Two editions of Windows 2.10 were released; Windows/286 and Windows/386, both of which could take advantage of the Intel processor for which they were designed.

Despite its name, Windows/286 was fully operational on an 8088 or 8086 processor. Windows/286 would simply not use the high memory area since none exist on an 8086-class processor; however, EMS could still be used, if present. A few PC vendors shipped Windows/286 with 8086 hardware; an example was IBM's PS/2 Model 25, which had an option to ship with a "DOS 4.0 and Windows kit" for educational markets, which included word processing and presentation software useful for students, which resulted in some confusion when purchasers of this system received a box labeled Windows/286 with a machine that was definitely less than an 80286.