Microsoft reveals the limitations of Windows 10 on ARM

Microsoft has released, and later retracted, a list of OS limitations for Windows 10 on ARM, the company’s effort to emulate their x86 OS on low-power ARM chipsets. This version of the OS will release later this year with Qualcomm-powered Windows 10 devices, offering consumers a new range of low-power/portable notebook designs. 

This release of Windows is limited to ARM 64-bit devices and will offer Windows 32-bit emulation layer, lacking support for 64-bit app emulation. This emulation does not extend to drivers, which means that device makers will need to make specific Windows 10 for ARM drivers for their devices. 

ARM also lacks support for several common x86 technologies like Hyper-V, preventing virtual machines from running on the OS. Games are also expected to run poorly, or not at all, given the lack of support for many standard desktop graphical APIs on ARM chip designs. 

Specifically, Microsoft has stated that games that use a version of OpenGL that is newer than 1.1 or require hardware accelerated OpenGL will not work. Games that need “anti-cheat drivers” will also not function.