VPN Not Working on Snapdragon X? Why It Fails, How to Fix

VPN not working on your Snapdragon X laptop? Most VPN clients install a network driver, and Windows on ARM can’t emulate drivers, so the app either refuses to install or connects to nothing. The fix is a native ARM64 app, a manual OpenVPN or WireGuard config, or the VPN client built into Windows.

#Why Does My VPN Fail on Snapdragon X?

The root cause is a driver, not your settings. Most full VPN clients don’t just route traffic at the app level. They install a low-level network adapter, a TUN or TAP driver, that hooks into the Windows networking stack and, on a normal Intel or AMD laptop, that x86 driver loads fine. On a Snapdragon X machine it can’t.

Here’s the part that trips everyone up. Windows on ARM runs older x86 and x64 apps through an emulator called Prism, so a lot of legacy software just works. The emulator stops at the kernel.

According to Microsoft’s documentation on how emulation works on Arm, “emulation only supports user mode code and doesn’t support drivers. Any kernel mode components must be compiled as Arm64.” That one sentence explains your whole problem. A VPN app has two layers: the window you click, which runs in user-mode, and the network driver that moves your traffic, which is kernel-mode. Prism runs the first layer fine, but it can’t load the second.

No driver, no tunnel. That’s the whole story.

#What the Failure Actually Looks Like

The symptom depends on how the app’s installer is built. Here’s how to read what you’re seeing.

If you saw any of those on your Copilot Plus PC, you didn’t do anything wrong. The app was never built for the chip. This is the same gap covered in our guide to Windows on ARM app compatibility, where VPNs and anti-cheat tools are the usual holdouts. It’s also the exact reason a printer can stop working on Snapdragon X: the driver, again.

#Which VPNs Have a Native ARM64 Windows App?

A native ARM64 app sidesteps the driver problem, because the driver is compiled for the chip. A growing handful of providers now ship one. Check the vendor’s own download page for an ARM64 build before you subscribe.

One we can point to directly is Mullvad. Mullvad’s Windows on ARM announcement states that “the Mullvad VPN app is now available for users running Windows on ARM,” and confirms that “the Windows on ARM app supports Windows 10 and 11 for users of ARM64 computers.” That went live on February 7, 2025.

Other big names, including NordVPN and ExpressVPN, have publicized ARM Windows support too. We’re not listing them as guaranteed-native here for one reason: ARM support gets added, renamed, and occasionally rolled back, and the only source of truth is the vendor’s current download page. Before you pay, do this:

1. Go to the provider’s Windows download page.
2. Look for a download labeled ARM64, ARM, or Windows on Arm.
3. If you only see a generic “Windows” installer, check their help center for an ARM article, or ask support whether the app is native ARM64.

The difference is night and day. In our testing on a Snapdragon X Plus unit, a native ARM64 build installed and connected on the first try, while an emulated x86 client stalled at the connection step every single time. If your provider has a native app, use it. If it doesn’t, the next two methods don’t depend on the provider at all, and they’re where most Snapdragon X owners end up.

#How to Set Up OpenVPN or WireGuard on ARM Windows

Both OpenVPN and WireGuard publish ARM64 Windows builds, and both load a properly signed ARM64 driver. So they install cleanly on Snapdragon X. The catch is that you bring your own config file instead of clicking one button.

This route works when your VPN provider supports manual configs, which most privacy-focused ones do. The flow:

1. Download the ARM64 build of the OpenVPN GUI or the WireGuard app from the official project site.
2. Get the config file from your provider. For OpenVPN that’s a .ovpn file. For WireGuard it’s a short text config with your keys and the server endpoint.
3. Import the config into the app.
4. Connect, then confirm your IP changed and there’s no DNS leak.

Either way, you get a real ARM64 driver, which is exactly what the stock client couldn’t give you. The manual config route asks for ten minutes of setup, but it’s a one-time cost.

#WireGuard or OpenVPN: Which Is Better on Snapdragon X

WireGuard tends to be smoother on ARM. It’s lighter and reconnects faster after sleep, which matters on a laptop you open and close all day. When we tested the WireGuard ARM64 build on a Snapdragon X Plus laptop, it imported the config and connected in under a minute, with no driver warning. OpenVPN is the more universal pick if your provider only hands out .ovpn files, and our WireGuard vs OpenVPN breakdown has the full side-by-side.

#Using the Built-In Windows VPN Client as a Fallback

Windows has a VPN client built in, and it needs no third-party driver at all. It uses the networking stack that already ships with ARM Windows, so there’s nothing to fail at install time. This is the fallback that always works, as long as your provider supports a standard protocol like IKEv2 or L2TP.

According to Microsoft’s guide to connecting to a VPN in Windows, you add a connection through Settings, choose Windows (built-in) as the provider, enter the server address, and pick the VPN type your provider uses. The steps:

1. Open Settings, then go to Network & internet > VPN.
2. Select Add VPN.
3. Set VPN provider to Windows (built-in).
4. Name the connection, enter the server address, and choose the VPN type and sign-in info.
5. Save, then connect from the VPN page or the network flyout.

You’ll need a few details from your provider: the server address, the protocol, and your credentials or a pre-shared key. Not every consumer VPN hands those out, but business VPNs and privacy providers almost always do.

The downside is honest. You lose the app’s extras like a kill switch or auto-server-picking. The upside is it connects on a Snapdragon X without any driver drama, which matters most if your only goal is privacy on a network you don’t trust, like the cafe Wi-Fi we cover in do you need a VPN on public Wi-Fi.

#Bottom Line

Skip the troubleshooting rabbit hole and go straight to a native ARM64 app. If your provider has one on its download page, install it and you’re done. No native app? Set up WireGuard with a manual config for a real ARM64 driver.

Keep the built-in Windows VPN client as your no-driver fallback for anything that speaks IKEv2 or L2TP. Don’t keep reinstalling the same emulated x86 client and expecting a different result, because the chip rejects its driver every time. New to these machines? Our explainer on what a Copilot Plus PC is covers why the ARM chip behaves this way.

#Frequently Asked Questions