[Feature] ARM32 Windows distribution

[kristibektashi]

Currently the ARM32 version of ROM Properties does exist, but it's only able to be automatically registered on ARM64 versions of Windows with ARM32 application compatibility.

Which means it doesn't register on real ARM32 versions of Windows (e.g. Windows RT, Windows 10 ARM32), since the old classic installer is compiled for i386, but ARM32 Windows versions cannot run x86 apps unlike ARM64. And Inno Setup doesn't support ARM32 Windows either (to my knowledge) so the new installer won't work either.

It should still be possible to manually register the DLL on ARM32 Windows, but that's mildly inconvenient for the end user. So perhaps a way could be found to automate the installation of ROM Properties on ARM32 Windows, just like on other platforms.

[kristibektashi]

Also, the README.md file doesn't link the VCRedist for ARM32 platforms, which can be found here: https://files.open-rt.party/Software/Redistributables/VCRedist/vcredist_arm_vs2017.exe. This isn't an official Microsoft link, but it's the latest available VCRedist installer for ARM32 platforms (although you can just copy the newer DLL's manually if you can find them). And the installer itself should still be signed by Microsoft

[GerbilSoft]

I did a quick check and it seems all the references I could find to running i386 programs on Windows for ARM mentioned Windows 10, but they didn't specifically mention that it was Windows 10 for arm64.

• Windows 10 on arm32 does not have x86 emulation at all... but how many Windows 10 on arm32 devices are there?
• Windows 8 on arm32 (aka Windows RT) doesn't allow unsigned programs to run.

I could potentially provide a distribution just for arm32, with a batch file to register the DLLs, but its use case seems rather slim.

[kristibektashi]

Windows RT CAN run unsigned programs if you jailbreak it, which is pretty much necessary nowadays after the death of the Windows 8.x store. Also, perhaps you could also just manually lay out the instructions for manually registering the DLL's in the main page to make it a bit easier for those with ARM32 devices, if you don't want to create a separate distribution.

[kristibektashi]

Also, no devices ever shipped with Windows 10 ARM32, you need to install it manually. You can install it on some Windows RT devices, most (I think) Windows Phone 8.x/Windows 10 Mobile devices, as well as a couple other ARM devices (e.g. Raspberry Pi 3).

[kristibektashi]

Although things like rp-config.exe would also have to be recompiled as ARM32, along with x86, due to the lack of x86 emulation on ARM32 Windows.

[GerbilSoft]

It seems Microsoft is trying to bury all evidence that Windows for 32-bit ARM exists. I could not find the ARM32 vcredist on Microsoft's website anywhere.

Downloaded the one you linked and verified its digital signature, so I'll rehost that on my own server and link that.

[dxgldotorg]

It seems Microsoft is trying to bury all evidence that Windows for 32-bit ARM exists. I could not find the ARM32 vcredist on Microsoft's website anywhere.

Downloaded the one you linked and verified its digital signature, so I'll rehost that on my own server and link that.

Was there ever a standalone ARM32 redist installer, or did developers have to either statically link, put runtimes in the install folder, or package via UWP/WinRT?

[kristibektashi]

It seems Microsoft is trying to bury all evidence that Windows for 32-bit ARM exists. I could not find the ARM32 vcredist on Microsoft's website anywhere.
Downloaded the one you linked and verified its digital signature, so I'll rehost that on my own server and link that.

Was there ever a standalone ARM32 redist installer, or did developers have to either statically link, put runtimes in the install folder, or package via UWP/WinRT?

Yes it did but versions after 2013 are super rare, however the link I sent above has the 2017 version, signed by Microsoft. Later versions (up to 2022) also exist but no installers have been found (and it's unknown if they even existed) and one would have to find and manually distribute the DLL's in order to use them

[dxgldotorg]

It seems Microsoft is trying to bury all evidence that Windows for 32-bit ARM exists. I could not find the ARM32 vcredist on Microsoft's website anywhere.
Downloaded the one you linked and verified its digital signature, so I'll rehost that on my own server and link that.

Was there ever a standalone ARM32 redist installer, or did developers have to either statically link, put runtimes in the install folder, or package via UWP/WinRT?

Yes it did but versions after 2013 are super rare, however the link I sent above has the 2017 version, signed by Microsoft. Later versions (up to 2022) also exist but no installers have been found (and it's unknown if they even existed) and one would have to find and manually distribute the DLL's in order to use them

Looking at my collection of MSVC complilers, looks like 14.13 in VS2017 is the last version to have an ARM32 installer. And there is in fact the 2012 and 2013 versions.

[kristibektashi]

It seems Microsoft is trying to bury all evidence that Windows for 32-bit ARM exists. I could not find the ARM32 vcredist on Microsoft's website anywhere.
Downloaded the one you linked and verified its digital signature, so I'll rehost that on my own server and link that.

Was there ever a standalone ARM32 redist installer, or did developers have to either statically link, put runtimes in the install folder, or package via UWP/WinRT?

Yes it did but versions after 2013 are super rare, however the link I sent above has the 2017 version, signed by Microsoft. Later versions (up to 2022) also exist but no installers have been found (and it's unknown if they even existed) and one would have to find and manually distribute the DLL's in order to use them

Looking at my collection of MSVC complilers, looks like 14.13 in VS2017 is the last version to have an ARM32 installer. And there is in fact the 2012 and 2013 versions.

@dxgldotorg can you send the 14.13 installer here? Since the one I sent is 14.11, and afaik you can't download anything newer from anywhere, unless maybe if you actually install that particular version of Visual Studio, which I doubt many people will do just to get a single installer.

Also, do you happen to have the standalone DLL's for any newer versions? Specifically any of the versions 17.1x of Visual Studio 2022 (the newer the better)? Since afaik it's not quite easy to get these DLL's for the ARM32 architecture on newer VS versions, even if you do actually install the entire Visual Studio toolchain.

Edit: Preferably if you could include both Debug and Release versions of the DLL's, and also include both the UWP and Desktop/Win32 versions, that would be greatly appreciated. That way we could have all of them and easily distribute them to anyone wanting to make ARM32 applications, and since VS2026 and later don't even support ARM32 anymore they wouldn't even need to be updated

Edit 2: Could you also send the latest 2012 and 2013 installers that you have, just in the off chance that they're newer than what is available in the Microsoft servers?

Edit 3: I should clarify, I'm on the OpenRT Discord, and I want to send these files to them so that they can make them available to everyone, in order to ease development for ARM32 platforms.