Windows Embedded Industry, formerly Windows Embedded POSReady and Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS), is an

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

developed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

as part of its

Windows Embedded Windows IoT, short for Windows Internet of Things and formerly known as Windows Embedded, is a family of operating systems from Microsoft designed for use in embedded systems. Microsoft has three different subfamilies of operating systems for em ...

family of products. Based on

Windows NT Windows NT is a Proprietary software, proprietary Graphical user interface, graphical operating system produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows product line, the first version of which, Windows NT 3.1, was released on July 27, 1993. Original ...

, Windows Embedded Industry is designed for use in industrial devices such as

cash register A cash register, sometimes called a till or automated money handling system, is a mechanical or electronic device for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale. It is usually attached to a Cash register#Cash drawer, drawer fo ...

automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account ...

s, and self service checkouts. Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry was the last release, with Windows IoT Enterprise superseding Windows Embedded Industry, Windows Embedded Standard, and Windows For Embedded Systems (FES).

Releases

Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS)

Windows Embedded for Point of Service was released on May 24, 2005, nearly a year after its Windows XP SP2 counterpart was launched by

in August 2004. WEPOS expanded

family of products. It was the first edition of Windows Embedded that could use the Windows Update Agent to update an installed and deployed image. Service Pack 3 (SP3) for WEPOS was released on October 8, 2008. Mainstream support ended on April 12, 2011, and extended support ended on April 12, 2016. When the new Microsoft Lifecycle Support policy for Internet Explorer went into effect on January 12, 2016, IE6 support was dropped from not only WEPOS, but all other supported platforms.

Windows Embedded POSReady 2009

Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 offers more features over Windows Embedded for Point of Service such as Full Localization,

Internet Explorer 7 Windows Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) (codenamed Rincon) is a version of Internet Explorer, a web browser for Windows. It was released by Microsoft on October 18, 2006. It was the first major update to the browser since 2001. It does not support ve ...

and XPS support if .NET Framework 3.5 or higher is installed. This edition was released on December 9, 2008, exactly seven months after its Windows XP SP3 counterpart was launched on May 6, 2008. Prior to XP's end of support, some

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

users have reported that editing the registry on their operating system can 'trick'

Windows Update Windows Update is a Microsoft service for the Windows 9x and Windows NT families of the Microsoft Windows operating system, which automates downloading and installing Microsoft Windows software updates over the Internet. The service delivers sof ...

into accepting updates targeting POSReady 2009. POSReady 2009 is also notable as being the last XP derived

to receive official support from

. Starting in 2017, Microsoft announced end of support for POSReady 2009. Mainstream support for Windows Embedded POSReady 2009—the last supported edition of Windows based on Windows XP—ended on April 8, 2014, and extended support ended on April 9, 2019, marking the overall end of all security updates for the Windows XP codebase after almost 18 years.

Windows Embedded POSReady 7

Windows Embedded POSReady 7, which is based on

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

with SP1, was released on July 1, 2011, nearly two years after

debuted. It is the last supported edition of Windows based on

to receive official support from

. Mainstream support for Windows Embedded POSReady 7 ended on and extended support ended on . That date marked the final end of extended support for the Windows 7 codebase after more than 12 years. Windows Embedded POSReady 7 was eligible for the paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. This service was available via OEMs, in yearly installments. Security updates were available for the operating system until October 8, 2024. This marked the final end of

IA-32 IA-32 (short for "Intel Architecture, 32-bit", commonly called ''i386'') is the 32-bit version of the x86 instruction set architecture, designed by Intel and first implemented in the i386, 80386 microprocessor in 1985. IA-32 is the first incarn ...

updates on the Windows NT 6.1 product line after more than 15 years, as well as marking the final end of all support for the Windows Embedded Industry subfamily after more than 19 years.

Windows Embedded 8 Industry

Based on

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, made available for download via Microsoft ...

, Windows Embedded 8 Industry was released on April 2, 2013 and is available in Pro, Pro Retail, and Enterprise editions. The Pro and Pro Retail editions are only available pre-installed on OEM devices, while the Enterprise edition is available through the volume licensing channel only. The Pro Retail edition adds a few extra features for use in

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

environments, while the Enterprise edition provides embedded-specific features designed to integrate seamlessly with Windows 8 Enterprise.

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the fifth-largest airline in North America when measured by scheduled passengers carried, as of 2024. Alaska, togethe ...

uses Windows Embedded 8 Industry in-flight entertainment devices. It is unsupported as of January 12, 2016.

Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry

Based on Windows 8.1, Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry was released on October 17, 2013, by

as a component of the operating system itself. As with 8 Industry, it is available in Pro, Pro Retail, and Enterprise editions. Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Update was released on April 16, 2014. Mainstream support for Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry ended on July 10, 2018, and extended support ended on July 11, 2023. This marked the final end of "extended support" for the Windows Embedded Industry subfamily after almost 18 years. Unlike with Windows Embedded POSReady 7, however, Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry (along with all other editions of Windows 8.1) was not eligible for the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, despite its server counterpart being eligible for ESU.

Windows IoT Enterprise

Microsoft rebranded "Windows Embedded" to "Windows IoT" starting with the release of embedded editions of Windows 10. Windows IoT Enterprise acts as the successor to Windows Embedded Industry.

System requirements

References

External links

* (archived at

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

) * (archived at

) {{Microsoft Windows family Embedded operating systems Microsoft operating systems Products and services discontinued in 2023 Embedded Industry