Windows 10 Technical Preview contains code for upcoming consumer preview

By John Callaham
last updated

A member of WPCentral's forums has discovered a small but interesting feature in the recently released Windows 10 Technical Preview for Enterprise. It apparently contains code for the upcoming consumer version of the OS that should be released in full sometime in early 2015.

As forum member "markm091" mentions in his forum post this week, "I was poking around using the DISM utility and found that the image contains a second index, called "Windows Technical Preview for Consumer".

windows 10

He then write, "I applied this image to a VM and found it is the same build number, but the watermark now displays 'Windows Technical Preview for Consumer..."" He adds that there doesn't appear to be anything different in the OS since appling that image. In other words; there's no support for Cortana or the notification center or Internet Explorer 12 that are all expected to be added to the consumer preview version of Windows 10.

windows 10

It's possible that people who have already downloaded the enterprise tech preview for Windows 10 will simply be able to update that OS to the consumer version when it is ready to be released by Microsoft, rather that download the entire operating system file all over again. It's a small but interesting discovery and it may be a clue as to how Microsoft will update Windows 10 in the future.

Thanks again to our forum member "markm091" for the heads up!

John Callaham
John Callaham
93 Comments
  • Interesting.
    Feems Saster...
  • Lawl x{D
  • Olo
  • Seems urgently
    User-friendlier
  • seemly urgently, user friendly. wowly i becomely poetly .
  • Looks better than Win 8 which I hate ........
  • That's good... Update process will be simple...
  • How these people do it...
  • Um, by being technical?
  • Do they have lives or what?
  • or what :P
  • I hope those consumer changes are coming soon, step by step rather than give everything at once , then no feedback would be worthy at the time
  • I think that's the whole point of them doing the preview like this, that and the AB testing etc
  • I just did that myself last night. Its just the Core edition vs. the Pro edition. I was trying to deploy the x86 build to a VHDX file for a UEFI computer, but didn't get very far....
  • Awesome. I can't wait til' then.
  • Lol, this was discovered the day it was released by an MDL member
  • Not everyone visits MDL.
  • Not everyone visits WPC. Your point is?
  • My point is, who cares what someone did on MDL. I imagine there were tons of others that did it before someone on MDL did it.
  • Grow up douche-bag - who cares what you think, if you knew anything about MDL, you'd know it's highly unlikely that anyone else did it first - you some sort of WPC fanboi ? - If you can't cope with people doing stuff weeks before WPC reports it, get a f*ckin life - now, go back to that hole you crawled out of.
  • I hope you dont kiss your mother with that mouth. was it really necessary to degrade this into name calling?
  • Who types with their mouth? Name calling is never cool, but coming into a thread with "who cares" isn't really a constructive contribution, and a pretty douche-y way of going about discussing ANYthing.  Seems it was returned with a similar aire of apathy, just more aggressively.
  • Missed your meds today, jesus.
  • I imagine my mother really loved me, but that doesn't make it so.  Giving credit where credit is due is totally fair.  Who cares about what your point is, if it's an apathetic one?  
  • What is MDL?
  • mydigitallife forums
  • Thanks :)
  • No probs mate
  • Billy big mouths like yourself are so funny in reality if someone confronted you in real life you would be begging for peace.
  • This time as always...microsoft is teaching me patients... :)
  • Patience.
  • Unless he is a doctor, and using his surface to teach his patients... Then it would be *my...
  • +1
  • Seems to kill my dlna streaming. Xb1 media player preview app is no longer finding files.
  • Probably because Win 10 is just a preview and not everything works
  • Everybody !! Hurry check for updates (phone) i think this is a windows 10 preview (dp)!!!!!
  • ?
  • We need more information. What phone do you have, what region are you in, etc.
  • Are you seriously believing him?
  • Im joking man :)
  • I haven't got any update !
    L520 8.1.1 PoD
  • Can I have some of what your smoking?
  • Joking... :) lol
  • Jokes are supposed to be funny.
  • I'm so high right now and I understood that this was a joke. Lol people
  • What kind of an idiot do you have to be to publish this article? It's the regular god damn Core SKU of Windows that has been in install.wim's as Index 1 since the release of Windows 8 RTM. It's not anything new, it just got a name change in Windows 10, just like there is Windows 8.1 Pro for Education, there will be Windows 10 for Consumer, it existed since Windows 8 but it was always named just like the OS so for example in Windows 8, it was called only "Windows 8", in 8.1 it was called "Windows 8.1" but to make it easier to distinguish, for Windows 10 they are adding the "for Consumer" bit.
  • And you had to call the Writer an idiot ? Not Cool bro
  • Took it a bit personal didn't you. Doesn't matter if you understand it what it really is, the average Joe doesn't so any news be it small is posted to attract readers and get them excited. It's called weekend reading.
  • The average Joe does not use pre-release software, and the Insider Program is not for Joe. Also false "news" like this, do simply turn a news site to yellow paper. The fine line between attract readers and proper news is very narrow.
  • Doesn't matter if average Joe uses or doesn't use the TP. What the average Joe does care about is reading about progress of any kind even if they don't understand it isn't really progress. Name me one site that (ONLY) post 100% accurate news and I'll call it out as BS. It's a Saturday which means Tech news is at a crawl. It's a post, people shouldn't take it personally which was what my comment was laid out for. You taking up for the OP makes it just as bad and gives the crazy fuel.
  • Hi, I'm Joe and I've installed Win10TP.
  • Dude.. You're really messed up!
  • No need to insult the author, you know? You can be informative in this community without being offensive.
  • To everyone concerned about the first sentence I said, after I published the comment I realized that it wasn't smart of me but there is no edit nor delete button so go figure
  • don't disappoint ppl here
  • Can someone share the link to download the preview file again? Any notes on installing on a VM?
  • preview.windows.com
    What OS is your host (physical machine), and what virtualization solution are you planning to use? Hyper-V, VMWare, VirtualBox?
  • richmed, I have installed it using Oracle Virtualbox. There are instructions available for installing on VMWare as well. While creating the virtual machine, you need to select windows 8.1 as the OS. That is the trick. Otherwise it will not install properly. HTH, Vinod
  • if you have a large enough HD my advise just partition the HD and use around 100GB for the WTP it kinda gived the feel of an actual install vs VM and can keep other OS just my opinion
  • Bring out to my WP!!
  • Just one thing is it safe to upgrade to Windows 10 from my Windows 7 PC? I am worried about my PCs data, just to be in a safe side I thought of asking. Sorry for being of topic.
  • No its not, just wait ( I know you hate that) untill the full version which will be released unfortunely late 2015, but you can install it on a virtual machine i.e. Virtual Box. The performance will be low but your PC will be safe. :)
  • You should (NEVER) upgrade your OS to something this early. Try it in a VM, an old machine you don't care about or dual boot to another HDD\Partition.
  • I agree with the Alpatron and DVELOPinc. This is an early build and Microsoft tried to be very clear that it is not meant to be stable for a production environment or main machines. Part of the intention is mainly for technical people to test it and provide as much feedback as possible for Microsoft to polish the product and make it final. Try a VM and see how you like it. I suggest you don't install it on your main machine to avoid potential issues. I installed on an older laptop I don't use very much (2010 Dell Studio 14 with a 1st Gen Core i5), but didn't install it on my main PC or tablet.
  • I want that wallpaper in the first picture... Does it exist???
  • The one with the leaf type lines? That's a default Windows 8 wallpaper.
  • I know. I mean the blue gradient one. Which I assume isn't actually a wallpaper. Still want it. Love the color. I use gradients for my Lumia start screen. Easy to see tiles and looks clean but still.custom
  • Ahh, I gotcha. I might be wrong, as I'm not at my laptop, but I swear I saw a blue gradient. I'll check and post back if I see it.
  • Yea. If you see the picture from MS showing windows 10 on all devices.... They all have the gradient... Even the phone. So I believe its just to make it look clean. But its a great wallpaper.
  • Its definately one of his own but, if you like Blue Gradients, I know this isn't it but you might like it: http://mwp4.me/abstract/blue-gradient-3293/
  • That's a nice one! Thanks :)
  • Using it now. Looks awesome. Looks mysterious! Very clean. Thanks again. Ill be using this one for a while.
  • My cojones contain material for other humans but you don't see me writing an article about it. It's Saturday, take a break ;)
  • And who in the world will write about your tiny cojones?
  • You seem to be quite familiar with my cojones.. I don't remember drinking that much of a beer. Go to bed dude.
  • I have problems with windows 10.. Apps want install, only pending.. Contacts, mail and calendar want sync? Any suggestions?
  • Install Windows 8.1
  • It's the technical preview! Give Microsoft a feedback about this problem to fix it in future updates!
  • Check your PC's date and time and make sure that you are signed in.
  • Do you get any specific errors? Try checking the Internet connection and if there are any errors in Event Viewer. Did you send the feedback to Microsoft?
  • It can be a mistake
  • Nope, internet connection is fine and no problems with web surfing, but when I open mail, calendar and contacts it just say "syncing" but nothing happens
  • The same as store.. No problem finding the apps, but when I hit download it just say "pending" had the say problems with store in Windows 8/8.1 but after fixing problems with windows update I've got it fixed, but doesn't seem to help here
  • Seems consumerier.
  • wow
  • Interesting discovery. Even more interesting is that this consumer preview is the first that does not break application compatibility in a huge manner. For example, I remember that some of my apps weren't compatible with the Windows 8.1 preview and it wasn't until the RTM of Windows 8.1 that those incompatible apps became compatible again.
  • Those were the special features.
  • If you go to pc settings and go to updates you can find preview updates,so yes you can upgrade to consumer preview without having to reinstall the system Posted via Windows Phone Central App
  • i tried that it said it was sucessful but the watermark stayed the same 
  • I installed this on my surface pro 1. Lasted a week and had to restore. Restored back to preview. Your PC has run into a problem with the sad face icon. Your PC needs to restart then restart and restart and restart. Never fixed the problem out said it was going to.
  • How many noticed that the Win10 Preview URL says win9 not win10
  • What I can say about the guy who found this image of W10 Tech Preview, is that is too early to think about advance features since this is just a "GUI demo" of the next Windows.
  • Still waiting to get my free update! Anyone out there get it?