Not able to run VM in windows surface 7 laptop with snapdragon processor

I'm surprised I haven't seen this mentioned yet, but the core issue is likely that it's not entirely possible to run VMs of one architecture on a host using a different architecture.

Surface Laptop 7 uses an ARM processor by Snapdragon, instead of the usual x86-64 architecture like those from Intel and AMD. This means you can only really run ARM VMs and not x86-64 VMs (not 100% true but for sake of argument, consider it true).

Any VMs you had on your past x86-64 machines should be expected to not work on your Surface Laptop 7.

I was able to install Windows 11 ARM64 on my Surface Laptop 7 with Snapdragon Elite.

1. Download the official Windows ARM64 ISO from the Microsoft Website
2. I used the Quick Create option in Hyper-V
3. I selected the downloaded ISO as my installation source
4. At the virtual machine created successfully prompt, select Edit Settings
5. Go to Security and enable Trusted Platform Module

That is it, Windows 11 ARM64 should now install and work

The emulation layer doesn't apply to hardware virtualization in VMs as far as I know. VMWare and VirtualBox are also affected. It's not well advertised but I've found the same on Macbooks running M chips (eg, you can only run the ARM version of Windows in a Parallels Desktop VM).

It is technically possible to emulate different hardware architectures in VMs, but performance is usually terrible, and I haven't seen any of the above software add support for it. I have done the reverse and it was almost unusable -- I used qemu on an Intel x86-64 Linux machine to run an ARM64 VM. The VM was only of a Raspberry Pi 4 image yet running it would bring my full-fledged desktop to its knees.

Thanks for clarifying, but doesn´t Windows on ARM have an emulation function for x86/x64 and that could be used by Hyper-V?

If the case is that x86/x64 programs can't be used with Hyper-V I think Microsoft should put a red warning sign on ARM-computers saying "If you have virtual machines for x86/x64 and need to use them on a new computer, you cannot buy an ARM-cased computer".

Can I use VMWare or Virtual Box, or do they also use the hardware?

Kind Regards

Martin

Hello, MithunVaranasi.

Welcome to Microsoft Community!

I understand that you want to run a VMware virtual machine on a Surface Laptop 7 (ARM64). However you have encountered an error while trying to run it.

We will note that the ARM64 architecture has many differences from past X64 architectures, and that the Microsoft community has limited information about VMware. We are collecting cases of application compatibility with the ARM architecture and we will log your incident here.

And to successfully run VM on Surface Laptop 7, you need to make sure that the application version of VM is compatible with ARM system architecture.

You can try to get in touch with VM's technical support to find out if they have released a version of the application for the ARM architecture. In the meantime, they may be able to provide more targeted advice on the issue.

I will share the following link with you:

VMware Support Offerings

Disclaimer: Microsoft provides no assurances and/or warranties, implied or otherwise, and is not responsible for the information you receive from the third-party linked sites, or any support related to technology.  

Thank you for your understanding and support of the Microsoft community.

I also welcome you to share the information provided by VM Technical Support.

Best Regards.

Leo.L - Microsoft Community Support Specialist