An overview of Windows 10 IoT Core

Článek
4/16/2021

Note

Windows Containers are supported for commercial deployments on Windows Server, Windows IoT Server, Windows IoT Enterprise and Windows IoT Core. As of Windows October Update 2018 (Build 17763), Windows Containers can only be used with Windows Enterprise and Professional for dev/test purposes.

What is Windows 10 IoT Core?

Windows 10 IoT Core is a version of Windows 10 that is optimized for smaller devices with or without a display that run on both ARM and x86/x64 devices. The Windows IoT Core documentation provides information on connecting, managing, updating, securing your devices, and more.

If you're ready to go to the next level and start commercializing your solution, you can learn how to manufacture with Windows 10 IoT Core with our Windows 10 IoT Core Manufacturing Guide.

Release Information

Release	Version	Lifecycle Policy	Availability	End of Servicing
Windows 10 IoT Core	17763	Modern	2018-11-13	2020-11-10
Windows 10 IoT Core LTSC	17763	Fixed	2018-11-13	2029-01-09
Windows IoT Core services	N/S	Modern	2018-11-13	In Support

Getting started

Before attempting to manufacture a device, it's best to first try and prototype a device with Windows 10 IoT Core. That way, you can understand what features you'll need and what configurations you'll want when it's time to manufacture.

Topic	Description
1. Pick a prototype board	Take a look at common prototype boards and choose one to start prototyping with.
2. Flash a prototype image	Go to our tutorial sections to learn how to flash prototype images onto your selected device(s).
3. Install your app	Learn how to install your app using different tools.
4. Deploy your app	Learn how to deploy an app using Visual Studio.

Differences between Windows 10 IoT Core and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise

While Windows 10 IoT Core and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise are similar in name, there are differences in what they offer as well as what they support. Below is a feature list that highlights edition differences.

Feature / Edition Windows 10 IoT Core Windows 10 IoT Enterprise

User experience One UWP app in the foreground at a time (see IoT Shell documentation for app backstack handling) with supporting background apps and services. Traditional Windows Shell with Advanced Lockdown Features

Headless supported Yes Yes

App architecture supported UWP UI only Full Windows UI support (e.g. UWP, WinForms, etc)

Cortana Cortana SDK Yes

Domain join AAD only AAD and Traditional Domain

Management MDM MDM

Device Security Technologies TPM, Secure Boot, BitLocker, Device Guard, and Device Health Attestation TPM, Secure Boot, BitLocker, Device Guard and Device Health Attestation

CPU Architecture support x86, x64, and ARM x86 and x64

Licensing Online Licensing Agreement and Embedded OEM Agreements, Royalty-free Direct and Indirect Embedded OEM Agreements

Usage scenarios Digital Signage, Smart Building, IoT Gateway, HMI, Smart Home, Wearables Industry Tablets, Retail Point of Service, Kiosk, Digital Signage, ATM, Medical Devices, Manufacturing Devices, Thin Client

Feature / Edition	Windows 10 IoT Core	Windows 10 IoT Enterprise
User experience	One UWP app in the foreground at a time (see IoT Shell documentation for app backstack handling) with supporting background apps and services.	Traditional Windows Shell with Advanced Lockdown Features
Headless supported	Yes	Yes
App architecture supported	UWP UI only	Full Windows UI support (e.g. UWP, WinForms, etc)
Cortana	Cortana SDK	Yes
Domain join	AAD only	AAD and Traditional Domain
Management	MDM	MDM
Device Security Technologies	TPM, Secure Boot, BitLocker, Device Guard, and Device Health Attestation	TPM, Secure Boot, BitLocker, Device Guard and Device Health Attestation
CPU Architecture support	x86, x64, and ARM	x86 and x64
Licensing	Online Licensing Agreement and Embedded OEM Agreements, Royalty-free	Direct and Indirect Embedded OEM Agreements
Usage scenarios	Digital Signage, Smart Building, IoT Gateway, HMI, Smart Home, Wearables	Industry Tablets, Retail Point of Service, Kiosk, Digital Signage, ATM, Medical Devices, Manufacturing Devices, Thin Client

For minimum requirement details, please visit the Windows Hardware site.

If you're interested in learning more about Point of Service, please visit the UWP docs on this topic.

Differences between Windows 10 Desktop and Windows 10 IoT Core

Different features available on Desktop and IoT Core

Inbox Cortana is no longer available on Windows 10 IoT Core since version 1809 (17763). If you are looking to bring a voice-enabled device to market quickly, you can integrate Cortana support into the device using the preview of the Cortana Devices SDK.
The FileOpenPicker API is not supported in Windows 10 IoT Core. To access local drives or removable storage, you can implement this in your own application.
Out of the box, The Windows 10 IoT Core device will boot to the default app instead of a desktop-like PC. However, for commercialization, this default app must be replaced by either a custom app or a default app that can be modified. The purpose of this application is not only to provide you with a friendly shell to interact with upon first boot, but to also allow you to use the open-sourced code for this application so that you can use these features to plug and play your own custom application(s).

Differences in driver-supported areas

Windows 10 Desktop has more supported drivers than Windows 10 IoT Core. To make the same device(s) work on Windows 10 IoT Core as on Desktop, you may need to build a driver from source for a Windows 10 IoT Core device or find another workaround, especially for ARM architecture.
There is no out-of-the-box driver for libusb for Windows 10 IoT Core (ARM) - you will need to build from source to target the ARM architecture.

Differences in available registry set

On desktop, there is an option to "Automatically hide scroll bars in Windows" that can be set to off. It is controlled by the following registry entry:

HKEY_CURRENTUSER\Control Panel\Accessibility

There is no such registry on Windows 10 IoT Core devices by default. You will need to add a "Dynamic Scrollbars" register if you want.
To enable the hide scroll bars automatically in a UWP application, you can add the "DynamicScrollbars" register and set the value to "1" like this:

REG ADD "HKCU\Control Panel\Accessibility" /v DynamicScrollbars /t REG_DWORD \d "1"

The registry key must be set from the Default Account. If the ScrollViewer's XAML setting is "Visible", the registry setting of 0 will force the scroll bar to appear regardless of whether there is sufficient content to have the scroll appear in the UI. A registry setting of 1 will keep the scroll bar hidden until there is sufficient content.

<TextBox Height="200" Width="100" IsEnabled="True" FontSize="50" TextWrapping="Wrap" ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Visible" Text="..."/>

Lastly, if the ScrollViewer XAML's setting is "Auto" then the registry setting of 0 will only show the full scroll bar when there is enough content to display the scroll bar. When the registry setting is 1, the scroll bar will appear then when there is enough content or hidden if there is no content.

<TextBox Height="200" Width="100" IsEnabled="True" FontSize="50" TextWrapping="Wrap" ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" Text="..."/>

Different commands supported

The PowerShell Remove-AppxPackage command works on Desktop but not on Windows 10 IoT Core.
Not all folders on your device are accessible by Universal Windows Apps. On Windows 10 IoT Core, you can use the FolderPermissions tool to make a folder accessible to a UWP app. For example, run FolderPermissions c:\test -e to give UWP apps access to c:\test folder. However, this is not available on Desktop.

All differences described in this post may not be valid in the future because Windows 10 IoT Core is constantly being updated.

Helpful resources

Read our documentation to learn more about Windows 10 IoT Core.

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