Microsoft Releases Windows 11 ISOs for Arm64-based PCs (windowscentral.com) 26
An anonymous reader shares a report: After dragging its feet for years, Microsoft has finally released the first official Windows 11 ISOs for PCs with an Arm64 processor. This means users can now clean install Windows 11 using official offline media on an Arm64-based PC, including the latest Snapdragon X Copilot+ PCs.
The ISOs contain version 24H2 can be downloaded from the official Microsoft website, and are around 5GB in size depending on the language you select. According to the company, the ISOs are primarily designed for running Windows 11 in a virtual machine on Arm64 PCs. However, it also mentions that you can use them to clean install Windows 11 directly onto Arm64 hardware too.Unfortunately, depending on the Arm64 PC you have, you may need to do some additional work to get the ISO bootable.
The ISOs contain version 24H2 can be downloaded from the official Microsoft website, and are around 5GB in size depending on the language you select. According to the company, the ISOs are primarily designed for running Windows 11 in a virtual machine on Arm64 PCs. However, it also mentions that you can use them to clean install Windows 11 directly onto Arm64 hardware too.Unfortunately, depending on the Arm64 PC you have, you may need to do some additional work to get the ISO bootable.
"The ISOs contain version 24H2 " (Score:1)
Re: "The ISOs contain version 24H2 " (Score:2)
I wouldn't run it on any metal, but TFS suggests that's not even Microsoft's plan for it.
I probably will try installing it in qemu, to see if it works there. Just as a laugh. I have Windows 11 for amd64 installed there with an emulated TPM and secure boot.
So goes the Win-tel monopoly (Score:2)
It would seem that the Intel slide from being the apex predator in the silicon world is going on apace,
I'm so old I can remember when there was Windows/NT for the PowerPC. Intel crushed that little project back then just through sheer dominance, but I don't think they can do anything like that today.
Re: (Score:3)
And DEC's Alpha
When they released Windows for the Alpha, everyone at my old job was like "Woo hoo! No more Unix!", and we started porting our software to Windows. Then we started doing benchmarks.
That was the last time anyone mentioned Windows on our servers.
Re: (Score:2)
everyone at my old job was like "Woo hoo! No more Unix!", and we started porting our software to Windows. Then we started doing benchmarks.
That was the last time anyone mentioned Windows on our servers.
Amazing that presumably smart people would be happy about leaving Unix for Windows.
Then again, Charles Manson got married in prison, some woman thought that was a good idea.
Re: (Score:3)
In the mid 90s, I was dealing with process control systems that ran on NT/Alpha and PPC because x86 systems weren't thought to be able to handle the IO loads. We also offered the same product on Solaris.
I will say that it was cool to see an Alpha chew on an x86 binary for a minute and then watch as FX32 kicked in and whatever-it-was would run faster on the workstation than the best PC in the building. It wasn't really surprising, except that in a lot of cases the PHBs would look at the DEC systems and say s
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Last I checked, Intel's problems aren't related to Windows. After all, AMD processors run Windows just fine.
As for PowerPC, the problem wasn't Intel, it was Microsoft. Windows NT on PowerPC only worked on CHRP p
Why ISOs? (Score:2)
Is there a single ARM64 computer with an optical drive out there? Do they expect people to use a USB optical drive to install Windows?
Re: (Score:2)
Is there a single ARM64 computer with an optical drive out there? Do they expect people to use a USB optical drive to install Windows?
External drive. I can finally migrate from the developer version running on Parallels. Unfortunately, my licensed copy serial number may not let me install it.
Re: (Score:2)
I was thinking the same, and then I remembered I haven't started it up in months. Maybe not that high a priority.
Re: (Score:2)
Is there a single ARM64 computer with an optical drive out there? Do they expect people to use a USB optical drive to install Windows?
The probably are expecting thumbdrive installs.
Re: (Score:3)
My 16-core ARM Server has normal SATA ports. I can just as easily add optical drive to it as easily as an X86 machine. It also has normal PCIe slots that I use for 10gbe networking and normal Radeon graphics cards. ARM64 isn't that far off from a normal traditional X86 desktop.
Also, ISO images are NOT just for optical drives, they've been the default images used on USB flash drives for well over a decade now. Additionally, there are CD emulators out there too, especially in the virtual machine space, that d
Re: (Score:2)
An ISO as a name has evolved from what it used to be. The format originally came from optical disks but today it is as applicable to CDs and DVDs as it is to SD cards, and USB sticks.
No one is expecting anyone to use a USB optical drive to install windows. In fact the *only* thing mentioned in the instructions at all is the size of the USB stick you need (>8GB) along with a recommendation that you use a blank USB stick since using the Media Creation Tool for Windows installs will erase the stick.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Almost every OS out there distributes installers as an ISO, not just windows. Pretty much every Linux does as well.
The idea is you typically load it to a thumb drive 99% of the time if a physical VM, and 100% of the time if virtual.
ipmi's use ISO's! (Score:2)
ipmi's use ISO's!
How awesome! (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Of course, being a bigot, I will laugh and snort at someone for using the GUI rather than learning the CLI anyway. The GUI will always make folks weak. GUI use is like being a bodybuilder and getting excited about machine weights. Anything, worth doing is worth doing with a text int
Re: (Score:2)
I'm honestly amazed they can still sell anything at all. Then again, I'm a *nix bigot to the bone and my lack of understanding is probably the same reason some folks have been declaring the year of the Linux Desktop since 1994.
Of course, being a bigot, I will laugh and snort at someone for using the GUI rather than learning the CLI anyway. The GUI will always make folks weak. GUI use is like being a bodybuilder and getting excited about machine weights. Anything, worth doing is worth doing with a text interface :-P
I use MacOS and Linux when possible. I am always a little surprised when people try to claim their technical chops via Windows, and claim that Mac users are all stupid people.
Using MacOS, I dig into terminal just about every day, and yes, it is a whole different world, and It isn't too hard to become a *nix bigot.
Venn diagram (Score:2)
Just how big is this subset: People who are contrarian enough to go find and purchase a niche machine with an alternate CPU, but who are also not contrarian enough to load an alternate OS?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Personally I hope this spurs manufacturers to build a common ARM platform like we have with x86, UEFI, and ACPI device enumeration. But hopefully it won't be like WinRT where devices were locked and could not boot anything other than Windows. Linux could surely benefit from a standardized ARM boot environment. Having to use vendor-specific kernels and distros gets really old, as well as reliance on board-specific devicetree, is a pain.
Re: (Score:2)
need stuff like m.2 / pci-e storage not apple storage that is marked up X3-X4 vs other storage.
Raspberry Pi 5 (Score:1)