what we do have is a better understanding of how often users switch away from S.

 

On third-party devices, Microsoft says that 60% of users remain on Windows 10 S which is a lot higher than I thought it would be but when users do switch, it’s almost immediately. The company says 60% of those who switch, do so within 24hrs of having the device but if they don’t switch in the first seven days, 83% remain running in S mode.

 

Keep in mind that these stats are for low-end PCs as the only high-end device running the OS is the Surface Laptop which was excluded from the data.

 

Going forward, Windows 10 S will no longer be a SKU offered by Microsoft. Instead, what they will be doing is offering S mode for all iterations of Windows 10 and frankly, this is a much better approach to the configurations.

 

For Home and Education SKUs, you will be able to upgrade from Home S, to Home for free but Pro users going from Pro S to Pro will be charged $49. On the commercial side, Pro S is only available with Core, Value, Entry, and Small Tablet (if this doesn’t make sense, check out my other post here) with Core+ and Workstations being left out of the offering.

[mavhc]

If every computer came with Windows 10 S by default, then, what would happen? Microsoft's long term aim is to still get UWP apps written, I guess they think this will help that.

 

In 5 years Windows 10 Not S will be Compatibility Mode, in 10 years Legacy Mode, in 15 years only available for Enterprise customers, in 20 years dead.

[free780]

I think they want to head for Progressive Web apps. So eventually we'll have subscriptions, Web apps and no Win32 code. Could be interesting with Photoshop, Autodesk etc.

[mavhc]

I think they want to head for Progressive Web apps. So eventually we'll have subscriptions, Web apps and no Win32 code. Could be interesting with Photoshop, Autodesk etc.

 

So why would we be paying for Windows at all?

[Fazza]

So why would we be paying for Windows at all?

 

I seem to recall that at some point in the past Microsoft said that eventually you wont pay anything for Windows as they were moving towards a subscription model in the Microsoft Cloud and they will make money that way. Now we have Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscription services that are becoming more popular - especially as Schools get it for 'free' as part of their licensing and more Schools are using it thus creating a future workforce used to the subscription model.