Windows on ARM64

The qsharp package works natively on Windows on ARM64 and installs without issue. However, you'll want to typically work with Jupyter Notebooks (especially for qsharp-widgets), and thus will need other common packages installed.

The Windows on ARM64 installs can be a challenge, as many Python packages do not have binary wheels available, and thus need to be built locally from source when installed. Specifically, numpy and pandas require the C++ Build Tools, and jupyterlab also require a Rust compiler.

The conda project also does not support Windows on ARM64 currently - see https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/11472)

The easiest way to install the C++ Build Tools, Rust, and Python itself on a Windows machine is via winget. To install the Visual Studio C++ Build Tools with the necessary components run:

winget install Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools --force --override "--wait --quiet --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22621 --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM64 --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CMake.Project --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Llvm.Clang"

Relaunch the terminal so it picks up the updated PATH and other settings, then run the below to install Rust:

winget install Rustlang.Rustup

Again, relaunch the terminal to pick up the changed environment, then run the below to install Python:

winget install Python.Python.3.13

After one more relaunch of the terminal, you should be ready to go. Run the below to create a virtual environment and install the packages shown (this will take a while):

mkdir \demo && cd \demo
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate
pip install jupyterlab numpy pandas

If installing Jupyter fails due to pywinpty, see the issue at https://github.com/andfoy/pywinpty/issues/532#issuecomment-3340402849