ARM64 Media

EasyDeploy supports ARM64 targets from the same BootBuilder and the same deployment engine. This page covers what differs from x64. For the normal flow see BootBuilder.

What runs natively — and what is emulated

Component	Architecture	Note
WinPE image	ARM64	Built from the ARM64 ADK WinPE add-on
Windows ESD	ARM64	File name contains A64FRE
PowerShell 7 in WinPE	ARM64	PowerShell-7.x-win-arm64.zip — native pwsh.exe
EasyDeploy app (easydeploy.exe)	x64	Runs via the WinPE-x64-Support component (x64 emulation)

The app is intentionally kept x64: it is the same binary that ships for x64 media, and the ARM64 image includes WinPE-x64-Support so it runs under emulation. The first screen can take a little longer to warm up on ARM64 hardware; after that, deployment is driven by the native arm64 engine.

Build steps

1. Launch BootBuilder → select TARGET: arm64. The tool now reads and writes .cache-arm64 instead of .cache.
2. Put an ARM64 ESD in .cache-arm64\esd\ (the file name contains A64FRE).
3. Put PowerShell-7.x-win-arm64.zip in .cache-arm64\pwsh\.
4. Drivers: there are no ARM64 self-extracting vendor packs (Dell/HP/Intel/Lenovo), so those toggles are disabled for ARM64. Use Others — extract the .inf packages into .cache-arm64\downloads\others\.
5. Run Refresh Precheck until every required item is green, then Build ISO (or Build WIM).

The media boots through bootaa64.efi; the rest of the USB layout (EASYDEPLOY\Profiles, EASYDEPLOY\OS, Softwares\) is identical to x64.

Profiles on ARM64

Profiles are architecture-specific. The Builder seeds the matching set into the ARM64 cache and strips the -arm64 suffix, and the app filters the profile picker by processorArchitecture in unattend.xml. Editing a profile? Keep the answer file’s processorArchitecture aligned with the target — an x64 profile on an ARM64 machine fails at pre-OOBE.

Validation status

The end-to-end flow has been exercised in a virtual machine (QEMU, UEFI Secure Boot + TPM 2.0 + NVMe): boot → EasyDeploy under x64 emulation → full deployment → profile injection → first boot. That covers the pipeline and the image content.

On physical ARM64 hardware the variables are mainly speed (emulation warm-up) and drivers — and drivers are supplied through BootBuilder, exactly like x64. ARM64 devices are still a small share of the fleet; x64 remains the default target for mass deployment.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause / fix
Pre-check fails on ESD	The ESD is x64 — use an A64FRE ARM64 image in .cache-arm64\esd\.
Pre-check fails on PowerShell 7	The zip contains an x64 pwsh.exe — use PowerShell-7.x-win-arm64.zip.
Vendor toggles are greyed out	Expected on ARM64: vendor packs are x64-only. Use Others.
No network / storage device in WinPE	Provide an ARM64 driver in others\ (ARM64 WinPE has no inbox Intel PCIe driver) or use a USB NIC.