14 DAY TRIAL // While Microsoft is getting ready to retire Windows 10 Mobile, Windows phones could actually live a little longer thanks to all the effort that the developer community puts in a project support to make Windows 10 ARM run on these devices.
Most recently, Gustave Monce, who is one of the main devs behind this idea, rolled out full Windows 10 ARM images for Lumia 950 XL, technically making the process of installing the operating system on a Windows 10 Mobile device just a matter of clicks.
According to the official page where you can find FFU firmware versions of WOA devices, the process shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes, pretty much because it all comes down to flashing an image by following the simple instructions available here.
The OS that you’re going to install on your Lumia 950 XL with this method is the latest Windows 10 on ARM preview build for the Fast ring in the Windows Insider program. Only English is available, but you can further install other language packs after deploying the operating system.
Backups, backups, backups
“FFU firmwares provided here contain a pre-deployed Windows 10 on ARM installation that will land directly into the Windows 10 Out-Of-Box experience after flashing. Those FFU firmwares are ready to go and require no further action from your end to get Windows 10 working on your device,” the website reads.
Needless to say, once you flash Windows 10 on ARM, the original version of Windows 10 Mobile on your device is completely removed, so you should create a backup before anything else.
Windows 10 ARM is installed on the Lumia 950 XL using the Compact DISM function, so your device will then have some 25GB of free space.
Keep in mind that this isn’t an official Microsoft project, so the company doesn’t provide any type of support should something go wrong.