Microsoft Adds 64-bit Application Support To Windows 10 On ARM
Microsoft has announced the long-awaited ability to run emulated 64-bit applications in Windows on ARM. This new feature will allow applications to use more memory and thus gain better performance than their 32-bit counterparts.
When Windows 10 for ARM was released in 2017, Microsoft created an emulation layer that allowed users to run 32-bit applications. Over time, though, users and developers began moving towards 64-bit systems, and the ability to run 32-bit applications was not enough.
Yesterday, Microsoft announced that Windows Insiders can now test an x64 emulation layer on Windows on Arm to run 64-bit applications.
“In this preview, you can install x64 apps from the Microsoft Store or from any other location of your choosing. You can try key x64-only productivity apps like Autodesk Sketchbook, as well as games like Rocket League. Other apps, like Chrome, which run today on ARM64 as 32-bit apps, can run as 64-bit using the new x64 emulation capability. These apps may benefit from having more memory when run as 64-bit emulated apps,” Microsoft announced in a new blog post.
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This new feature is available in the Windows 10 Insider build 21277, which was released yesterday to Insiders on the Dev channel. This build is on the RS_PRERELEASE branch and can be installed by seekers performing a manual check for updates in Windows Update.
For best app performance at this time, users should install a preview version of the Qualcomm Adreno graphics driver for the following devices:
- Samsung Galaxy Book S: https://aka.ms/x64previewdriver
- Lenovo Flex 5G: https://aka.ms/x64previewdriver
- Surface Pro X: https://aka.ms/x64previewdriverprox
To support ARM64 and X64 C++ applications, users will also need to install the preview version of the ARM64 C++ redistributable from https://aka.ms/arm64previewredist.
Microsoft plans on integrating the driver, and redistributable in future Windows 10 Insider builds so that users do not need to install them manually.
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Microsoft has still not stated when this feature is estimated to go live, and we should expect to see this tested over the next few Windows 10 releases.
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