Windows 11 ISOs for ARM64 devices

[tosh]

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

[altairprime]

For context, Microsoft’s explanation of the new ISOs is relevant: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/arm/iso

> The primary use for Windows 11 Arm64 ISO files is to create virtual machines on local devices for development.

> can also be used to create bootable media for installing Windows 11 on an Arm device. Depending on the device, it will likely be necessary to include drivers from the device manufacturer for the installation media to be successfully bootable.

[kotaKat]

Frustratingly finally, Microsoft. It's not like ARM64 is a new, foreign processor at this point.

Trying to reinstall a "clean" copy of Win11 on my Snapdragon Thinkpad X13s was a nightmare having to build an ISO from 'scratch' from UUP packages.

[0xcde4c3db → kotaKat]

The processor was never the problem with ARM, it's that there's never been a reasonably stable peripheral ecosystem around it. Vendors are mostly out there building overgrown microcontrollers instead of actual platforms. It's not like PC where you can discover 95% of hardware on any PC from the past ~20 years by enumerating PCI/USB/SATA. You're expected to obtain out-of-band knowledge about the physical mapping of the peripherals and somehow supply that to your bootloader/kernel.

[wahern → 0xcde4c3db]

Devicetree has been the bane of end-users since forever, yet I gather kernel developers and non-x86 system vendors still love it. OTOH, I get ACPI is hopelessly complex from an implementer's perspective, partly because of all the little vendor bugs and spec violations that end up encoded into the implementation to support real-world hardware. Is there a better future?

[pajko → wahern]

And let's not forget about Open Firmware.

[firecall]

So can this be used to create a VM on Apple Silicon Macs?

[IndrekR → firecall]

I have used ARM Windows 11 with Parallels on my M1 MacBook Air to run x86 windows apps (Altium Designer) for last 30 months. Works like a charm.

[satvikpendem → IndrekR]

Have you tried CrossOver? It has much better performance than Parallels in my experience, plus the applications act as if they work "natively" on macOS, with their own windows.

[nailer → IndrekR]

I'm trying this X64 image with UTM (a newer and very minimal virtualization framework that uses what's built into OS X) on a 2024 MBP now. It seems to be working.

[Detrytus → IndrekR]

I did the same for the past year, mostly for work (so MS Office suite, IntelliJ, Java), but it even works for the old PC games like Heroes of Might and Magic III or Morrowind. The only thing that I could not get working was Global Protect VPN client, required to access internal infrastructure of one of my customers.

[satvikpendem → firecall]

Parallels already uses these, works great.

[quyleanh]

So Mac M can now has Bootcamp if Apple support? I think Apple still need license from Microsoft for that, doesn’t it?

[lathiat → quyleanh]

Someone still needs to write drivers, just like the Asahi Linux project.

Given how good virtualisation mostly is these days, I don't really expect Apple to do that at this point.

[The_SamminAter → quyleanh]

16k vs 4k page size may still be an issue

[phendrenad2]

Now do riscv

[snvzz → phendrenad2]

AIUI Microsoft settled on RVA23 as baseline.

They're unlikely to announce anything until they can do so alongside hardware.

It should take a while. Late 2026 would be the earliest.

[jerhewet]

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11a...

[nailer → jerhewet]

Thanks. I am on an arm64 device and I can only see 3 x X64 links on the original page.