This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Windows Blog.
Today, we're releasing the first preview of x64 emulation for ARM64 devices to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel starting with the Build 21277. It can be installed on Windows 10 on ARM PCs by following the instructions as explained in this blog post. When we first launched Windows 10 on ARM in late 2017, the long tail of apps customers needed were dominated by 32-bit-only x86 applications, so we focused our efforts on building an x86 emulator that could run the broad ecosystem of Windows apps seamlessly and transparently. Over time, the ecosystem has moved more toward 64-bit-only x64 apps and we've heard the feedback that customers would like to see those x64 apps running on ARM64. That's why we are working on expanding the capability of our emulation to include x64 applications and sharing this first preview to gather feedback. While we're expanding the capabilities of our emulator, for the best possible experience we recommend developers support their apps natively on ARM64. ARM64 apps are fully supported in our Windows SDK and Visual Studio 2017 onwards, and we encourage our developers to recompile their apps for ARM64. 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. In the spirit of the Dev Channel, this capability is still in development and will continue to improve in both compatibility and performance over time, so some of the apps you try running in emulation may not work initially. As you test and try the build, share your feedback with us on the experience in Windows Feedback Hub by using the subcategory x64 Apps on ARM. Your feedback will play a key role in ensuring we are aware of the scenarios most important to you so we can focus on refining them as we provide updates in the coming months. For the best app performance, please install a preview version of the Qualcomm Adreno graphics driver from the following locations:- Samsung Galaxy Book S: https://aka.ms/x64previewdriver
- Lenovo Flex 5G: https://aka.ms/x64previewdriver
- Surface Pro X: https://aka.ms/x64previewdriverprox