Set your drive settings to use aio=threads or aio=native within your QEMU/Proxmox configuration for faster QCOW2 read/write cycles.
virt (specifically, standard ARM Virtual Machine emulation)
Select the latest cumulative update or feature release (e.g., Windows 10, Version 22H2). windows 10 arm qcow2
Running Windows 10 on ARM (WOA) within a virtualized environment on non-native hardware (like x86 servers) or even within ARM-based hosts (like Apple Silicon or Linux-powered ARM devices) requires efficient disk management. The (QEMU Copy On Write) format is the standard for this, offering snapshots, compression, and thin provisioning.
A QCOW2 image dynamically grows as Windows writes data. A 64GB virtual hard drive might only take up 12GB of physical space on your host machine initially. Set your drive settings to use aio=threads or
Over time, as you delete files inside Windows, the QCOW2 image will not automatically shrink. To fix this, ensure your QEMU drive argument includes discard support:
An ARM64 host machine (e.g., Raspberry Pi 4/5, Ampere Altra server, ARM-based laptop). installed ( Virt-manager or command-line tools for management. The (QEMU Copy On Write) format is the
If you downloaded a Windows 10 on ARM VHDX from Microsoft, you can easily convert it using qemu-img on Linux or macOS: