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February 27th, 2014 13:00

Dell Venue 8.1 Pro does not show as a Windows 8.1 Pro

I recently purchased a Dell Venue 8.1 Pro and have a question.

First, I already own a Window 8.1 Pro desktop that I use quite a bit.  While I was playing around with the control panel on my desktop, I saw an option called "Add Features to my Windows 8.1".  I clicked on it, and this offered me a chance to purchase Windows Media.  I declined.

Anyway, I did the same procedure on the Dell Venue.  After I clicked on "Add Features to my my Windows 8.1", I was offered to upgrade my tablet to Pro.  I am confused as I thought this tablet was 8.1 Pro.  One of the features I was looking for was the Bit Locker.

So, did I get a bad version or are these Dell Venue 8.1 Pro not really the Pro version?  Does anyone else have this issue?

Thanks,

Don

1 Message

February 28th, 2014 01:00

Venue 8 pro carry a win 8.1 home edition﹐it's just an offer for u to upgrade to professional edition.As u ignore the offer,Home edition still a full version of window,just like the laptop

2 Intern

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480 Posts

February 28th, 2014 08:00

The "Pro" in "Venue Pro 8"  defines the tablet as Dell's 8" Windows 8.1 OS tablet, as opposed to the "Venue 8", which is Dell's 8" Android OS tablet.  As Ron pointed out the "Pro" you are seeing in Microsoft's Add Additional Features refers to the version of the Windows 8.1 operating system.

214 Posts

February 28th, 2014 12:00

The OEM tablet version of Windows 8.1 is further 'enhanced' beyond the Home version, to occupy less space & use less memory; doubtful that a WIN 8.1 Pro could even install & run on less than a 64GB tablet...

(Has anyone actually accomplished that on a 32GB tablet?)

16 Posts

March 4th, 2014 18:00

I upgraded Windows 8.1 to 8.1 Pro on a 32GB Venue 8 Pro without a problem. Yes, it takes up even more storage space and really doesn't buy you much for use on a tablet. The two biggest differences are you get Bitlocker and the ability to remote into the tablet. Win 8.1 Pro is also necessary to add the Windows Media Center which contains codes needed to play versions of mpeg files. 32GB isn't enough space to really run Windows Media Center, but I can tell you it will run on the Venue 8 Pro, and run fairly good if you have the 64GB model.

March 5th, 2014 10:00

That's pretty crummy to sell a PRO tablet with Windows Home.

March 5th, 2014 11:00

Lou I've have luck getting Windows 8.1 Enterprise to install ona 16Gb mSATA.  Had to pop in SD card for applications but it is doable.

157 Posts

March 6th, 2014 07:00

Isn't Bitlocker included with the V8Pro?  I "turned off encryption" a while back to reduce the overhead on operation and hard drive speed. Also, the instructions for the BIOS updates say "Note: Please make sure you suspend BitLocker encryption before updating BIOS on a BitLocker enabled system."

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/dell-venue-8-pro?driverID=NRWJ9&urlProductCode=false

And for the encryption option: Swipe-in from right, Settings, Change PC Settings, PC Info, scroll down, Device Encryption

So, is this the same as Bitlocker?

16 Posts

March 6th, 2014 16:00

"Bitlocker To Go" to be more specific comes with Win 8.1 Pro

157 Posts

March 6th, 2014 17:00

Hmm.... Digging a bit deeper. Bitlocker to Go applies to encryption of external devices like flash drives.

Here's what I found at TechNet about Bitlocker and Windows 8.1:

Device encryption was introduced in Windows RT as an automatic data protection mechanism for consumer devices. In enterprise editions of Windows 8, device encryption was limited to BitLocker. In Windows 8.1, device encryption is available in all editions of Windows that are InstantGo certified to support a connected standby state.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn344918.aspx#BKMK_DeviceEncryption

Now I need to go find out what InstantGo certification is. :emotion-15:

157 Posts

March 6th, 2014 18:00

Found the answer.

"InstantGo is Microsoft’s new “connected standby” feature, which keeps data, apps and tiles on certified hardware in sync while the device is asleep – and promises wake-up times of less than 300ms."

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/385846/windows-8-1-top-10-advanced-features/3

It goes on to say that such tablets can use Windows 8.1 device encryption if there's a suitable TPM (trusted platform module) to support it. Microsoft hopes that this will make the laptops and tablets less attractive to thieves, or at last make it impossible to access the data on the encrypted device.

Hmm... I may turn on it back on since the updated SSD driver speed increase in the A05 BIOS will probably compensate for the overhead of encryption.

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