USB boot error: Couldn’t find the EFI\boot\bootaa64.efi

When you boot the computer using a USB setup disk on a system with an ARM64 processor, such as Samsung Galaxy Book Go (which comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU), the following error may appear on the screen:

Searching for aa64 EFI boot loader
Couldn't find the efi\boot\bootaa64.efi.

or

Could not locate 'efi\boot\bootaa64.efi'.
bootaa64.efi error usb setup disk
Screenshot: x64 USB setup disk (made using Rufus) boot error on ARM64 system.

Cause

This error occurs if you’re using a USB setup disk containing Windows 10/11 x64 or Windows 10 x86. Whereas you need the ARM64 ISO/USB because your processor is based on the ARM architecture. When booting from an ARM64 system, it looks for the aa64 EFI bootloader file bootaa64.efi.

The EFI firmware boots a specific file under \EFI\boot. The name of the file depends on the architecture. For example, on 64-bit systems, it is bootx64.efi; on 32-bit systems, it is bootia32.efi. While on an AA64 machine (ARM64), it is bootaa64.efi.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, download the ARM ISO from Microsoft via www.uupdump.net.

Once downloaded, use Rufus to create a bootable USB setup disk from the downloaded ISO. For more information, see How to Create Bootable USB Disk from ISO.

Note:

If you’re using Microsoft Surface, create a USB recovery drive using the instructions here:

Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface – Microsoft Support

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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

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2 thoughts on “USB boot error: Couldn’t find the EFI\boot\bootaa64.efi”

  1. Hey Ramesh,

    Thank you for posting this article.

    This is the first article I’ve found that mentions installing Windows 11 on the ARM architecture.

    I don’t have time to try this out tonight but excited to try out this solution tomorrow!

    Kudos!!
    Bryan

    Reply

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