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In a course, students have to install R on their computers. One of the students has a Windows RT (aka Windows 8.1 RT?) machine (a kind of MS Surface) and told me she cannot install R on the computer ("This app can't run on your PC" message shows up). Knowing nothing about Windows RT and after researching about it on the internet, I leaned that Windows RT does not really allow to install anything except from its own store (I don't know if this is true or not).

Are there any ways to install R on Windows RT?

Charles
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quibble
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  • I think you need x86 machine to run R. An option is to try Rstudio server & access through browser. – Nishanth Feb 21 '14 at 03:08
  • If you can put virtual box on the machine you could put another OS on there including free Linux Mint w/ Cinammon Desktop (that would be familiar to a Windows user) which would run R. – Tyler Rinker Feb 21 '14 at 03:12
  • @TylerRinker Windows RT machines run ARM processors, of which only one actually supports virtualization, and then only under Linux. Installing linux would require unlocking the firmware. A firmware lock is one of the requirements Microsoft places on OEMs that ship RT devices. Installing Linux or operating a VM aren't going to happen. – Charles Feb 21 '14 at 04:24
  • I will tell her to use some web-based R such as this (http://www.r-fiddle.org). – quibble Feb 21 '14 at 04:41

2 Answers2

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From the MS website:

With Windows RT 8.1, you can install apps directly from the Windows Store, but you can't install desktop apps that you used with previous versions of Windows.

So the answer is no. You cannot install R on windows RT.

John
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Searh for jailbreak windows rt, you need to follow the instructions and only perform this whenever you need to install non Microsft RT software.

et_phonehome
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