Microsoft has finally made available a pre-release build of Windows 10X for developers to begin testing and developing their programs on upcoming dual-screen Windows devices such as the Surface Neo.
Windows 10X is available to download for Windows Insider users as an Add-on package for Microsoft Emulator. It’s not available as a standalone Operating System, but you can virtually manipulate the OS in Microsoft Emulator as if it were running on a real machine.
Requirements
- Windows Insider Preview build 10.0.19555 or later
- Intel® CPU with at least 4 cores you can dedicate to emulator (or multiple CPUs with a total of 4 cores)
- 8 GB of RAM or more, 4 GB of RAM for emulator
- 15 GB of free disk space for vhdx + diff disk, SSD recommended
- Dedicated video card recommended (not necessary)
- DirectX 11.0 or later
- WDDM 2.4 graphics driver or later
- In the BIOS, the following features must be supported and enabled:
- Hardware-assisted virtualization
- Second Level Address Translation (SLAT)
- Hardware-based Data Execution Prevention (DEP)
- Ensure “Hyper-V” feature is enabled on your system
Installing Windows 10X Emulator
First off, make sure you’re running the latest Windows Insider build on your PC. At the time of this writing, the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview Build is 19564.1000.
If not the latest, you need to have at least Windows 10 Insider Preview build 10.0.19555 or later installed on your PC.
After verifying your Windows 10 Insider preview build, download and install Microsoft Emulator & Windows 10X Emulator Image from the Microsoft Store.
Download Microsoft Emulator
You need Microsoft Emulator to run Windows 10X Emulator image on your PC. Download and install it for free from the Microsoft Store (link below).
The above link will ask to open Microsoft Store on your PC. Click Open on the pop-up dialogue in your browser. Then in the Microsoft Store, click the ‘Get’ button download and install Microsoft Emulator on your PC.
Download Windows 10X Emulator Image
The Windows 10X Emulator Image is available on the Microsoft Store as an Add-on for the Microsoft Emulator. Click on the link below to open the download page for it in Microsoft Store.
From the Microsoft Store download page, click the ‘Get’ to download and install the Windows 10X Emulator Image on your PC.
Note: If you do not have a Windows 10 Insider Build running on your PC, Microsoft Store won’t let you download the Windows 10X Emulator Image. You may get the following error message: “It looks like you don’ have any applicable device(s) linked to your Microsoft account”.
Starting Windows 10X Emulator
Open the Microsoft Emulator app after the Windows 10X Emulator image is installed on your PC from the MS Store. You should see Windows 10X listed in the Microsoft Emulator app.
To boot Windows 10X Emulator, click the Start button for it in the Microsoft Emulator app.
🍻 Cheers!
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