This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about acquiring, configuring, and optimizing a Windows 10 on ARM QCOW2 image for QEMU, KVM, and Proxmox environments. Understanding Windows 10 on ARM and QCOW2
| Component | Requirement | |-----------|--------------| | | Apple Silicon Mac (M1/M2/M3) or an ARM64 Linux machine (e.g., Raspberry Pi 5, Ampere Altra) | | Host Software | QEMU (version 7.0 or newer), UTM (a GUI wrapper for QEMU on macOS), or virt-manager (Linux) | | Windows License | Windows 10 ARM64 requires a license. You can use an unactivated copy for 90 days or purchase a volume license. | | Install Media | Windows 10 on ARM .iso or .vhd file from Microsoft’s official download center (requires a free Insider account) | | Hardware Resources | Minimum 4GB RAM for the VM, 4 CPU cores, and 20GB free host storage |
The Insider Preview VHDX expires after 90–180 days. For permanent use, purchase a Windows 10 Pro license key and activate it inside the VM. The same key works for ARM64.
Method 1: Converting an Official Windows 10 ARM VHDX to QCOW2
: Users found they had to use tools like qemu-img to convert the "fabled" VHDX into a QCOW2 file. windows 10 arm qcow2
: Before doing anything risky, run qemu-img snapshot -c backup windows10_arm.qcow2 to save your progress.
Some guides use the VHDX directly, but qcow2 offers better performance with QEMU. Install QEMU via Homebrew:
With your windows10_arm.qcow2 disk, your installation ISO, and your VirtIO driver ISO ready, you can now launch the virtual machine. Because Windows on ARM requires a UEFI environment, you must also ensure your host has the OVMF or AAVMF (ARM Architecture Virtual Machine Firmware) packages installed.
If you have a Microsoft Insider account, you can download a pre-installed Windows 10/11 ARM64 virtual disk in .vhdx format directly from the Windows Insider Preview downloads page. Step 2: Creating and Converting to QCOW2 This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to
Running an emulated or virtualized Windows environment can bottleneck your CPU and disk I/O if left unoptimized. Implement these modifications for a smoother user experience: 1. Enable KVM Hugepages
Furthermore, Windows requires a UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) environment to boot. In QEMU, this requires specific firmware files (usually QEMU_EFI.fd or a specialized UEFI build for ARM64) to emulate the boot process that modern Windows expects.
Using with Windows 10 ARM allows you to emulate or virtualize (via KVM) an ARM64 environment efficiently on top of Linux or, in some cases, macOS. 2. Prerequisites
-M virt,highmem=on : Specifies the generic ARM64 virtual machine board type. | | Install Media | Windows 10 on ARM
Ensure you are using AAVMF_CODE.fd or OVMF_ARM64.fd rather than standard x86 OVMF files. 2. Stuck in a Boot Loop ("Inaccessible Boot Device")
The QCOW2 format is highly efficient for virtual machines. It supports features like , which let you save and restore your VM's state, and sparse allocation , meaning the file only takes up as much space as the data it contains. Step 1: Gather Your Tools To get started, you'll need the following essentials:
While standard Windows 10 is built for x86-64 (Intel/AMD), the ARM64 version is designed for mobile and energy-efficient processors. How to Get a Windows 10 ARM QCOW2 Image There are two main ways to acquire a working image: 1. Download Pre-built Images