Drivers for Windows 10 on Librem 13 v2

Dear all,

The FAQ states:

Please also note that Windows based programs run as non-free source/proprietary code and Purism can not offer a guarantee that your Librem will continue to be secure if you choose to install. We do not recommend doing this for your own privacy and security but you are welcome to as the Librem is your machine

Users, who wish to install Windows on their machines, should be able to use all hardware. With Windows 10, this seems to be a problem with some hardware, such as the touchpad and energy management.

Can someone please provide names or links to working drivers or at least give the exact hardware specification so it is easier to find working drivers?

Well, Todd outright stated in an interview that they don’t test Windows on the Librem, so Purism probably has no idea which specific drivers would be required to work on all the hardware; therefore, I’m not sure why you think that this statement is true:

Users, who wish to install Windows on their machines, should be able to use all hardware.

Did they state somewhere else that there was 100% hardware compatibility with Windows?

As far as finding the exact hardware that your computer contains is concerned, you simply need to install the inxi package (available in all GNU/Linux distrubutions). If you run its man command, it will tell you which options you need to run it with, in order to find the precise names of all hardware components on your device:

man inxi

For example, if you wanted to find out what type of graphics card you had, you would run inxi with the -G option; the results would look something like this:

Graphics: Card: Intel HD Graphics 520
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.3 ) driver: i915
Resolution: 1920x1080@59.93hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2)
version: 4.5 Mesa 13.0.6

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Thank you for your very helpful reply mentioning inxi.

The statement that you quoted was mine. I do not claim that Purism made that statement. I think that taking the discussion in that direction would digress from the actual topic (as intended by me). To the original idea, you have provided very valuable input with the second half of your post. Thanks again.

If anyone can publish the output of inxi for a Librem 13 v2 and/or point to Windows drivers, please do. (I am currently traveling and do not have access to the hardware.)

The specs list the components on the products page. From that, you do:

https://google.com/search?q=Atheros+802.11n+windows+10+drivers
https://google.com/search?q=Intel+HD+Graphics+520+windows+10+drivers
https://google.com/search?q=Elantech+touchpad+windows+10+drivers

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Purism provides official support for PureOS only, and provides “best effort” courtesy help with other GNU+Linux operating systems (with the help of community members here), but don’t expect help for Windows or Mac OS.

Beyond the security/privacy implications of running Windows (which is highly not recommended), Purism is a social purpose corporation whose model is fundamentally focused on free/libre and open-source software. While your laptop might “just work” on Windows, we provide zero support or guarantee if you are going to do that (and frankly, what’s the point of using a Purism laptop with a proprietary OS?)

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Thanks, Mladen. I understand that your input exceeds Purism’s mission, and I am very grateful for your support.

Unfortunately, the Google searches did not work for me.

  • Elantech touchpad drivers seem to be released through the system manufacturer. At least the Lenovo package does not recognize the Librem version.
  • Graphics and WiFi work fine out of the box.
  • What does not seem to work is power management. I cannot tell from the products page which drivers would be appropriate.

Jeff, I hope you understand that I do not want to discuss ideology with you on this page. I do not expect anything, and whoever wants to help will hopefully be permitted to do so.

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Although as of now i do not yet own a librium system, my best advice as a “support Monkey” with more than 20 years in the trenches is to go t the intell site and download the chipset driver directly from there. the only issue with using driver from a vendor like Dell or HP is quite often, these drivers get tweaked for the specific system the driver is for.

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Full inxi output:

user@debian:~$ inxi -F
System: Host: debian Kernel: 4.12.0-1-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Gnome 3.22.3 Distro: PureOS GNU/Linux
Machine: Device: laptop System: Purism product: Librem 13 v2 v: 2.0 serial: N/A
Mobo: Purism model: Librem 13 v2 v: 2.0 serial: N/A
BIOS: coreboot v: 4.6-a86d1b-Purism-4 date: 06/29/2017
Battery BAT: charge: 33.4 Wh 73.3% condition: 45.6/44.7 Wh (102%)
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i5-6200U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
clock speeds: max: 2800 MHz 1: 399 MHz 2: 440 MHz 3: 400 MHz 4: 852 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel HD Graphics 520
Display Server: wayland (X.Org 1.19.3 ) driver: i915 Resolution: 1920x1080@59.88hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2) version: 4.5 Mesa 13.0.6
Audio: Card Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel Sound: ALSA v: k4.12.0-1-amd64
Network: Card: Qualcomm Atheros AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath9k
IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: 18:cf:5e:d7:cb:12
Drives: HDD Total Size: 514.2GB (0.3% used)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 model: Samsung_SSD_960_PRO_512GB size: 512.1GB
ID-2: USB /dev/sda model: Flash_Disk size: 2.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 7.8G used: 185M (3%) fs: overlay dev: N/A
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 195 Uptime: 8 min Memory: 1098.9/15950.5MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.40

Thanks for your help!
So far, my efforts to find the right drivers were unsuccessful. The machine does not shut down properly but just reboots, and the touchpad functionality remains very basic with the default PS/2 driver.
My tentative conclusion is that this machine cannot properly run Windows.

It is possible that that may be correct. you might be seeing an issue here with coreboot that might be causing some of the issues you are seeing.

why do you want to run Windows on a Librem? If it is to run some specific software that only exists on windows, could you not instead run Windows in a virtual environment?

I played around with Wine a few years back and never really got it to work properly, but I have seen machines running the commercial CrossOver which seemed to be quite flawless.

and frankly, what’s the point of using a Purism laptop with a proprietary OS?

Actually, I’d like to support your project by buying Librem laptops for our company, but (most) of them will run Windows7 no matter what. That is why these questions make sense.

Also, disabled IME is a great +.

Does anyone have experience of running Win7 on the Librem13/15 laptops?

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@farercyte try a Google search for the Hardware-ID of the devices you still need drivers for. You’ll get a lot of scam results but usually also a few that are useful.

+1 for Windows ‘support’. I dual boot Linux / Windows, this isn’t negotiable for me and lots of people. But want to support this project. And so cant buy Librem hardware…

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-1 from me.

Purism aims to offer high-quality privacy, security, and freedom focused computers and software. (see https://puri.sm/why-purism/)

  • The quality of Windows OS is unverifiable, as it is closed source.
  • Windows has a history of repeated blatant privacy invasion on its users.
  • The multitude of existing malware does not give good impression of Windows security
  • Microsoft utilized vendor lock-in practices in the past, and it still affects users, who say they run Windows and not running it is not negotiable.

So, Windows fails in all four categories: quality, privacy, security and freedom. Devoting resources to support Windows would be an effort not in support of Purism goals.

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This is problem people have with freedom, and “freedom to the extend I like”. If I were to use Librem laptops for genocide running Windows 10, according to freedom I should be able to do so.

I see your point about dedicating resources, that’s why I think Purism should focus on providing HW+FW primarily, and drivers at the second priority, linux OS only as third… On the other hand, I too want Librems to succeed, and for that…dualbooting Windows opens a lot of doors, and money.

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Hello Purism friends,

I found the Elan Touchpad Windows 10 driver linked posted below.

The file is only available for 30 days then deleted so if someone else could upload that would be nice.

Take care!

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I’m still searching for the battery driver for Windows 10 does anyone here know which manufacturer and controller is being used?

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which manufacturer and controller is being used?

Isn’t there an open specification of all HW used?

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Anyone got any updates if Windows 10 is fully functional?
I have a relative who I was telling about my purchase and they liked the idea of hardware switches but they want to use Windows 10 not Linux.

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