AutoCAD installed on Windows 11 on Arm - Any success?

[dawsonb]

Has anyone managed to get the x64 build of AutoCAD running on Windows on Arm using the x64 emulation?   Just got a Windows Dev Kit 2023 and looking to move my ACAD development on this new box!

TIA

[mdavis22569]

Unfortunately no, it's not stable enough for the full AutoCAD.  It's more of app OS .. and the 64bit Windows won't work.   

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/surface-arm-faq

[Darin.Green]

@mdavis22569 is correct, it will not work.  You can also review the System Requirements; ARM Processors are not supported.

System requirements for AutoCAD 2023 including Specialized Toolsets | AutoCAD 2023 | Autodesk Knowle...

DarinGreen_0-1667753124799.png

[dawsonb]

Many thanks for replying and pasting the link, do you know the reason why AutoCAD 64-bit won't work? My guess is the installer or the Autodesk licensing software requires lower level access that the Microsoft x86 or x64 emulator on WoA 10/11 won't support. Windows on Arm documentation | Microsoft Learn

Thanks

[dawsonb]

Thanks for sending the system requirements, as AutoCAD is built to target x86/x64 I can understand the ARM caveat. But now that Microsoft have added x64 emulation to WoA 11 allowing for such WinTel apps to run (under this emulation) I was hoping that someone had tried this before. I have seen that other Autodesk software has worked in this environment.

If I get time, I might give it ago 🙂

[mdavis22569]

I'll use Mac's as an example.  They have Rosetta and some have issues.  It's not 100% But then again, Mac AutoCAD had limited tools compared to that of Windows.

Give it a go, BUT don't get crazy on the files or important files.   Uses some test files ( or have backups) .. if you start crashing, you could be corrupting files. 

[m.den.ouden]

Will ARM be supported in the future for all autodesk apps? With the new release of the Snapdragon X Elite this would be great

[DarrenP]

your not going to get that answer here

you can look at their public roadmaps here: https://www.autodesk.com/blogs/aec/roadmap/?redirected=1&redirected=1&_ga=2.19040248.1505747340.1675...

or can join the Autocad Customer council here: https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/What-is-the-AutoCA...

[jehongY39YA]

I recently got a new Surface Laptop 7 and installed AutoCAD, Inventor, and Fusion 360 on it.

Happy to report that all three work well!

For AutoCAD, I installed the AutoCAD Mechanical 2025 Update 1 in Korean. For Inventor, I used Inventor Professional 2025 Update 2, also in Korean.

AutoCAD runs almost as smoothly as on an Intel CPU, with almost no noticeable speed differences. Inventor takes a bit longer to load, but once it’s running, it handles regular tasks fine. However, it really slows down on large assemblies, almost to the point of freezing, though individual part work is smooth.

Curious about Windows on ARM’s emulation support, I found that Windows 11 on ARM now supports both x86 and x64 emulation as of the 24H2 update, while Windows 10 on ARM only supports x86 emulation. Here’s a link with more details:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/arm/apps-on-arm-x86-emulation

Surprisingly, CPU usage isn’t very high, but memory usage is—over 70%.

My Surface Laptop 7 specs are just entry-level:
13.8", Snapdragon® X Plus (10 Core), 16GB Memory, 256GB SSD, Windows 11 on ARM Home

I’m hoping AutoDesk releases an ARM-native version soon!

[dawsonb]

Thanks for your reply and trying the x64 emulation on your WoA 11 device.

Interesting it works as I was expecting the licensing part to fail and your commented that the speed was reasonable at least for AutoCAD. Inventor can be slow at times 🙂

I have a Microsoft ARM based Win 11 device so I might try and install AutoCAD soon.

I too share your hope that Autodesk will release ARM compiled versions of their products but until market share increases with WoA I can see it happening. It was also good to see AutoCAD move anyway from the .NET Framework to .NET 8.

Thanks again,

Dawson