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I wrote a piece of software for a small company. It uses a Raspberry Pi 3, a touch screen and also an external (USB-based) fingerprint scanner. Currently everything is based on Linux, but the company would prefer to use Windows, because they also use it for other products.

I do not have any experience with Windows IoT on the Raspberry, but I already found out, that the fingerprint scanner company does not have any libraries for Windows IoT, which means the scanner won't work.

But I have some other questions about Windows IoT:

  • If I create a working image, can i then also just copy / paste the SD card use this for the commercial product? Thats how it is done now. Or are there any issues with the license?
  • It seems that Windows IoT is for free? Is this really true? Also for commercial use?
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  • So everything works just fine.. but the company wants to ruin it because they have some OCD requirement for it to run on Windows? You gotta learn to say No. and in this case No is the best answer because IoT is just going to cause you more headaches than it is worth. Say No and then lock them into a service contract. Do not waste time with time wasters.
    – Piotr Kula
    Mar 14, 2017 at 9:05
  • Unfortunate we cannot discuss licensing issues on stack sites due to the nature of the problem.. we are not licensing experts.. People may try and explain parts of licenses or copy and paste other answers but really if you want it done commercially - Get a lawyer to examine the licenses and draw up a proper 3rd party license as required. Do no entrust your business to community driven "tips"
    – Piotr Kula
    Mar 14, 2017 at 9:12

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Firstly Windows 10 IoT is not like traditional Windows 10

  • It only runs using .NET core
  • It was designed to run a single app in a sandboxed thread
  • Drivers are limited at the moment but there are horrible ways to port if really needed
  • IoT was designed to run a simple client. (aka dashboards, simple data collection) Do not mistake it for a full OS!
  • Porting your existing linux version (written in C++ I guess??) to .NET if just a mind blowing waste of time

If they really want everything to be written in .NET or Windows API then do it.. but then run it on MONO on a nix OS like Raspbian.

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    The project was cancelled, because of the huge effort that would be required:)
    – Kevin Meier
    Mar 14, 2017 at 17:27
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The first part of your question - distributing the image. Using Win32DiskImager you can create an exact image file of your MicroSD card. This can be distributed and burnt onto any other SD card to create an exact replica of the original you copied.

The second - IANAL but https://www.windowsforiotdevices.com/ explains what you can and can't do.

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  • You should inline the essentials of an external link. This gives a better answer.
    – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
    Feb 13, 2017 at 1:21
  • In keeping with our policy regarding informationless link-only answers, if this post is not edited to contain information that can stand as an answer, however minimal, in 48 hours it will be converted to Community Wiki to simplify having it corrected by the community.
    – goobering
    Feb 13, 2017 at 11:56

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