Hey does any one know if there is a windows version that can be installed on a raspberry pi?
Hey does any one know if there is a windows version that can be installed on a raspberry pi?
Hi Omar,
Short answer: no; medium-answer: windows is closed-source, so you're reliant on requesting Microsoft to release such a version, which they have not done, also (guessing, but fairly sure) Microsoft has likely no intention to release a version of Windows compiled to run on this particular ARM processor.
Having said that, nothings impossible, the possibility exists to emulate other CPUs, but it would likely be a lot of effort for little gain.
I would like to add to what shabaz said. There is a version Windows that will run on the ARM processors. Its Windows RT. But you need a lot of power (processor and memory) to run it, a secure boot BIOS approved by Microsoft, and some very specific peripherals (a screen that can handle multi-point touch, hard drive that work at minimal speed, ect). RPI looses on all accounts. WinRT also does NOT come with a the full Windows API. So you can't use Word from your PC on it.
The closest you can get on RPi is Mono which lets you run some .NET apps natively and ReactOS. Mono works but is considered unstable on the Raspberry for anything that isn't a console app. Although Mono emulates (wraps?) all of .NET core API, Mono cannot work with code that refers to Windows' API because on Linux the API's doesn't exists. ReactOS is Windows API emulator that works decent (there are issues) but I believe the Raspberry Pi version never made it out of alpha.
You have options but there will never be a version for the RPi because it requires too much power, the unit number for RPI desktop usage isn't enough for it to be practical for Microsoft to pay for development, and the open architecture makes it way too easy to pirate.
I've heard of people running "walking" Windows 3.1 and 95 on RasPi. Since RasPi's ARM11 is emulating an x86 processor it's pretty slow, but "where there's morbid curiosity there's a way".
I suggest going to www.raspberrypi.org and entering "Windows" in the Google Search box.