Power BI, Native ARM on Windows 11 ARM edition

[davmarc23]

According to the October 2025 update

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-october-2025-feature-summary/

"Power BI Desktop is now supported on Windows on ARM PCs that have the 2025-09 Cumulative Update installed (KB5065789)."

I've gone down the rabbit hole trying to get the ARM64 version to run on Windows 11 ARM edition with all the latest windows updates/optional updates and whenever I download it from the Windows Store or installer from the web site - it's always installs the x64 version which ends up running in emulation. I've even gone back to the October 2025 update, and I get the same result (was wondering if support was quietly removed). I've even installed an older build of Windows 11 with mentioned KB from the era installed as well as trying from the latest windows insider preview edition and windows store and the downloaded installers from the web never install anything but the x64 version. 

In all cases, I can never actually choose the architecture that I am going to install. 

If the team is truly building arm64 versions of Power BI, from what I read online, no one can figure out how to install it.

Is this truly supported? If so - even if in some sort of preview version, can you please provide a reliable way to install install it on win 11 arm edition? Perhaps all that is required is providing a direct download link each month if the store / download centre can't properly distribute/sense the right architecture.

Thanks for any insights about how we might get our hands on it.

[v-aatheeque]

Hi @davmarc23 

Have you had a chance to look through the responses shared earlier? If anything is still unclear, we’ll be happy to provide additional support.

[v-aatheeque]

Hi @davmarc23 

We wanted to follow up to check if you’ve had an opportunity to review the previous responses. If you require further assistance, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

[TomMartens]

Hey @davmarc23 ,

unfortunately, I can not provide you the answer you are looking for, but for 3.5 year I'm running Power BI Desktop on a MaBook via Parallels Pro, 3.5 years ago I started with an M2 but upgraded to an M4 silicone the last year.

I use Windows 11 Pro with the latest Updates installed, the only thing I have to take into account when installing the latest Power BI Desktop version, I have to switch to Coherence Mode. Besides that there are no other requirements I have to think about.

The fun fact (somehow), I use the normal installer via download. But at the same time I have a 2nd PBI desktop version installed via the Microsoft store,

This works perfectly, but unfortuantely this does not answer your question. But the M processors are ARM64 based. Parallels does emulate anything. How do I know, when I install Tabular Editor I need to install the ARM version.

Maybe this provides some ideas.

Regards,
Tom 

[Ritaf1983 · Accepted solution]

Hi @davmarc23 ,

Based on the current public documentation, I do not think you are missing a hidden architecture selector.

The October 2025 blog says that Power BI Desktop is supported on Windows on ARM PCs with KB5065789 installed. However, the current official Download Center page still exposes PBIDesktopSetup_x64.exe, and the system requirements there still describe Power BI Desktop as available for 64-bit x64 platforms. The Microsoft Learn installation page also only describes the Store option and the direct executable option, with no separate ARM64 installer path documented.

So at least from the public documentation, this looks more like “Power BI Desktop is now officially supported on Windows on ARM” rather than “there is a separately downloadable native ARM64 Power BI Desktop build.”

That matches what you are seeing: the Store and Download Center install the x64 build, which then runs under Windows on ARM emulation. If Microsoft intended this to be a native ARM64 release, I would expect one of the following to exist publicly:

a documented ARM64 installer
an ARM64 package from the Microsoft Store
release notes explicitly saying that the x64 package contains native ARM64 binaries
a clear statement that x64 emulation is the supported ARM path

At this point, I would suggest raising this as a documentation/product issue rather than continuing to test older Windows builds or Insider builds. The ask to Microsoft should be very specific:

“Can the Power BI team confirm whether October 2025 ARM support means native ARM64 Power BI Desktop, or officially supported x64 Power BI Desktop running under Windows on ARM emulation? If native ARM64 is available, please provide the official installation path or direct ARM64 download link.”

Right now, I would not assume there is a reliable native ARM64 installer available unless someone from Microsoft confirms where it is distributed

If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly

[davmarc23]

Hi thank you for your reply. Perhaps I and others online are misinterpretting the october 2025 update notes -- the text doesn't use the word native. So I guess it's perhaps the regular x64 version they are referring to as being officially supported on windows 11 arm which does indeed seem to be the case it does indeed run on windows 11 arm for me. Of course we'd love to see a native version of power bi for arm -- even a macos version, but maybe I'm pushing my luck...