ARM Windows boot

[mcb30]

Description

As a user, I would like to be able to boot ARM versions of Windows via wimboot, so that I can take advantage of HTTP boot.

Acceptance criteria

• Ability to boot into some version of Windows on 32-bit ARM via qemu+OVMF+iPXE+wimboot
• Ability to boot into some version of Windows on 64-bit ARM via qemu+OVMF+iPXE+wimboot

Dependencies

• ARM32/ARM64 builds #3

[kji2k]

Hello Sir，
So wimboot can support ARM64 since v2.7.0, am i right?

Thanks,

[NiKiZe]

No changes for ARM has been made, Label not chagned.

Also see #3 which is blocking this

[kji2k]

No changes for ARM has been made, Label not chagned

Thanks, will it be supported in 2.8.0? Appreciate if any schedule/plan.

[jeffglaum]

+1, are there plans for an arm64 wimboot port? Thanks.

[lexalex1]

+1. Thanks

[tuxthepenguin84]

I see the recent commits for ARM64 support, does anyone have any instructions on how I can build this on my own?

[mcb30]

I see the recent commits for ARM64 support, does anyone have any instructions on how I can build this on my own?

Just type make and you'll get both the x86 and AArch64 versions built. You will need to install an appropriate cross-compiling gcc (or use clang).

[tuxthepenguin84]

Thanks I will try that. Curious if you will be publishing a new release that includes arm64 binaries?

[mcb30]

Yes, the next release will include the arm64 binaries.

I've been delaying the release since the ARM portion is not yet covered by the automated testing, and I was hoping to get that done first. That said, the automated testing part is likely to be cumbersome to get working since the state of ARM virtualization is very immature compared to x86: there are multiple bugs and quirks that make it difficult to spin up an ARM Windows VM that can actually get as far as running the OS. The only combination I've found so that that works is to build EDK2's SbsaQemu firmware from source and use it in a sbsa-ref QEMU virtual machine to boot an MSDN-downloaded Windows 10 (not 11) image.

I may end up making a release that includes the ARM binaries without them being covered by the automated testing support, but I'd prefer to avoid that if possible.