Google Drive Desktop for Arm Snapdragon

[AndiZekthi]

When will we have a google drive for desktop on windows arm based PC's?

[icrew]

Check out the (long) thread over at https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Workspace-Q-A/Google-Desktop-on-Windows-ARM/m-p/170725

[leogirl]

Google has not yet announced an official release date for a Google Drive desktop application specially designed for Windows ARM-based PCs. Google Drive for Desktop (previously known as Backup and Sync) is available for Windows and macOS, but a native ARM version for Windows has not yet been released. However,  ARM-based Windows PC users can still use the current version of Google Drive for Desktop through emulation, although this might not provide the best performance or battery life. For optimal performance and compatibility, it is advisable to check regularly for updates from Google regarding support for Windows ARM. Additionally, you can always access Google Drive through a web browser; fully compatible with ARM-based PCs.

For the latest information, stay in touch with official announcements from Google or visit their support pages.

[BioTurboNick]

This is not correct. Google Drive Desktop refuses to install on ARM-based Windows computers.

[microchipmatt]

There is no Emulation Support to install Google Drive for Desktop, PRISM will NOT run google drive for desktop, due to more than likely the Windows Shell driver that is directly tied to x64 drivers. In fact one will get an Architecture not supported message when PRISM runs the installer, and in fact I do not believe it could run do to x64 Windows shell driver. So telling people it will run under emulation (PRISM) is false information and gives users who don't understand that PRISM will not work with x64 drivers gives them VERY false and misleading hope. PRISM will translate software x64 calls and translate them for ARM architecture, but cannot translate x64 driver calls for emulation. What Google more than likely needs to do, is write an ARM Architecture driver that can talk to Windows and the Windows Shell running on ARM since drivers interact at a low level interaction with the CPU Architecture and the OS.  I sure wish they would get on with writing that Driver. 

[KAM]

Building on @leogirl great note above, I will mention Google has said there are no current plans for an ARM-based version. -KAM

[jld5241]

Any update here?

[icrew]

The note from @KAM that you replied to is only a week old. And no, Google hasn't announced anything in the past week. You can follow https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/ to see when there are new announcements.

You might also want to have a look in the NDAed product roadmaps to see if there’s anything there about this. See

https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/custom/page/page-id/Workspace-Roadmap-FAQ

for how to request access.

Note: This section of GCC is public, so items that you may see on the roadmap should not be discussed here, as that would violate the NDA.

Hope that helps,

Ian

[ramez]

The new ARM based systems are a lot more power efficient.

If nothing else, I think Google need to do this for environmental reasons 🍃

[crunchingnumber]

There actually is a way to do this and i have tested it using google cloud apis and OAUTH with google-drive-ocamlfuse. 

It took a bit of trial and error but i was able to leverage wsl 2 and then access google drive in windows after linking my google project API and OAUTH to use google-drive-ocamlfuse. 

I'll admit it is certainly less than ideal:

• Install google-drive-ocamlfuse from alessandro-strada/ppa repository in WSL
• install VcXsrv so you can run the authentication through WSL and install firefox in WSL (make sure you get the ip address for the display from WSL)
• Set up OAuth  for a google drive API so you can access Google Drive and get your client ID and secret
• load and set ocamfuse with your tokens
• create a directory and mount your drive in wsl
• create shortcut or symlink in windows to allow google drive access in windows from WSL
• There is a slight delay saving documents to google drive but beyond that it works well. 
  
  Sorry i dont have the xeact commands here between windows and WSL - lack of time  but i do hope this helps someone. 
  It was a bit fiddly after a reboot - i had t unmount and remount my drive but not sure why as i had set credentials in bashrc.
  
  

[ben-calc-i]

To add some context to this, my team require Microsoft 365 basic level of subscription anyway for apps, so it's likely that we'll just switch to OneDrive if we have to. Annoying.

[DanielNC]

Oops, seems a bad move on my part to get an arm-based laptop :'D I live and die by my google drive integration hehe. Hmm, too bad our whole organisation is setup around Google infrastructure in that case so will just have to lobby and pray for some ARM love.

(on a surface laptop 7)

[MCleaver]

It is apparently now on its way! Thank goodness.

[AndiZekthi]

Where did you see this MCleaver?

[MCleaver]

There were several news items a few days ago. E.g. https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/google-drive-is-finally-coming-to-windows-on-arm

[kenlyle]

Yeah, just this week, my lovely little Samsung GoBook took a big hit, and I am seeing a lot of black screens in Docs and Sheets, having to refresh, and even Restart the machine more often.  Looking forward to the update.

[AutomotiveArt]

Came across this issue today trying to  setup a Dell XPS with a Snapdragon ARM processor. Any official word from Google themselves?

[aliasverite]

No news yet. I am checking multiple times a week.  Monitoring the Google Drive for Desktop release notes.  Last release was 10/21 but nothing with ARM.

[googleuser86]

I am going to be moving all my files to MS OneDrive and downgrading my Google subs.  Hopefully more people do this and Google will wakeup and realize they're behind the 8-ball.

[BioTurboNick]

FWIW They said around November, so a bit premature to give up.

[AdrienJ · Accepted solution]

We are pleased to announce that Drive for Desktop is now available in beta on ARM64. See https://support.google.com/drive/thread/308624582/drive-for-desktop-arm64-support

[AndiZekthi]

Thank you kindly @AdrienJ. I have downloaded the Beta and so far so good! Really appreciate the effort here.

[googleuser86]

Thank you!

[aliasverite]

I am so glad to have this!  This is going to save so much time.

[sysAdmin3725]

Hello: Even though great steps, when will this become a full version solution and no longer Beta?

[AdrienJ]

Hi sysAdmin3725,

Version 106 of Google Drive for Desktop, that is now being rolled out, is the first version marked as stable. http://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2025/03/run-google-drive-on-arm-compatible-windows-pcs.html