Windows IoT. Windows IoT, short for Windows Internet of Things and formerly known as Windows Embedded, is a family of operating systems from Microsoft designed for use in embedded systems. Microsoft has three different subfamilies of operating systems for embedded devices targeting a wide market, ranging from small-footprint, real-time devices to point of sale (POS) devices like kiosks. Windows Embedded operating systems are available to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), who make it available to end users preloaded with their hardware, in addition to volume license customers in some cases.

In April 2018, Microsoft released Azure Sphere, another operating system designed for IoT applications running on the Linux kernel.

The IoT family

Microsoft rebranded "Windows Embedded" to "Windows IoT" starting with the release of embedded editions of Windows 10.

Enterprise
Windows IoT Enterprise is binary identical to Windows 10 and Windows 11 Enterprise, and functions exactly the same, but are licensed and priced for use in embedded devices. It replaces Embedded Industry and Embedded Standard. Plain unlabeled, Retail/Thin Client, Tablet, and Small Tablet SKUs are available, again differing only in licensing.

It includes a minor change that allows the use of smaller storage devices, with the possibility of more changes being made in the future. In addition, starting with the LTSC edition of version 21H2, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC will gain an extra five years of support compared to Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC.

Mobile
Windows 10 IoT Mobile, also known as Windows 10 IoT Mobile Enterprise, is a binary equivalent of Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise licensed for IoT applications. Unsupported as of January 14, 2020.

Core
Windows 10 IoT Core is considered by some to be the successor to Windows Embedded Compact, although it maintains very little compatibility with it. Optimized for smaller and lower-cost industry devices, it is also provided free of charge for use in devices like the Raspberry Pi for hobbyist use.

Core Pro
Windows 10 IoT Core Pro provides the ability to defer and control updates and is licensed only via distributors; it is otherwise identical to the normal IoT Core edition.

Server
Windows Server IoT 2019 is a full, binary equivalent version of Windows Server 2019, intended to aggregate data from many 'things'. Like the IoT Enterprise variants, it remains identical in behavior to its regularly licensed counterpart, but differs only in licensing terms. It also is offered in both LTSC and SAC options.

Embedded family

Embedded Compact

Windows Embedded Compact (previously known as Windows Embedded CE or Windows CE) is the variant of Windows Embedded for very small computers and embedded systems, including consumer electronics devices like set-top boxes and video game consoles. Windows Embedded Compact is a modular real-time operating system with a specialized kernel that can run in under 1 MB of memory. It comes with the Platform Builder tool that can be used to add modules to the installation image to create a custom installation, depending on the device used. Windows Embedded Compact is available for ARM, MIPS, SuperH and x86 processor architectures.

Microsoft made available a specialized variant of Windows Embedded Compact, known as Windows Mobile, for use in mobile phones. It is a customized image of Windows Embedded Compact along with specialized modules for use in Mobile phones. Windows Mobile was available in four editions: Windows Mobile Classic (for Pocket PC), Windows Mobile Standard (for smartphones) and Windows Mobile Professional (for PDA/Pocket PC Phone Edition) and Windows Mobile for Automotive (for communication/entertainment/information systems used in automobiles). Modified variants of Windows Mobile were used for Portable Media Centers. In 2010, Windows Mobile was replaced by Windows Phone 7, which was also based on Windows Embedded Compact, but was not compatible with any previous products.

Windows Embedded Compact 2013 is a real-time operating system which runs on ARM, x86, SH, and derivatives of those architectures. It included .NET Framework, UI framework, and various open source drivers and services as 'modules'.

Embedded Standard

Windows Embedded Standard is the brand of Windows Embedded operating systems designed to provide enterprises and device manufacturers the freedom to choose which capabilities will be part of their industry devices and intelligent system solutions, intended to build ATMs and devices for the healthcare and manufacturing industries, creating industry-specific devices. This brand consists of Windows NT 4.0 Embedded, Windows XP Embedded, Windows Embedded Standard 2009 (WES09), Windows Embedded Standard 7 (WES7, known as Windows Embedded Standard 2011 prior to release), and Windows Embedded 8 Standard. It provides the full Win32 API.  Windows Embedded Standard 2009 includes Silverlight, .NET Framework 3.5, Internet Explorer 7, Windows Media Player 11, RDP 6.1, Network Access Protection, Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and support for being managed by Windows Server Update Services and System Center Configuration Manager.

Windows Embedded Standard 7 is based on Windows 7 and was previously codenamed Windows Embedded 'Quebec'. Windows Embedded Standard 7 includes Windows Vista and Windows 7 features such as Aero, SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, Windows Firewall, Windows Defender, address space layout randomization, Windows Presentation Foundation, Silverlight 2, Windows Media Center among several other packages. It is available in IA-32 and x64 variants and was released in 2010. It has a larger minimum footprint (~300 MB) compared to 40 MB of XPe and also requires product activation. Windows Embedded Standard 7 was released on April 27, 2010. Windows Embedded 8 Standard was released on March 20, 2013. IE11 for this edition of Windows 8 was released in April 2019, with support for IE10 ending on January 31, 2020.

For Embedded Systems (FES)

Binary identical variants of the editions as are available in retail, but licensed exclusively for use in embedded devices. They are available for both IA-32 as well as x64 processors. Subfamily is known to include Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows 95 to 98, Windows NT Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows ME, Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Business and Ultimate, Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate, Windows 8 Pro and Enterprise, and Windows 8.1 Pro and Enterprise.

This subfamily originally simply had Embedded tacked onto the end of the SKU name until sometime around the release of Windows XP when the naming scheme changed to FES. Examples of this include Windows NT Workstation Embedded, Windows 2000 Pro Embedded, and Windows ME Embedded. Microsoft changed the moniker for FES products again starting with some Windows 8/8.1 based SKUs, simply labeling them Windows Embedded before the Windows version and edition. Two examples of this are Windows Embedded 8 Pro and Windows Embedded 8.1 Enterprise.

Server
Windows Embedded Server FES products include Server, Home Server, SQL Server, Storage Server, DPM Server, ISA Server, UAG Server, TMG Server, and Unified Data Storage Server etc. of various years including 2000, 2003, 2003 R2, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, and 2012 R2 etc.

Embedded Industry

Windows Embedded Industry is the brand of Windows Embedded operating systems for industry devices and once only for point of sale systems. This brand was originally limited to the Windows Embedded for Point of Service operating system released in 2006, which is based on Windows XP with SP2. Since, Microsoft has released an updated version of Windows Embedded for Point of Service named Windows Embedded POSReady 2009, this time based on Windows XP with SP3. In 2011 Windows Embedded 7 POSReady based on Windows 7 SP1 was released, which succeeded POSReady 2009. Microsoft has since changed the name of this product from "Windows Embedded POSReady" to "Windows Embedded Industry". Microsoft released Windows Embedded 8 Industry in April 2013, followed by 8.1 Industry in October 2013.

Embedded NAVReady
Windows Embedded NAVReady, also known as Navigation Ready, is a plug-in component for Windows CE 5.0. It is intended to be useful for building portable handheld navigation devices.

Embedded Automotive

Windows Embedded Automotive, formerly Microsoft Auto, Windows CE for Automotive, Windows Automotive, and Windows Mobile for Automotive, is an embedded operating system based on Windows CE for use on computer systems in automobiles. The latest release, Windows Embedded Automotive 7 was announced on October 19, 2010.

Embedded Handheld

On January 10, 2011, Microsoft announced Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5. The operating system has compatibility with Windows Mobile 6.5 and is presented as an enterprise handheld device, targeting retailers, delivery companies, and other companies that rely on handheld computing. Windows Embedded Handheld retains backward compatibility with legacy Windows Mobile applications. Windows Embedded 8.1 Handheld was released for manufacturing on April 23, 2014. Known simply as Windows Embedded 8 Handheld (WE8H) prior to release, it was designed as the next generation of Windows Embedded Handheld for line-of-business handheld devices and built on Windows Phone 8.1, which it also has compatibility with. Five Windows Embedded 8.1 Handheld devices have been released; Manufactured by Bluebird, Honeywell and Panasonic as listed below.

See also
 Eclipse ThreadX (previously Microsoft's Azure ThreadX, now donated as open source to the Eclipse Foundation)

References

Further reading

External links

 

IoT
Embedded operating systems
ARM operating systems
X86-64 operating systems