Dell Venue 8 Pro JW Library

[jwhess]

I recently got a Dell Venue 8 Pro (8 inch tablet) with 32 GB storage and a 128 GB SD card.

It originally came with Window 8.1 but Microsoft has shutdown the 8.1 app store.

I upgraded to Windows 10 but the Venue 8 series will only take the 32 bit version.

 

I have tried to install the JW Library but I can only get the version 12 JWL.  I have loaded, reloaded, erased & reinstalled several times.  But it always cones up with the 2021 version.  I tried reinstalling windows with a complete erase (of the whole tablet).  The version of JWL is still the old one.

 

Any ideas.  Could it be the 32 bit Windows?  Is something in the BIOS telling the app it can only accept the older version?

The tablet has just over 10 GB of storage space after the Windows 10 install.

Edited December 25, 2023 by jwhess

[Jarred]

According to the FAQ, it has to be windows 10 1903 and above.

 

https://www.jw.org/en/online-help/jw-library/windows/faqs/

[jwhess]

5 hours ago, Jarred said:

According to the FAQ, it has to be windows 10 1903 and above.

 

https://www.jw.org/en/online-help/jw-library/windows/faqs/

Thanks  but I am running the latest Windows 10 version 22H2 on the tablet (only difference between this tablet and my PC is it is 32 bit and my PC is 64 bit).

[Myew]

I don't know. Have you tried installing it manually? https://www.jw.org/en/online-help/jw-library/windows/manually-install-windows/

[jwhess]

12 hours ago, Myew said:

I don't know. Have you tried installing it manually? https://www.jw.org/en/online-help/jw-library/windows/manually-install-windows/

Br. Alex, I tried it but it didn't work.  I have reset Windows so I will try again later.  thanks

[Korotkiy]

Manual installation way from our site cannot work with x86, as only x64 sertificate is in the bundle.

Powershell returns error if you will try to install on x86 platform.

 

From other hand, I just installed W10x86 for brother with very old laptop (2 cores, 2 Gb RAM - so no chances to install x64).

JW Library is installed here Ok from Windows Store.

 

The possible solution is to create self-made JW Library Appx installation bundle for x86 manually.

You need to create Windows 10 x86 virtual machine (e.g. Hyper-V or VirtualBox), then install JW Library here and make package e.g. this way:

 

 

There are several ways, I have successfully made bundles for JW Library in the past, but forget exact steps.

 

Or you might just generate missed x86 sertificate for Powershell script from JW.ORG 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/packaging-tool/bundle-msix-packages#step-3-sign-the-bundle

 

 

[Steve D]

Hi Brother John, I have a Venue 8 Pro and have Win 10 64 bit (Pro edition) on it and it also has updated JW Lib to 14 no problem. Perhaps it is a different model or cpu though. Regards from your brother - Steve

Edited December 29, 2023 by Steve D

[jwhess]

2 hours ago, Steve D said:

Hi Brother John, I have a Venue 8 Pro and have Win 10 64 bit (Pro edition) on it and it also has updated JW Lib to 14 no problem. Perhaps it is a different model or cpu though. Regards from your brother - Steve

Your 5855 model is newer and allows for 64 bit Windows to be installed.  I have a series 3000 unit which shows 64 bit architecture but does not offer UEFI operation.  It seems the Windows 10 64 bit set up checks for that and refuses to complete the installation.  So I am only able to install the 32 bit (x86) OS.  

 

I am not sure yet but I think our JW Library senses the 32 bit OS and only loads the older (2017?) version of the Windows app.  I updated the Dell Venue Pro BIOS and Dell sent the update for the 5855 unit.  On my device it only partially updated but it seems to work OK.  I am going to try to use the Media Cration Tool to force a Win 10 64 bit install.  Maybe the BIOS update will fool it enough to allow the install.

 

If ou organization still had the JW Library available for Window 8.1, I would just use that and reinstall Win 8.1 again.  With 32 GB of space, I only have about 8 GB left after the Win 10 install.  I think I had about 10 GB when  I was using Win 8.1 before I started fooling around with this problem.

 

I only paid $6.99 for this Venue 8 Pro so there is no loss if it all fails.  I will let you know how it turns out...✅

 

By the way, welcome to the forums and thanks.

Edited December 29, 2023 by jwhess

[jwhess]

On 12/28/2023 at 8:30 PM, Steve D said:

Hi Brother John, I have a Venue 8 Pro and have Win 10 64 bit (Pro edition) on it and it also has updated JW Lib to 14 no problem. Perhaps it is a different model or cpu though. Regards from your brother - Steve

Well Br. Steve, I think I am ready to give up on this Dell Venue 8 Pro.  I did some digging on the Service Tag number and found it was a more modern unit than I had anticipated.  Not as new as your 5855 device but it was a 5830 unit.  I reset the device and I got windows to install in a smaller footprint (giving me 14 GB of free space).  Then the problems started.  No bluetooth, no wifi, no touch screen.  I got several Dell driver updates and a couple of them worked and the BIOS update said it had already been installed.  I set it aside a couple of days ago and tried it again yesterday.  It got stuck in a "bitlocker" loop.  I worked on it for a couple of hours and finally was able to get out of that.  But when I used the bitlocker key number it went into a reset mode and I had to install Windows al over again.

 

Got that done but lost the drivers again.  After service today, I have spent about 5 hours on this problem.  I can get into the BIOS setup OK, but it won't allow me to use a USB drive.  Now it won't allow any wifi (mouse, keyboard, etc). I can get into some kind of testing program but without mouse or touch screen it only appears and I have to turn the unit off.  I can get it to boot normally, but again without mouse or keyboard or touch screen, I can't even get to my login.

 

It was only a modest experiment and cost less than $10...so I think it has run out of interest to me.  Thanks for your comments.

[Steve D]

I loved that little tablet, but it was noticeably slow between screens and also had an annoying lag typing notes. I recently got the Surface Go 4 and it is working very nicely.

[jwhess]

I was trying to get a reasonably inexpensive 8" or 9" Windows tablet.  I used to have a Dell and later I had a Teclast.  Now I used an HP (2-n-1) with a 13" screen.  I like it a lot but the max battery on it is less than 5 hours and the screen is too big to hold.  It was just a low-cost experiment.

[Myew]

Generally, when it comes to cheaper smaller tablet devices, I'll always have to recommend stock Android or Chrome OS. Though I do have a modern 13" Windows tablet (really, a laptop) myself. The older model ASUS Vivobook 13" Slate OLED. You can find them as low as $225ish on Amazon Warehouse, I managed to get a return for about that like brand new with everything (case, pen, keyboard etc) included. Slow CPU/Storage/RAM in general, but the screen is amazing for media. https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-VivoBook-Display-Quad-Core-T3300KA-DH21T/dp/B09V1SNYTL/

Edited December 31, 2023 by Myew

[jwhess]

3 hours ago, Myew said:

Generally, when it comes to cheaper smaller tablet devices, I'll always have to recommend stock Android or Chrome OS. Though I do have a modern 13" Windows tablet (really, a laptop) myself. The older model ASUS Vivobook 13" Slate OLED. You can find them as low as $225ish on Amazon Warehouse, I managed to get a return for about that like brand new with everything (case, pen, keyboard etc) included. Slow CPU/Storage/RAM in general, but the screen is amazing for media. https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-VivoBook-Display-Quad-Core-T3300KA-DH21T/dp/B09V1SNYTL/

The reason I wanted a Windows tablet was to be able to load my WTL on it.  And I wanted to try and load my 60-70 GB of scanned original JW documents (Russell, Rutherford & Knorr) that came before the 1950-1970 limits of our JW Library app.