The Surface Duo and Surface Duo 2 are Microsoft’s new smartphone devices that run the Android platform. While the dual-screen handsets have not had amazing reviews, they remain unique devices in the mobile world. For many users, one of the dreams of owning a Duo is being able to run Windows 11 on a smartphone.
Now, one independent developer is one step closer to making that happen on the original Surface Duo. Gustave Monce has been attempting to get Windows 11 running on the two screens of the Duo. He has experience in this area having successfully got Windows running on old Lumia smartphones.
Monce now reports he has made a significant step in his Surface Dup project. Specifically, the developer has Windows 11 running on both screens of the Duo at the same time. This is similar to how the OS would run on a dual-monitor setup.
According to Monce, this has been difficult to achieve but he says the performance of Windows 11 in this scenario is “very good”.
A bit glitchy, but here we go pic.twitter.com/gyiZsSdzeD
— Gustave Monce (@gus33000) May 1, 2022
Up and Running
In a video to highlight the success, Monce discusses how Windows 11 can be controlled with a Bluetooth mouse. However, he says the touch screens currently do not control the OS, although he plans to fix this in the future.
A bit glitchy, but here we go pic.twitter.com/gyiZsSdzeD
— Gustave Monce (@gus33000) May 1, 2022
In a second clip, the developer shows how the Adreno GPU works when running Windows 11. As you might expect, there are plenty of bugs too. Aside from a lack of touch support, there is no LTE capability, sensors are patchy (such as the gyroscope for rotation), and the camera doesn’t work.
Monce points out none of these are permanent unfixable situations. He will continue to tweak and experiment to achieve full functionality. It is also worth noting his Windows 11 boot does not work on the Surface Duo 2.
Tip of the day: Is your system drive constantly full and you need to free up space regularly? Try Windows Disk Cleanup in extended mode which goes far beyond the standard procedure. Our tutorial also shows you how to create a desktop shortcut to run this advanced method right from the desktop.
