Getting Started With Raspberry Pi 3 And Windows IoT Core

Devices and their Operating Systems

In the “Set up a new device” Window, you will find a list of the compatible devices and their corresponding operating system details. List of Devices and their OS

If you are using Raspberry Pi 2, there is no issue in installing it. Just select the device name from the device type dropdown list and OS from OS Build dropdown list. Inset your micro SD card into your computer, give the name of the device and password, accept terms & conditions, click download and install button. That’s it. Your OS will be installed automatically. For Raspberry Pi 3, it is not so simple. Thus, let's see how it can be installed for Pi 3. Step 1. Go to IoT Dashboard Step 2. Click on “Set up a new device” from the left side menu. Step 3. Select Device Type (select Raspberry Pi 3). Step 4. Select OS Build (currently there is only one option Insider Preview). We have to choose Insider Preview in the dropdown list because there is no official image of OS available for Pi 3 from Microsoft. Step 5. Click the link “Installing Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview on Raspberry Pi 3” it will redirect you here. Step 6. Scroll down the page and click the button “Get Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview” Step 7. Accept the terms of the agreement & select your areas of interest. Click the Submit button. Step 8. Click Get IoT Core. You may have to do a little bit of extra setting as per your insider profile or depending on your locale. Afterward, it will redirect you to some URL, where you can go through the list of IoT devices, their features and you can do a lot more. Step 9. Now go to the Windows IoT Get Started URL, Step 10. Please go step by step and select your board, your hardware, your OS Version. At the beginning of this article, I already explained the difference between a blank microSD card and NOOBS. If you missed it, you can scroll up and go through that again. I am going to use a blank microSD card, ( when I ordered my IoT kit I received a microSD card that comes with pre-loaded OS; i.e., I have NOOBS, but I have installed Raspbian OS in that and I do not want to erase that. I am using another empty microSD card for this installation. So after installation, I will have 2 OS in 2 separate microSD cards so I can use any one of them as and when required; i.e, I can experiment with both Windows 10 IoT Core and Raspbian OS.) It will redirect you to the next step for downloading the tools. We do not need to download the tool. We have already downloaded the tool. Step 11. Get Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview. Step 12. Select the edition of Windows and Device type. Click on confirm. First, you have to select Windows edition and click on the confirm button, until which you will not see the option to choose a device. Step 13. Click the download button to download Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview – Build 14366 Raspberry Pi (you may see the later version than what is currently mentioned here). After completing the download, go to the path where it has been downloaded and double click on it to start or you can choose to run it with administrative rights. Accept the terms & conditions and install it. After completing the setup, it will install it as a program inside your Windows 10 OS. It will install the inside program file path e.g. “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft IoT\FFU\RaspberryPi2”. It creates a “flash.ffu” file of the size 940,032 kb, depending on the version, it may differ in the size. Step 14.

It will give you some warnings related to microSD (it will erase your microSD card completely and if you have any data on it that data will be erased. Pleased take back up of your data if required). It will open a few more screens and finally, your set up will be completed. Step 15. After completion of the installation, you will see the screenshot, given below: Step 16. Eject your device securely. We should eject the device securely otherwise your microSD card may be damaged. Step 17. Insert the microSD card (on which Windows 10 IoT Core OS has been installed) into your Raspberry Pi 3 device. Start it. Step 18. Connect your Raspberry Pi 3 with the same network on which your laptop is connected. You can use four different ways to connect your device to the same network, which I have discussed already in this article. Once your device is started & connected properly, you will see it inside my device section of IoT Dashboard. Thus, we have installed Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview for Raspberry Pi 3 successfully. I have already explained a few points about setting and opening the device in a device portal, other settings, and you can also explore the device portal by yourself, very easily, because its UI is very similar to your favorite windows OS UI. In my next article, I will explain how we can run our first program using Raspberry Pi 3 and Windows 10 IoT Core OS. Note: Many times, you will find that I am using more than one image in the same screenshot because I do not want to put hundreds of images here. Thus, I am keeping only the info and screenshots where your action is required. Please feel free to ask me, if you face any difficulty while installing it. You can ask your queries, using the comment section provided at the end of the article or you can also ask using Facebook or Twitter.