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The Kinect for Windows SDK beta provides hobbyists and researchers with the tools to develop non-commercial applications that run on the Kinect for Xbox 360.

• The Kinect for Windows SDK beta provides hobbyists and researchers with the tools to develop non-commercial applications that run on the Kinect for Xbox 360. However, non-commercial deployments using Kinect for Xbox 360, which were allowed using the SDK beta, are no longer permitted.
  
  Developers are encouraged to take advantage of the additional features and updates available with the Kinect for Windows SDK v1, which enables the development of commercial applications using Kinect for Windows hardware and systems running Windows operating systems.
  
  Learn more about the Kinect for Windows SDK v1.5 >
  
  The Kinect for Windows SDK includes the following:
  • Drivers, for using Kinect sensor devices on a computer running Windows 7 or Windows 8 developer preview (desktop apps only)
  • Application programming interfaces (APIs) and device interfaces, along with technical documentation
  • Source code samples

Files

Status: Live This download is still available on microsoft.com. The downloads below will come directly from the Microsoft Download Center.

File	Size
KinectSDK-v1.0-beta2-readme.htm SHA1: f7231866b8418535ac414c9a022da81384ddcd78	14 KB
KinectSDK-v1.0-beta2-x64.msi SHA1: c7e91c06e517f061b065cf825738a3d117241d42	34.94 MB
KinectSDK-v1.0-beta2-x86.msi SHA1: 91ef88414d7721cc8fbc3711f4e743091cf8ec5d	19.90 MB

File sizes and hashes are retrieved from the Wayback Machine’s indexes. They may not match the latest versions of files hosted on Microsoft servers.

• Windows 8 Developer Preview (September 2011 Build)
  
  
  
  • Hardware Requirements
  • 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64) processor
  • Dual-core 2.66-GHz or faster processor
  • Dedicated USB 2.0 bus
  • 2 GB RAM
  • A retail Kinect for Xbox 360® sensor, which includes special USB/power cabling
  
  
  
  • Software Requirements
  • Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Express or other Visual Studio 2010 edition
  • NET Framework 4.0
  
  
  For C++ Skeletal Viewer samples
  • Microsoft DirectX® SDK - June 2010 or later version
  • Runtime for Microsoft DirectX® 9
  
  
  For Speech samples
  • Microsoft Speech Platform Runtime, version 10.2 – select 32-bit if you are running 32-bit Windows. If you have 64-bit Windows, we suggest that you install both the 32-bit and 64-bit runtime.
  • Microsoft Speech Platform - Software Development Kit, version 10.2 – select 32-bit or 64-bit according to your Windows installation
  • Kinect for Windows Runtime Language Pack, version 0.9
  
  
  For additional requirements see the Readme file.

• To set up the Kinect for Windows development environment, install all the required software packages listed in the requirements section. Additional instructions can be found in the readme.