Belatedly answering my call, Microsoft today has finally made Windows 10 S available for testing to Insiders.

“Windows 10 S brings the experiences Windows users know and love, streamlined for security and performance,” Microsoft’s Dona Sarkar explains. “By exclusively using apps in the Windows Store and ensuring that you browse safely with Microsoft Edge and keeps you running fast and secure. It is ideal for people who have everything they need in the Windows Store and prefer the peace of mind of secure and verified Windows Store applications.”

As you may know, I called on Microsoft to open up Windows 10 S to external testing, since the OS was developed internally and in secret like it is the 1990s all over again. Specifically, I suggested the Windows Insider program as the obvious choice for this external testing.

“Windows Insiders are one of the few groups of people that would actually be interested in trying this system today and making it work,” I wrote. “And their feedback about why it’s not working, or the ways in which it does not work, would be invaluable.”

Since then, Microsoft has slowly started opening up Windows 10 S to external testing. It started with developers and educational customers in late July. Now, almost a month later, Insiders can finally get in on the action.

To do so, you must first join the Windows Insider program, of course. More important, you must have a spare PC with Windows 10 Pro (or Enterprise) running on it. Windows 10 Home will not do.

Then, you can run the online Windows 10 S installer to clean install the OS on your PC: It will wipe out your current install of Windows 10 Pro. Once that’s done, you can optionally test Insider builds of Windows 10 S just as you do on Windows 10 Home or Pro today.

Godspeed. As I’ve been pointing out in my series Living with Windows 10 S, this new platform is not ready for prime time. So maybe we can all help Microsoft get it right for the next go-round.

Tagged with Windows 10 S