When installing Windows from an ISO on a typical Intel-based PC, the process is usually straightforward—create a bootable USB drive, install the OS, and you're good to go. However, installing Windows on an ARM-based device like the Surface Pro X is a whole different story. This is because the standard ISO files don't include the necessary drivers for ARM-based devices. Therefore, you need to manually inject drivers and take additional steps to ensure everything works smoothly. In this guide, I will walk you through the detailed steps I used to successfully install a clean version of Windows 11 on my Surface Pro X.
With the increasing need to support Windows 11 ARM64 cases, I've found myself needing to run this operating system in a virtual machine (VM) through Hyper-V. Although similar, installing a Windows 11 ARM64 VM isn't quite the same as installing a 64-bit Windows version. One of the main differences is that you can't directly use an ISO file for installation. Additionally, you won't be able to enable TPM on a Windows 11 ARM64 Hyper-V. This blog post aims to guide you through the steps to successfully set up your virtual machine.