The arrival of Qualcomm PCs with Arm chips has brought Windows on Arm back from irrelevance. For the first time, a separate ISO of the operating system is now available too.
Microsoft’s Arm adventure has had many twists and turns. In 2017, a Windows 10 variant debuted on this architectural alternative to x86. Nevertheless, a persistent level of support has remained elusive, even after the first Windows Copilot+ PCs arrived. Devkits of Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite computers are nowhere to be seen, and sales figures are disappointing for the new lineup of Arm-based PCs.
Nevertheless, there is some movement in the right direction for Arm. Windows finally has a download page for a Windows 11 ISO on Arm. Please note that some drivers still need to be obtained from vendors such as Lenovo or Asus.
Growing up slowly
The new ISO uses the product key already on the Arm PC in question to determine which edition of Windows is installed. In any other way, the installation is no different from that on an x86 system. Each new Windows 11 installation on Arm is version 24H2, the most recent version with many Copilot+ capabilities running through the NPU.
It seems Windows on Arm is slowly growing up. However, one potential problem is the legal battle between Arm and Qualcomm. This revolves around Qualcomm using the Arm license for the Snapdragon X chips that power new Windows PCs on this architecture. Should this end in a victory for Arm and Qualcomm be unwilling to pay for a new license, the renewed Windows on Arm adventure will soon be over. It will then take a player like MediaTek or Nvidia to breathe new life into it all over again.
Also read: Windows on Arm is rapidly coming of age