Windows 8.1 Embedded, why is it so much faster than vanilla 8.1?
- Thread starter Boomstick777
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 21 Jul 2005
- Posts
- 21,104
- Location
- Officially least sunny location -Ronskistats
- Joined
- 2 Jan 2012
- Posts
- 12,405
- Location
- UK.
Glad people are trying it and having good result. Mine is running like a dream as well
With regard to the size, this doesn't come with the mass amount of bloatware than the standard version of Windows 8/8.1 does. The reason the 'Standard' version comes with those things is Microsoft want people to use the apps / store and spend money. So obviously a streamlined, OS with none of the bloat wouldn't be standard, wouldn't benefit Microsoft as much.
You could remove some of the bloatware in the 'standard' Windows 8 albeit not without some difficulty, now there is a new tool to help > http://www.pcworld.com/article/2148...ess-of-dumping-windows-8-metro-bloatware.html
Put Embedded on a few machines now, everything just runs awesome on it
Soldato
- Joined
- 17 Oct 2005
- Posts
- 6,243
- Location
- North of Watford Gap
How are you activating this?
+1 might give this a go on my lappy.
- Joined
- 2 Jan 2012
- Posts
- 12,405
- Location
- UK.
If you are or have been a student you can get this for free with activation key from Dreamspark > https://www.dreamspark.com/Product/Product.aspx?productid=82
There is also a free trial that lasts a long time but don't think it can be fully activated. You could run that to see if you like it, some might be tempted to run it until the trial runs out then just re format and start again. Not that I am condoning such behavior. Microsoft allows this though > http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=40745
If you are having issues with your key from Dreamspark, you can use Microsoft Toolkit to help with activation > http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Microsoft+Toolkit+mydigitallife
Last edited:
taken from the download page
"About This Evaluation
This evaluation provides a 180-day trial of Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Pro edition. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available as ISO images. In order to use this evaluation, you must register and the product must be activated online with Microsoft-hosted activation and validation services. Microsoft does not provide technical support for this software. "
"About This Evaluation
This evaluation provides a 180-day trial of Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Pro edition. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available as ISO images. In order to use this evaluation, you must register and the product must be activated online with Microsoft-hosted activation and validation services. Microsoft does not provide technical support for this software. "
Ok I decided to run some test today to see any real speed differences took me 3-4 hours, this time I ignored VMs and straight to solid hardware.
Had an old Ocz 3 ssd with 500mb read/write speeds so used the same SSD for all Win 8.1 installations. I used a stop watch and also checked how many times the windows circle sandtimer loops!
Installed Windows 8.1 core (64bit) takes roughly 15 minutes to install with 17-18gig fully installed (no tweeks) I would imagine the Pro edition would be similar, same speeds and size.
Then I installed Windows 8.1 embedded industry Enterprise (64bit) MSDN copy it takes 3 minutes to install and 16gig fully installed (no tweeks). I found this strange since when I tried it on a VM somehow I got it down to 8gig perhaps I ran a tweek or 2
. To confirm this I formatted the SSD and reloaded it since it only takes 3 minutes to install why not, again it shows 16gig something.
Now onto general performance, Windows 8.1 Core 64bit takes a good 3 circles timer loops to get into desktop, Windows 8.1 embedded industrial about 2.5 circle timer loops.
Installing software, I tried comodo firewall, Avira and Libre office again pretty much similar speeds nothing was faster all about the same.
Overall thoughts: Not much difference in speeds with desktop loading and considering Windows 8 already loads in 5-10 secs to desktop not much difference in Core/Pro or embedded version here. General usage and installation of apps not much difference either. Industrial Embedded is not any faster then normal Win 8.1 Core/Pro and once you install firewall/AV and Device Drivers, it always slows down a tad. I installed the same firewall/AV and several apps each time to make sure.
The main difference is however is the installation time the embedded took me 3-4 minutes to install where as my Win 8.1 Core OEM copy took 14-15 minutes to install!
All Windows 8.1 copies be it Core, Pro, Embedded enterprise/pro editions I tried ended up roughly with 16-18gig installation on hdd. You may be able to knock off a few gig with disabling pagefile/hibernation and tweeking/cleaning Windows junk files though.
Worth changing over? Not really if it started up much quicker or installed general games/software quicker I would move over today, if I was installing an os though you can't knock the 3-4 minutes it takes to install the embedded edition. So if your looking for a speed difference I would say not.
Since it takes 3-4 mins install time others can try also.
Had an old Ocz 3 ssd with 500mb read/write speeds so used the same SSD for all Win 8.1 installations. I used a stop watch and also checked how many times the windows circle sandtimer loops!
Installed Windows 8.1 core (64bit) takes roughly 15 minutes to install with 17-18gig fully installed (no tweeks) I would imagine the Pro edition would be similar, same speeds and size.
Then I installed Windows 8.1 embedded industry Enterprise (64bit) MSDN copy it takes 3 minutes to install and 16gig fully installed (no tweeks). I found this strange since when I tried it on a VM somehow I got it down to 8gig perhaps I ran a tweek or 2
. To confirm this I formatted the SSD and reloaded it since it only takes 3 minutes to install why not, again it shows 16gig something.Now onto general performance, Windows 8.1 Core 64bit takes a good 3 circles timer loops to get into desktop, Windows 8.1 embedded industrial about 2.5 circle timer loops.
Installing software, I tried comodo firewall, Avira and Libre office again pretty much similar speeds nothing was faster all about the same.
Overall thoughts: Not much difference in speeds with desktop loading and considering Windows 8 already loads in 5-10 secs to desktop not much difference in Core/Pro or embedded version here. General usage and installation of apps not much difference either. Industrial Embedded is not any faster then normal Win 8.1 Core/Pro and once you install firewall/AV and Device Drivers, it always slows down a tad. I installed the same firewall/AV and several apps each time to make sure.
The main difference is however is the installation time the embedded took me 3-4 minutes to install where as my Win 8.1 Core OEM copy took 14-15 minutes to install!
All Windows 8.1 copies be it Core, Pro, Embedded enterprise/pro editions I tried ended up roughly with 16-18gig installation on hdd. You may be able to knock off a few gig with disabling pagefile/hibernation and tweeking/cleaning Windows junk files though.
Worth changing over? Not really if it started up much quicker or installed general games/software quicker I would move over today, if I was installing an os though you can't knock the 3-4 minutes it takes to install the embedded edition. So if your looking for a speed difference I would say not.
Since it takes 3-4 mins install time others can try also.
Sadly no difference in speed with the normal standard Windows 8.1 usage, only in installation times there was a large difference 3 minutes vs 15 minutes.
No probs