Microsoft Releases Windows 10 S for Download and Testing

A few months back we told you about “Windows 10 S” which is a new special edition of Windows 10 operating system specifically designed for education purpose. Windows 10 S is based on Windows 10 Pro edition but comes with some restrictions for better security and performance.

You can read full details of Windows 10 S edition at following link:

Windows 10 S: New Cloud-Based Version of Windows 10

The biggest restriction is the inability of installing Win32 apps (regular desktop software programs). Windows 10 S users can only install apps from Windows Store. It already comes with almost all required apps such as Windows Defender Security Center for safety and security of your device, Microsoft Edge web browser to browse the web, Office 2016 apps, etc.

Basically Windows 10 S is a lightweight cloud-based OS from Microsoft which should provide better performance and security to the end-users.

Now the good news is that Microsoft has released Windows 10 S for download and testing. You can download Windows 10 S and install it in your computers to test drive its features.

Things to Know Before Installing Windows 10 S:

1. Windows 10 S can be installed and activated on the following Windows 10 editions only:

• Windows 10 Pro
• Windows 10 Pro Education
• Windows 10 Education
• Windows 10 Enterprise

Once you install Windows 10 S on the above mentioned activated Windows 10 editions, it’ll automatically activate after installation.

Other Windows 10 editions are not supported for Windows 10 S installation and can’t be activated. So if you are using Windows 10 Home edition, don’t install Windows 10 S on it, you won’t be able to activate your device.

2. Microsoft has provided an online installer to download and install Windows 10 S in your device. When you run the installer, it requires Internet connection to download required Windows 10 S setup files. There is no standalone offline installer available for Windows 10 S. Only MSDN subscribers can download full offline ISO files to install Windows 10 in their computers.

3. If you install Windows 10 S in your Windows 10 device, all existing Win32 apps (3rd party software) and data will be deleted. So save the data and installation files.

4. Only personal files will be kept during installation. All customized settings and apps will be deleted.

5. After installation Windows 10 S, if you decide to switch back to the previously installed Windows 10 edition, you can do that within 10 days only. You can go back to the previously installed edition using Settings -> Update & Security -> Recovery page. After 10 days, you’ll not be able to restore previous Windows 10 edition.

6. Its better to create a system backup before upgrading to Windows 10 S so that you can restore your existing Windows 10 edition if you don’t like Windows 10 S.

How to Download and Install Windows 10 S:

Microsoft has provided an online installer to download Windows 10 S on your Windows 10 device. It works similar to upgrade assistant. It first downloads Windows 10 S setup files from Microsoft servers and then upgrades your existing Windows 10 edition to Windows 10 S.

You can download Windows 10 S from following official download page:

Download Windows 10 S Installer

Direct Download Link for Windows 10 S Installer

Its a very small 5.5MB online installer which helps you in downloading and installing Windows 10 S on your device.

First it checks for hardware requirements and if your computer hardware meets the requirements, it starts downloading Windows 10 S files.

If you are using supported Windows 10 editions, you can test Windows 10 S on your device.