Building Connected Things with Windows 10 IoT and Microsoft Azure

Thingy 4 Windows IoT Workshop: Getting Started

This is a step-by-step guide to preparing your computer for the Thingy for Windows IoT Workshop.

Table of Contents

Preparing for the Windows 10 IoT Labs

The labs in this workshop build on each other to enable you to prototype your own Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In this lab you will use the Microsoft .NET Framework to build an application for the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) that can run on any Windows 10 device, including a Raspberry Pi 2, MinnowBoard MAX, or DragonBoard 410c running Windows 10 IoT Core. We will use the Raspberry Pi 2 for this workshop.

Bill of Materials

In this workshop you will need the following:

  1. Raspberry Pi 2
  2. GrovePi+ Starter Kit for Raspberry Pi
  3. 5V (2A to 3A) Switching Power Supply w/ MicroUSB Cable
  4. A Wi-Fi Adapter (choose one from the list here)
  5. 8GB micro SD card - class 10 or better. Microsoft suggests one of the following:

Note: The last 3 items are all included in the Microsoft IoT Pack for Raspberry Pi 2 from AdaFruit.

Install Visual Studio 2015

If you don’t already have it installed, install Visual Studio 2015. You can use the free Community Edition, or any other higher edition. When you are installing Visual Studio, you must do a Custom install and select to install the Universal Windows App Development Tools -> Tools and Windows SDK.

Install Windows IoT Core Project Templates

After the installation is complete, install the Windows IoT Core Project Templates from here.

Enable Developer Mode on your Windows 10 Development Device

When you are developing on Windows 10, you choose what tasks you want to enable on the device. This includes any devices - Windows 10 desktops, tablets and phones. You can enable a device for development, or just app side loading. To enable Developer mode on your Windows 10 device:

  1. Click the Windows icon (typically in the lower-left of the screen, on the left-most side of the toolbar).
  2. Type Update and select Windows Update settings from the Best match list. This will open the UPDATE & SECURITY settings page.
  3. Click on For developers in the left sidebar.
  4. Ensure the Developer mode radio button is selected.
  5. Save your changes and close the Settings window.

Create a Microsoft Azure Trial Account

In this lab series you will use Microsoft Azure as the cloud backend for your IoT solution. If you don’t already have an Azure account, go to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/ to start a free trial of Microsoft Azure. You may need a credit card for identity verification, but the trial is completely free. If you have an MSDN Subscription you may be eligible for free credits to Microsoft Azure every month. Check your MSDN account page for details.

Conclusion & Next Steps

In this Getting Started section you prepared your development machine for the subsequent labs in the workshop. The next step is to configure your prototyping board to become a connected Thing.

Go to ‘Setting Up Your Raspberry Pi 2’ ›