I intended to install Win10 on my F-16 AI370 to solve the many issues I have with Win11.
I realized I could not find any drivers for the RZ717 that would install. Win10 is unsupported by Framework, so I had to hunt for a solution.
I discovered Win10 does not support the 6GHz channel of WiFi7 adapters, so there’s no way Win10 can initialize the card, even with the driver (in fact, the BT works, just WiFi fails). Microsoft did this deliberately to push people to get Win11.
I’m willing to “suffer” without the 6GHz band, since its range is so severely limited by physics, so a WiFi 6 card is sufficient for my needs. I selected a MediaTek 7902 slot E WiFi 6 (look for BT 5.3) card, which is under $20, and swapped it for the RZ717, and it solved the issue.
There’s no reason Win10 LTSC wouldn’t work too, and be supported at least through 2036.
The Intel AX210 card is fully compatible with Windows 10 and all Framework models. If the majority of issues were related to networking in regards to Windows 11, the Intel card is worlds apart and works wonderfully on the Framework Laptop 16.
Just so it is clear, Windows 10 is not officially supported by Framework on this model and others have correctly advised against using it. Everyone is welcome to do what they want, but there are several known issues trying to run a non-suopprted Windows OS on Framework 16 machines.
If the dissatisfaction with Windows 11 is that large, why not try one of the many Linux distros? Both Ubuntu and Fedora are officially supported and for those times that Windows is really needed it can be dual booted or just run a Virtual Machine of Windows inside Linux.
Welcome to the community!
Cool!
I don’t want to be running Win software on a Win emulator, and VM could work, but still preserves Microsoft’s telemetrics, and then there’s the performance hit of VM and Win11, so Linux isn’t a productive solution for me (although my storage runs on Linux). Dual booting is pointless in my use case. If Win10 works as it seems to, then it works. If Win10 fails, it’s straightforward to resolve.
The AX210 is a WiFi6 card, so there’s naught to be gained there, and I’m not aware of a Slot E form factor AX210, all those I saw were Slot A, so I’m not sure I follow your compatibility advisement. *Edit I found a Slot A/E, so I’ll check that out!
But more choices are better, so thanks for the reply!