Xbox One as a full PC?

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PainTrane117

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Sep 18, 2013
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Let's face it. The Xbox One could be a PC by itself. It's running a Windows 8 kernel, a modified Windows 8 OS and all the hardware is x86. The question is not IF it can be done, but how hard would it be? I know there has to be at least one savvy hacker out there that can make the Xbox One run a standard retail version of Windows 8 like a full-fledged PC. I fully believe it can be done, but maybe I'm insane? Think about how cool it would be if you could choose to boot into Windows or normal Xbox at startup. The Xbox One would make a pretty decent PC, especially for the money (at least I think). I don't know of anywhere you can get a PC that powerful for $500. What do you all think? Possibility?
 
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PainTrane117

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Ok, you got me there as far as pretty powerful goes... yeah, you can build a PC for around $500 that's pretty awesome. The reason I'm asking is because I want an Xbox One but I also need a new PC (not for gaming, just a decent PC). So in theory I could use an Xbox One as a PC with the proper software modding?

(Yes - I agree PC is the master race, LOL)
 
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PainTrane117

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You guys make good points, that's why I like these forums. The reason I don't do a lot of PC gaming is because none of my friends have gaming PCs and they're just console noobs. I can't convince them to build their own rigs. I'm super tight with my buddies and we game a lot together, so I'm going to get an Xbox One. I was honestly just curious about difficult it might be to run retail Windows on the thing. Where would one possibly start? How could you access the kernel? You can't just pop a Windows installation disc in there and boot from it. Haha.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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Windows can't install to the XB1, or the PS4 because it uses a SHARED MEMORY hardware setup that is not compatible.

It's really not that powerful in raw PC specs. If we ignored the cost of Kinect, BD player, and Controller, you could get a fairly similar LAPTOP (and the laptop would have its own advantages of screen, keyboard, battery).

XBOX ONE vs PS4:
The PS4 is a more powerful machine. Estimates I respect put it at about 25% to 40% mainly due to the better GRAPHICS.

*For cross-platform games what's really noticeable is that many games on the XB1 run at a lower resolution which really make anti-aliasing (jagged edges, line shimmering) far more obvious than the PS4.

Unless the XBONE has features you really need (Kinect?) then the PS4 games on average look a lot better and it costs $100 less.

I was all set to buy an XBONE for my living room (have a great gaming PC) but I'm not going to now. I basically put the entire thing on hold for a year then I'll see how things stand in terms of games, and whether we get DLNA media streaming.
 
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PainTrane117

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Yeah I was just reading about the raw power of Jaguar vs. Piledriver desktop technology. The raw power difference is kind of disappointing. Fail. Anyway, could you explain this shared memory thing? If you don't mind ;)
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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A normal PC has a set of memory for the CPU only. The graphics card is similar with its own GPU talking to Video Memory.

The XB1/PS4 have a SHARED pool of memory so the CPU and GPU both have access to the same memory locations.

Microsoft would have to completely re-write parts of Windows to work on hardware like this. It could be as simple as "the CPU gets the first 6GB, and the GPU gets the last 2GB" which may or may not be an easy thing. It's academic as Microsoft won't do that, and their code isn't open source in a way that is likely to be hacked.
 
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snufflylake

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Apr 17, 2014
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If you installed a modern OS to the console it would probably be very, very slow because of the amount of complex instructions that it will be sending to the processor. And the Xbox processor is only designed to do smaller tasks at once.
 
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Conexm

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Aug 27, 2014
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Price aside and the fact that you can get a more powerful PC than what the Xbox One could offer, I am with you! I like the idea of running a full windows 8 on the xbox one! purely because if that is possible then it may be possible for us to get the Xbox one OS on a PC, a PCs that are more powerful, why? because I love my PC but some days I just want to be able to turn the damn thing on sit on my couch and play a game with a controller as though its just a plain old console, just put in a game and play, so yes it is possible, all be it really bloody difficult, but possible, anyone who tells you "You can't" or "It's impossible" lack all imagination and they probably read the instruction manuals every time they operate a new toaster.

Go for it and tell us if you find a solution, I'm looking for a solution too, just because it'll be fun to do and challenging
 
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computerguru

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Sorry to dig up a few month old thread...but I have to correct a few things here.

For one, shared memory is already used on desktop/laptop platforms in both Intel and AMD chipsets (i.e. Intel Integrated Graphics and AMD APU's.) It's been supported since at least Windows 7...maybe XP.

This system can theoretically be converted over to a desktop system (in fact, XBOne runs the Windows 8 kernel beneath the covers.) The problem is with how the Windows 8 boot sequence is done nowadays. With the advent of UEFI bios, the entire process can be encrypted. In the case of Microsoft (and some of their partner companies products), it is encrypted.

What this means, is that unless you have the private asymmetric key used to sign the retail Windows 8.1 boot loader, then it will fail signature checks during the UEFI boot sequence and won't start the OS. This is done to A) protect their/partners intellectual property and B) prevent bootloader code from being overwritten by malware (remember, you're running an x64 pseudo-Windows 8 gaming console with Internet Explorer 11...which is theoretically susceptible to Windows-based exploits.)

Microsoft has a good article on how the boot sequence works for Windows Phone (which I'm fairly confident the XBox One follows the same process):
https://dev.windowsphone.com/en-US/OEM/docs/Phone_Bring-Up/Secure_boot_and_device_encryption_overview

So, the short answer: Unless Microsoft comes out with a desktop edition of Windows specifically built for the XBox One, it will never work. That being said though, an implementation of Windows 10 will be coming to the console, and from the looks of it, will be able to run Universal apps designed for their market.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/1/6877165/microsoft-teases-windows-10-phone-and-xbox-interface
 
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STOKANATOR

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There are a lot of people out there who don't want to shell out the money for both a gaming PC and console, I get it, but to suggest the Xbox One or PS4 wouldn't make for a powerful PC is complete BS! It takes a lot of power to run the retail verson of the new Oculus Rift, all one has to do is look at the specs. Xbox and Oculus have already confirmed the Xbox One will be fully compatiable with the Rift. This give you at least some idea of what the Xbox One is capable of as far as power!

Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290 or better. = $239 - $350
CPU: Intel Core i5 4590 or greater. = $130.00 (AMD FX 6350)
RAM: 8GB or more. = $60
Video port: HDMI 1.3.
USB port: 2 USB 3.0 ports.
Windows 7 SP1 or newer. $100
Case = $40

For months I debated between building my own gaming PC or buying a next gen console, when I first started looking to buy I highly favored and went above and beyond to justify building a PC, but after a lot of research I found that in order to build a PC equivalent to next gen consoles would cost at least twice the amount of money!
 
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Novuake

Novuake

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Aug 27, 2011
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1. You necro'd a year old thread.

2. No. Just no.
 
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kedwa30

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Jul 28, 2011
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I came across this thread due to different motivation, but I still need the same solution. I happen to already have an XBOne that I don't even use and I would like to set it up as a kitchen computer for light browsing, email, storing recipes and the like. I would like to know how to boot it to a Linux distro. It could be Puppy Linux. I haven't tried anything yet. I usually look online to see about other people's mistakes before I make my own. ;D
I don't want to destroy the original functionality though. I was just hoping to read about if anyone was able to boot it to some other OS. I don't mind swapping out a hard drive, but if I had to desolder chips to make this work, I would not even try. I would hate to break it. I would rather sell it then use the money to buy an Odroid or some other SBC. But at the same time, I'd really like to hang onto it for sentimental reasons and I enjoy making do with what I've got. So if there is a way to temporarily make it usable as a regular computer by, say, swapping out the hard drive for one preloaded with Linux, then I would do that.

There should be a way to load a virtual computer as a game and in that way get access to a desktop environment. I will keep looking.
 
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