Windows 10 (x64) Education Edition - What is it?

Compumind · 26 Sep 2018

Greetings...

My daughter comes home from college and tells me that she found a Microsoft website that will let her have Windows 10 Education Edition x64 for Free, since she is a student.

I just bought her a Dell Inspiron 5700 SSD laptop that came with Windows 10 Home.

She has an activation code to use in her Windows 10 Home update and security -> activation -> use key.

Question is, what will this give her? Pro features?
Will it hose her system with the apps and other things so carefully setup by dad?

Details on this Education release are sketchy and there is no Microsoft telephone number available, just to ask questions. Before I deep dive into the research, I figured that it would be a good idea ro ask here first about it.

She wants the features of Pro for her needs, including Virtualization.

Will this release screw-up her system (Dell branded OEM W10 Home) and give her the pro features she needs?

Any help appreciated, thanks.

titetanium · 26 Sep 2018

No, it will just pull the additional feature files for the Education version and then upgrade it with souped up features that pro doesn't have. I have it and I actually like it a lot. I just bought a new Thinkpad X1 Tablet with pro and will upgrade that to Education.

titetanium · 26 Sep 2018

Oh, and your daughter's setup won't change much. She will be able to do virtualization and also use bitlocker, if she chooses to encrypt her drives. And she will be able to pause feature upgrades for up to 30 months once she gets 1809. Just something to think about.

Kari · 26 Sep 2018

Windows 10 Education is basically the same than Enterprise edition, but it is only offered through Academic Volume Licensing and through Visual Studio (former MSDN) subscriptions. It is commonly used by schools, universities and such as volume licenced edition of Windows 10 for students and faculty.

See the edition comparison chart: Windows 10 editions - Wikipedia

Kari

Compumind · 27 Sep 2018

Hi there -

Yes, I had read that earlier, lol.

My problem is that there is no rapid support channel that I can identify for that version.
So I need "a triple green light" before I enter that key.

Another concern is the new build in early October, etc.

Thanks. :)

AddRAM · 27 Sep 2018

You can postpone the new October version if you want, as stated already.

I always wait 3 or 4 months before installing the new update.

jimbo45 · 27 Sep 2018

Hi there

Before doing any install -- just image the original computer HDD so if any problems you can restore to exactly the state you had - Do it BEFORE activating the Home edition and installing education.

Macrium Free (Free product) will do the backup / disk imaging for you.

personally I'd always image the computer (fom a usb bootable version of Macrium) before doing user set up the first time when starting a store bought new PC. That way if any "quirks " or whatever you can restore the whole thing to exactly how it came out of the store.

Probably too late for you now but ideally you should have 2 backups :

1) store image before touching anything
2) Windows Home after user does initial setup

Cheers
jimbo

Kari · 27 Sep 2018

Compumind said:

My problem is that there is no rapid support channel that I can identify for that version.
So I need "a triple green light" before I enter that key.

Another concern is the new build in early October, etc.

I am not sure what you mean with "rapid support channel". I have Education on multi boot setup alongside UK English and Finnish PRO. It get updates and upgrades exactly as PRO, is stable, is supported by Microsoft as any other edition.

When version 1809 will be released (rumoured to be Tuesday next week), the feature upgrade is and will be done exactly as upgrading any other edition

Education edition can also be opted in for Windows Insider builds, again exactly as any other edition.

Kari

Compumind · 27 Sep 2018

Kari said:

I am not sure what you mean with "rapid support channel".

Can't find a telephone number in case she needs ASAP support (because it's free.)
Have to research further, unless you have something in the USA.

@jimbo45 - Imaging? Already done, thanks.

alphanumeric · 27 Sep 2018

Anybody that is running Education seeing the "Some settings are managed by your organization" message in settings? It will be in Red across the top of some of the Settings menus / pages.