Get Windows 10 IoT Core Running on the Raspberry Pi

You’ve been using Raspbian for your Internet of Things projects and now you’re ready to get up and running with Windows 10 #IoT Core on the Raspberry Pi.

To get started, make sure you’re running build 10240 of Windows 10 or later on your computer. You also need the following hardware components:

• A Raspberry Pi 2
• An 8 GB or larger class 10 micro SD card
• A micro USB power supply running with 5 volts and 2 amps of current
• A monitor with an HDMI connector
• An HDMI cable
• An Ethernet cable to connect to the network
• A USB keyboard
• A USB mouse

Navigate your browser over to the Windows Dev Center to download the Windows 10 ISO image for the Raspberry Pi 2 to a folder on your computer.

Double-click the ISO image to mount it as a virtual drive so you can see its contents.

Double-click the MSI file to kick off the installation of Windows 10 IoT Core for Raspberry Pi 2.

With the installation complete, insert your micro SD card into your computer’s SD card reader. From the Windows 10 Start menu, navigate to All apps | Microsoft IoT and launch WindowsIoTImageHelper. You should see your micro SD card listed in the listbox at the top. If you don’t, click the Refresh button. Click the appropriate card in the listbox. Click the Browse button and navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft IoT\FFU\RaspberryPi2. Click the Flash button and keep in mind that this process will erase everything stored on your card.

The Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool (DISM) will launch in a command window and display the status of applying the image.

When the process is complete, close the Windows IoT Image Helper app, click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon in your task tray and select your SD card to safely remove it without corrupting the image.

Now it’s time to bring everything to life with your Raspberry Pi.

Looking at the picture below, connect your network cable to the Ethernet port on the bottom | right and then connect the other end to the same local network that your Windows 10 computer is connected to. Connect your HDMI cable to the port just below where HDMI is printed on your board and then connect it to your monitor. Connect your power supply to the micro USB port just to the left of the HDMI port but don’t plug it into the wall socket yet. On the left side where you see the micro SD card, flip the board over and put it into the SD card slot with a click.

Since the Raspberry Pi 2 has four USB ports, you have a lot of options when it comes to peripherals. This is where you’ll plug in a USB keyboard and mouse. If you have the Official Raspberry Pi WiFi dongle, you can configure and use it too.

Now you can plug the power supply into the wall socket which will cause Windows 10 IoT Core to boot up with the familiar Windows logo and progress ring displayed on your monitor.

Before the boot process is complete, your monitor should display a visualization of a single-board computer.

Once your device has booted, the DefaultApp will launch and display the IP address, connected network status and list of devices connected to the Raspberry Pi 2.

With your connected mouse, you can click the Tutorials icon on the upper | left part of the screen to get started with development projects.

On the upper | right part of the screen you can access Device Settings where you can configure the system language as well as Ethernet and Wi-Fi networking. You also get the familiar Power icon that lets you shut down or restart your Raspberry Pi instead of pulling the power plug.

Your Microsoft IoT journey has begun as you are now officially up and running with Windows 10 IoT Core on the Raspberry Pi 2! Check out my next article where I show you how to connect to your Raspberry Pi from a Windows PC via secure shell (SSH), the web and Visual Studio.