The Windows 11 on Arm ISO Conundrum (Premium)

Among the many issues with Windows 11 on Arm is that Microsoft doesn't make ISO image files available for download: Yes, you can get pre-release Windows Insider Program-based ISOs, but those change continuously, and they don't represent final, shipping versions of the product.

This has to change.

I suspect it will: Microsoft maintains easily-Googled download sites for its supported, mainstream Windows versions, Windows 11 and Windows 10. Each provides a way to download the Windows Setup disks in image file (ISO) form, albeit only in x64/x86 forms. (The options vary by system.) But nothing for Arm, despite the fact that Windows 10 on Arm dates back to 2017 in stable. And Windows 11 on Arm has been available since that system first shipped in 2021.

But here we are, in this weird slice of time.

This slice in time is marked by two intertwined anomalies. Windows 11 version 24H2 is available publicly as I write this, but only on new (Arm64-based) Snapdragon X Copilot+ PCs like the Surface Laptop 7, Yoga Slim 7x, and EliteBook Ultra I'm now testing: Microsoft will continue testing 24H2, and will presumably add new features, before it's second and more widespread release in October, one that will go out to all supported PCs, including the vast majority based on x64 (Intel and AMD).

Back in May, I wrote a tip describing how one could upgrade to Windows 11 version 24H2 immediately and without worry: Despite downloading a Windows 11 Insider Preview version of the 24H2 ISO, anyone upgrading to 24H2 would not need to enroll their PC in the Insider Program, and the resulting install would be fully supported and serviced normally by Microsoft in stable. That is, going forward, you would simply get the normal monthly cumulative updates, just like anyone using 23H2/22H2.

It was a great tip, but now, almost two months later, there are two caveats, one new: The ISO I mention in the tip has been superseded by newer builds and it's not clear if they'll work the same way. And this tip never applied to Arm64: Though Microsoft does offer a separate download page for Arm64-based Windows 11 Insider Preview ISOs, the page I linked to, which offers far more ISO download versions, does not.

Microsoft makes this needlessly complicated.

(For those on x64 who wish to upgrade to Windows 11 version 24H2, it is possible that the newer build listed on the normal Windows Insider Preview Downloads site, "Windows 11 Insider Preview (Release Preview) – Build 26100.863," will work today. This post focuses on Windows 11 on Arm, but what I describe below should work for anyone, regardless of which platform you're using. One day, I hope, Microsoft will just clean this up and provide all its customers with the same downloads.)

Tied to this, I've gotten a few questions about whether Windows 11 version 24H2 and its upgraded Prism emulator will improve the experience for existing Windows 11 on Arm PCs like those based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 1, Gen 2,...