Microsoft is working on a new edition of Windows 10 that Microsoft internally calls 'Windows 10 Lean' that, once installed, is a whole 2GB's smaller in size compared to a normal edition of Windows 10 like Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro. This SKU was first spotted on Twitter thanks to its inclusion in the latest Redstone 5 preview build, but with no official announcement from Microsoft detailing what this new edition of Windows 10 is for, I decided to do some digging.
As it turns out, Microsoft is facing a big problem when it comes to keeping devices with a low amount of storage up to date with the latest Windows 10 feature updates. More often than not, cheap, low-end tablets and laptops with 16GB of internal storage will find themselves stuck on the version of Windows 10 that those devices shipped with, because there's not enough storage space to apply any new feature updates.
According to my sources, Windows 10 Lean aims to fix this problem. It's a SKU aimed specifically at devices with 16GB of storage, and has a much smaller footprint out of box. It strips out things users won't need on a device with a small of storage, such as the Registry Editor, Internet Explorer, and more. It's still the same old legacy Windows that we know and love, just streamlined so that it better fits on devices with smaller internal storage...
Read more: Windows 10 'Lean' is a smaller edition of Windows 10 for devices with 16GB of storage | Windows Central
I wonder, if current uses with said devices, can install this instead of Home or Pro, without having to buy a new licence for Lean? IMHO, it should be a free alternative to Home for those users. The ones that did the free upgrade, and are now running out of room. The only info I've seen on it so far is what's been posted and linked too from 10 Forums.
Interesting, almost sounds like a Mobile os, or Chromebooks, etc
blecgh and here i thought end users were finally going to get a version without the pre installed bloatware.
THAT i would have likely done a format for. otherwise ill be running macrium for the rest of my life it seems :P
Does "storage" mean internal RAM or boot drive space?
I struggle to get a device with even 32GB (so-called, more like 32,000,000,000 bytes) device to upgrade, so this might be handy if it was available to users with existing devices. Although some things I do require IE so that would be a problem if I couldn't add it.
According to Lucan, the guy who posted the info about this "find," he was able to install and use regedit.exe and the MMC on his Lean install. I don't see why you wouldn't also be able to install IE as well (assuming you can find a package to use with DISM to install it, in offline form). Might take a little bit of messing about to get it to work, though.
HTH,
--Ed--
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