Last Updated on September 21, 2018 by Mathew Diekhake

When Microsoft released the Microsoft Windows Surface running Windows RT I loved the idea of getting one but thought they were overpriced. My friend was instantly hooked, and after trying hers, I was too.

Suffice to say it wasn’t long before I took the chance on a RT tablet second-hand from eBay — avoid the full retail price and find a steal was the goal. Eight months on and I love my tablet. It does everything my old laptop could do only with a nicer keyword (if you buy the type cover and not the touch cover) and it’s silent so you don’t hear the fan going next to the bedside.

With all that being said, there are some downsides. The most notable downside in my case is you cannot use apps and programs like you normally would from Windows , 8 and Windows 10. Instead, if you want something running on your Windows Rt operating system, you must download it from the Windows App Store. And what if it isn’t available from the official App Store? Well, you cannot do anything about it. For example, I couldn’t work out how to download uTorrent (for free anyway). On my desktop computer, all I need to go is Google the two words “download uTorrent” and I’m away. That isn’t possible from the Microsoft Surface RT tablet.

We do have a solution to this problem: jailbreaking Windows RT. Some clever developers over at XDA Developers have come up with a way we can jailbreak this operating system and install apps that are not available through the Windows Store. Here’s what you need to do:

The File You Need

  • Download the Windows RT jailbreaking tool from this page.
  • The following tutorial helps with installing desktop apps on Windows RT. However, it doesn’t let you install all apps. To create a complete list in unrealistic, so you’ll need to hope for the best and that yours is available. generally speaking, the more mainstream it is, the better chance you have. It’s the third-party app developers who have either decided to create an app that works with this guide or haven’t. The more popular it is the more likely the developer has taken the time to do that. As such, you should find the majority of what you are looking for is available.

Jailbreaking the Microsoft Surface Windows RT tablets

  1. Download the tool to the desktop.
  2. Right-click over the file and choose to “extract it here”.
  3. Now that you have extracted the tool, you are able to run and use the tool.
  4. Completely power off the tablet running RT and boot it back up again.
  5. Log in to your user account and access the desktop. Do not touch anything at this point.
  6. Wait for two to three minutes before moving to the next step. You need to let the computer completely load before attempting to go further.
  7. Now run the runExploit.bat file you have after extracting (unzipping) the jailbreaking tool on the desktop.
  8. The rest is very easy: just follow the on-screen commands by the tool to finish the job. The tool guides you the rest of the way.

Tip: you must accept any terms and conditions that present themselves on the screen before finishing the installation or else the tool will not install.

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