build_tools/tools/win/qemu

Setting up QEMU Windows 11

0. Preparing for Installation

1. Install MSYS2. The following commands assume that the installation directory remains the default.
2. pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-qemu
3. Verify installation: C:\msys64\mingw64\bin\qemu-system-aarch64.exe --version
4. Create an image: C:\msys64\mingw64\bin\qemu-img create win11-arm64.img 40G
5. Download the Windows 11 ARM64 ISO (a VPN may be required): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11arm64
6. Download the drivers: https://github.com/virtio-win/virtio-win-pkg-scripts/blob/master/README.md
7. Download the bootloader: https://packages.debian.org/sid/qemu-efi-aarch64

ar x qemu-efi-aarch64*.deb

tar xvf data.tar.xz

mv ./usr/share/qemu-efi-aarch64/QEMU_EFI.fd .

8. Run start.bat

Note: If you plan to install the VM elsewhere, copy start.bat to that same location.

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1. Installing and Configuring QEMU

1. To install QEMU and run a Windows ARM64 virtual machine, follow this tutorial:
   Windows ARM64 VM using qemu-system.
   During installation, there may be no “Back” button (as was my case); if so, you need to set the required registry variables beforehand.
   It is strongly recommended to select the Pro version — functionality is not guaranteed on the Home edition.
2. Installing connection drivers is essential; details are provided at the end of the tutorial. Other drivers are optional.

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2. Creating a Shared Folder

To share files between the host Windows and the guest OS, create a folder, for example D:\shared.
The shared folder can also be a working repository folder; in that case, replace shared with your folder name later on.

1. Right-click the folder → Properties.
2. Go to Sharing → Share.
3. In the list, select Everyone (or a specific user), click Add, grant Read/Write permissions, and then click Share.

You may also need to allow guest connections both on the host and in the guest OS. Instructions are available here.
Now the folder is accessible from the guest machine.

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3. Verification

After starting the virtual machine, open Command Prompt or PowerShell without administrator rights and run:

net use Z: \\10.0.2.2\shared /user:guest ""
dir Z:

These commands should complete without errors and display a list of directories and files in the shared folder.

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4. Installing VC_redist

Additional packages are required for running software. You can download them inside the guest machine, but that may take a long time, so it’s recommended to download them on the host, place them in the shared folder, and install them from there.

Download from:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170 (choose ARM64 version).

To install from the command line after connecting the shared folder:

.\Z:\VC_redist.arm64.exe

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5. Setting Up Automatic Script Execution via Task Scheduler

Before creating a task, remove the password from your user account so that the system logs in automatically when the VM starts.

Creating the Task

1. Open Task Scheduler → Create Task...
2. General tab:
   • Name: Automate
   • Run only when user is logged on
   • Run with highest privileges
3. Triggers tab:
   • New → At log on
4. Actions tab:
   • Action: Start a program
   • Program/script:
     \\10.0.2.2\shared\build_tools\tools\win\qemu\automate.bat

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6. Config Setup

Finally, specify the path to the folder containing the VM and the start.bat script in the configuration under
qemu-win-arm64-dir.

You can do this either through configure.py or by editing the configuration file directly.