In 2017, Microsoft sparked hopes of a possibility of always-connected personal computers by showcasing a version of Windows 10 which was capable of booting on computing devices that are being powered by ARM chipsets. Microsoft and Qualcomm have been encouraging each other since then to further enhance the software and reap the benefits of always-connected PCs. Microsoft also announced a software development kit (SDK) which allows developers to easily port their x86 (32-bit processor architecture) applications to ARM64 architecture chips. What’s more surprising is that these global tech giants aren’t the only ones working on the concept. According to the latest news, some developers are also working on Windows 10-based always-connected personal computers and are actually a big step ahead of Microsoft’s progress.
Bas Timmer is a respectable Netherland-based software developer who goes by the name NTAuthority on Twitter and other software development forums and communities. Timmer is currently tweaking the Windows 10’s build for ARM64 chips and is trying to boot the operating system on ARM-based devices that have much smaller displays than the usual supported range. For instance, the typical always-connected Windows laptops that you can find easily in the market are the Samsung Galaxy BOOK2 powered by the Snapdragon 850 and Lenovo Yoga 630 WOS.
Bas Timmer has recently been playing with Windows 10 on Android smartphones including the Google Pixel 3 XL. Timmer posted a tweet on 9 March 2019, showing that he had successfully booted Windows on an Android smartphone. Timmer said, “I bet you’ve never seen this before. Well, probably have. It’s Windows. On a Pixel 3 XL. Because why not? Everything runs Windows nowadays.” The software developer’s latest experiment was performed on a OnePlus 6T.
In his 29 March twitter post, Timmer showed a picture of a OnePlus 6T displaying a BSOD (blue screen of death) error – a common and dreaded error in windows that is characterized by its behavior of turning the screen blue, showing an error message, and forcefully restart the computer. This shows that the developer was successfully able to boot windows on the smartphone. Timmer branded the smartphone as “the new One Plus 6T ☹ Edition”.
Timmer is known to be very persistent and a very skilled software developer. Sure enough, one day later, he uploaded another image on Twitter which shows that Windows is successfully booted on the OnePlus 6T and a command line terminal is ready to take his commands.
He has not released any tutorial on how to boot Windows on a OnePlus 6T which is why you should definitely not try to attempt such a system-level modification. Doing so might render your smartphone useless and will void the warranty if it came with any.
Thanks to 5G, we can be certain that always-connected computers’ adoption will definitely increase in the future. If you want Timmer to run Windows on another Android device, you can try commenting your request on NTAuthority’s posts or even send them a message through its official website’s contact page.
