Last week Microsoft unveiled Windows 10X their new operating which Microsoft say is for foldable and dual screen devices and I think is the future of Windows. While you can’t easily install Windows 10X on hardware at the moment Microsoft have provided an emulator for developers and anyone interested in the OS to try on their own devices.

With the emulator you can test the operating system, try out the dual screen setup and developers can test their own applications. If you want to try it for yourself there are a few steps and hardware requirements.

Windows 10X Emulator Requirements

You will need 64bit Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise or Education. The emulator will not work with Window 10 Home. You will also need Windows 10 Insider Preview build 19555 or later. You can get the build via the Windows Insider Program just make sure you don’t use your main production machine as its pre-release software.

You will also need an Intel CPU that supports hyper threading, 8GB or more of RAM and 15GB of free disk space.

You will need to enable Hyper-V in Windows by going switching the option on. Go to Control Panel, Programs, Program and features, Turn Windows features on or off and making sure Hyper-V is selected.

Once you have the prerequisites in place you need to get the Microsoft Emulator from the Microsoft Store and then you can install the Windows 10X emulator from the Microsoft Store.

To get started run the Microsoft Emulator (you will find it in the start menu) and click on Start.

This launches the Windows 10X emulator where you will be able to try out Microsoft’s new OS for yourself.

A couple of tips:

You can sign in with your Microsoft Account via Settings or an app like the Microsoft Store and then you should see your recent activity show up on the start screen.

You can view a virtual version of the Surface Duo by clicking on the Arrow buttons in the emulator.

You can also use the web based device management portal to get under the hood of the OS. Click on the Diagnostics tab in the tools screen and click on the Windows Device Portal link.

The emulator is designed for developers to test out their applications but it’s also great for us to get a closer look at the new OS.

If you don’t want to install the emulator on your machine you can watch me hands on video:

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