While most people use Linux on Arm SBCs, it’s typically possible to run Windows 11 on Arm boards with UEFI support, but with caveats such as the GPU and VPU not working and other issues.
One solution is to avoid the Arm architecture altogether and go with an x86 SBC like the Radxa X4, ODROID-H4+, or LattePanda IOTA, among others. But things may change for the better now that Qualcomm SBCs are becoming a thing, and Radxa has just announced official Windows support for the Radxa Dragon Q6A.
Note that it is only a preview image for now. Nevertheless, here’s what is working without installing additional drivers on Windows 11:
- HDMI output (inherited from UEFI GOP)​
- PCIe – Note: NVMe available; system does not include network card drivers
- eMMC​ flash
- UFS​
- USB 2.0​
- USB 3.0, but devices must be connected before booting into the system
But once you install drivers, the following extra features are supported:
- Hardware video acceleration​
- Decoding via D3D11VA (recommended) or DXVA2​ – Up to 4096 x 2160 at 60 fps, 250 Mbps (H264 / HEVC 10-bit / VP9 10-bit)​
- Encoding via MediaFoundation – Up to 3840 x 2160 at 30 fps, 150 Mbps (H264 / HEVC)​
- Tested applications – Windows Media Player, mpv (with command line below), VLC, Gstreamer, OBS Studio (community build only for now)
12mpv somevideo.mkv --vo=gpu --hwdec=d3d11va --d3d11va-zero-copy=yes --profile=fast
Note: 4K 60fps 10-bit video decoding and high bitrate decoding are challenging due to the limited memory bandwidth (22GB/s), and Windows Media Player and mpv are recommended
- GPU
- Direct3D 12 Feature Level 12_1​
- OpenCL 3.0 (arm64/x64 only, no 32-bit support)​
- Vulkan 1.3 (arm64/x64 only, no 32-bit support)
- OpenGL 4.1​
- Ethernet – However, the connection using the onboard RTL8111K Ethernet chip may be unreliable when the CPU usage is very high (especially during Steam download).
- MIPI CSI camera
- Qualcomm Spectra 570L ISP​
- 4K @ 30fps 10-bit video recording​
- Hardware JPEG encode through Windows Imaging Component (WIC) interface)
- Tested with Radxa Camera 12M (imx577)​ using Windows Camera and Gstreamer
- 40-pin GPIO header – See required tools on GitHub.
- Firmware update through edl-ng in Windows
Some options must be enabled in the BIOS, notably camera support.
What’s not working is WiFi and Bluetooth
The image is based on Windows 11 24H2, which includes the Prism emulator to run x86 and x64 apps without modification.​ The best is to go with native ARM64 apps, but if not available, you can try x86 64-bit applications instead, and x86 32-bit applications should be avoided. Note that emulation does not work with drivers, only programs…
To install Windows 11 on the Dragon Q6A, you’ll need to follow a few steps:
- Update the UEFI firmware to the latest version
- Download the Windows 11 ISO from Arm64 devices on Microsoft or UUPdump website.
- Flash the image to a USB flash drive using Rufus
- Connect the USB flash to the board, boot it up, and press F12 to enter the boot menu and select the USB drive
- Carry on with the Windows 11 installation, and then install the latest drivers.
- Profit!
You’ll find all the links needed and instructions on the Radxa forums. I won’t post links for the firmware and drivers here since they’ll probably be updated soon as users report issues with the preview.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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