Revisiting project Surface Go 1 with Windows X-Lite

Spoiler alert: this is an enthusiast post! 

Always keen to see how you can get the best from old tech?, I dug out my gen 1 Surface Go device.  This was an 8 GB model with the faster Intel Gold processor. It came orginally with Windows 10S; I upgraded that to 10 Pro, as most people did, and then finally to Windows 11.

First Stop Ubuntu

Now it did run Windows 11 but as expected not amazingly fast, good enough for some web browsing and using Office Online. So I looked for some alternatives:

Linux, of course, had to be a great choice to start with; I chose Ubuntu, as this is a mainstream distro. Once installed I updated the Surface Kernel through Github and even got my Surface pen to work!  I could install Microsoft Edge, sync to my M365 account and all was good.   

By using Microsoft Edge, I could create a Progressive Web App (PWA) of any web page and have it behave like an application.

Second stop: Windows 10X

Next I tried going back to Github and found the project for Windows 10x. If you don't remember Windows 10X, it was released to support dual-screen devices such as the Surface Neo (and potentially the Surface Duo, but that went Android). A refreshed OS UI (aka Windows 11), a partitioned OS installation, and some nice tweaks regarding security meant this was a new OS. Sadly, it lacked support for Win32 apps and was canned in 2021.

Windows 10X project on Github - look familiar?

However, several GitHub users revived it with a project, and I tried that. Now due to the nature of Windows 10x, there is an easy way and a hard way. I chose the easy way and installed it on the Surface Go. Nicely slick and quick was an understatement for the device; everything worked except the WiFi driver... so after a couple of hours, I moved to my third and final choice—Windows X-Lite

Third and final choice: Windows X-Lite

Windows X-Lite is described as 

An optimised build of Windows designed to optimise performance, stability, and efficiency; lower resource use; and improve responsiveness on any hardware.

To get started, go to https://windowsxlite.com to download the version in ISO format. You can select from Windows 10 Builds or Windows 11 Builds, which have all been optimised. To install simply create a boot media using Rufus, and point it to the ISO you have downloaded. Work your way through the OOBE, and you will be up and running in no time.

Once installed, you have a baseline OS running. You will need to install the fundamentals, like a web browser and the Microsoft Store. This is done by clicking on the Windows X-Lite folder and then the Options folder.

After installation, and installing my favourite apps, such as Microsoft Edge, Journal, and Teams for work, Windows X-Lite has taken up a whopping 15GB out of my 120GB.

What about updates?

Well, the secret sauce of Windows X-Lite is the fact that they suspend updates until at least the year 3000! Which is almost like the ultimate Long Term Servicing Branch of Windows (LTSB), which ensures the devices continue to work as expected.

So remember to tread gently with bringing life back to old tech and have fun, but do go and check out https://windowsxlite.com  I am looking to update to the Neon build next !