How to Get Windows 11 on Arm: Official Downloads and Upgrade Paths

Windows 11 on Arm has no separate product edition to buy — it is the same Windows 11, delivered for Arm64 processors. (Downloading an ISO does not itself grant a licence; you still need a qualifying Windows 11 key or a prelicensed device.) What differs is how it reaches each PC: preinstalled on new hardware, as an enablement package on existing devices, or as an official ISO for clean installs and virtual machines.

Official download sources

• New Arm64 PCs: Windows 11 comes preinstalled. Nothing to download.
• Windows 11 Arm64 ISO: Microsoft publishes official Arm64 ISOs on its Download Windows 11 Arm64 page. Use these for clean installs and for Arm VMs on Apple Silicon Macs (UTM, VMware Fusion, Parallels — see our Mac guide). On physical Arm PCs, prefer the manufacturer’s recovery image first: the generic ISO may not carry the OEM drivers a specific device needs. Microsoft documents the ISO options in Windows 11 Arm ISO overview on Learn.
• Existing Windows 11 on Arm PCs (24H2/25H2): the annual update — currently 26H2 — arrives as a small enablement package through Windows Update. One restart, no full reinstall.

Only ever take ISOs from microsoft.com or learn.microsoft.com. Third-party “Windows Arm ISO” mirrors are an unnecessary trust risk.

Which version does your Arm PC get?

• Snapdragon X / X Elite / X Plus PCs — and x64 PCs alike — follow the regular branch: 24H2 → 25H2 → 26H2 via enablement packages.
• Snapdragon X2 and NVIDIA RTX Spark devices ship with the separate 26H1 chip-enablement branch. It is feature-equivalent at launch and keeps receiving updates, but because it is built on a different Windows core it cannot upgrade in place to 26H2; Microsoft has said a path to a future release is coming.
• Windows 10 on Arm reached end of support on October 14, 2025. Upgrade eligibility to Windows 11 depends on the specific model — some devices, like the Surface Pro X, qualify — while older 32-bit-emulation-era hardware does not meet Windows 11 requirements; check Microsoft’s upgrade list for your device and plan new hardware where it isn’t covered.

After you install

Version numbers do not settle app compatibility. Both branches run native Arm64 apps and Prism-emulated x86/x64 apps, but actual compatibility still depends on system updates, drivers and app versions — over time, updates have changed what emulated apps can do (AVX2 support, for example). Check specific titles in the database, and if something misbehaves after an update, see fixing apps that don’t work.