Uncertainty about whether all applications and programs will run on Windows Copilot+ computers

One Copilot+ computer after another is now hitting the market, but there is still some confusion about the ability to run programs and applications written for the x86 architecture, for which there is no Arm version. Not to worry, says Microsoft, which promises to simply run such applications via the built-in Prism emulator. Better be careful, says Copilot+ maker Samsung.

Copilot+ users can only check in two places if the software they are using has an Arm variant: WorksoWOA.com (for games only) and Armrepo.ver.it.

Qualcomm, the maker of the Arm-based Snapdragon chipset that powers the Copilot+, referred The Register to these sites when asked about them. But both sites are unofficial and by no means complete. Earlier, electronics giant Samsung raised the alarm, warning that some apps and games were not compatible with the Arm architecture. Samsung is one of the companies that has released a Copilot+ computer. In Samsung’s case, it’s the GalaxyBook Edge 4.

Prism Emulator

While a lot of software exists in an Arm-enabled version, that doesn’t always include officially supported software. In the absence of an Arm-enabled version, Microsoft provides an emulator called Prism that can run x86 programs on an Arm PC without too much loss of speed. In a blog post announcing Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC, the company writes that Prism will make any application run great, whether native or emulated.

Samsung’s caveat may have something to do with the version of Windows that South Koreans receive. Microsoft lost an antitrust case there and had to remove some components from Windows that it can still package normally elsewhere. That may be the reason for Samsung’s warning. The company is also posting this announcement only on its Korean site.

Most of the other Copilot+ vendors (Lenovo, HP, Dell, Acer, and ASUS) referenced Qualcomm’s compatibility list or the same pages that Qalcomm had previously published.

Only ASUS mentioned a Microsoft Learn blog (which Microsoft itself apparently didn’t reference) with a fuller explanation of Arm emulation. It states that x86 or x64 programs don’t know they’re running Arm unless they ask for specific APIs about the device they’re running on. The app then gets information about the emulated virtual processor instead of the actual chipset.

Read also: These major computer brands have already announced the launch of their own Copilot+ computers