If you’ve found this post because you’re trying to figure out how to get SQL Server to run locally on a Copilot+ PC with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, then I’m sorry you’re going to be disappointed.
Last week, I knew I needed to say goodbye to the laptop I’ve had for 4.5 years (I got it in Feb 2020, just before the world changed). I’d had some blue screens of death earlier in the year (not related to CrowdStrike), and while I’d managed to solve them earlier in the year, they came back recently, and I was losing too much time trying to get around them.
My old laptop was an HP Spectre X360, with 16GB RAM. I liked this machine. Before then, I’d had a couple of Surface Pro devices, and really liked the “2-in-1” concept of a laptop that can behave like a tablet. I think client meetings are more suited to writing on a flat surface, rather than always typing. There’s a better connection with the people in the room if there’s no screen between us.
But there has been a big push for the new “Copilot+ PC” devices recently, using Snapdragon processors. Even Surface machines are moving to use them, with the release of Surface Pro 11th Edition devices. So I didn’t feel overly concerned about getting the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, with Snapdragon Elite processor. I wanted to evaluate it, and knew that in the coming months I’ll have customers getting them, so it was an opportunity to know what struggles there might be. I do use Adobe InDesign from time to time, and that’s on the list of non-supported applications on ARM64 architecture. They have a beta version though, which made me less concerned. OBS Studio supposedly works, but it said it wasn’t supported and I put it on a list of things to figure out.
I knew that having a local copy of SQL Server might be a problem, but I also expected that I’d be able to resolve this by installing SQL in docker, as people do on Macs. I also knew that I’d be able to use Azure SQL Edge if I needed.
The Lenovo felt very new and shiny, which is what you want with a new laptop. I installed what I could, and SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition wouldn’t install. At first I thought it was just about the AzureAttestService not being able to run, but was obviously more than that.
And I also found that a SQL 2022 image in docker wouldn’t run either. It said it was fine, but then when I tried to start the container, I got an error about “Invalid mapping of address“.
The Azure SQL Edge image installed successfully, but it was two years old. Version 15. As it says over at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql-edge/disconnected-deployment, it’s no longer supported on ARM64, but I guess if you’re happy with an older version, that’s fine.
I tried various other things according to the pages I’ve linked to above, but nothing got me into a state I was wanting. So then I had a decision to make – whether I really need to run SQL locally, or whether it’s enough to use Azure SQL.
Perhaps the thing that tipped me over the edge was that the device always listed itself as being in tablet mode. It wasn’t – despite being a Yoga, the screen doesn’t flip all the way around, and it can’t act as a tablet at all. But Windows Explorer had the checkboxes showing all the time and wouldn’t go into Compact Mode. I had lost all my enthusiasm for this new machine, and that’s not how new machines are supposed to be.
A day later, I was giving up on the “Copilot+ PC”, and getting an “AI PC”, the newer version of the HP Spectre, with the Intel Core Ultra 7 processor. And it’s been good. It feels a lot like my old machine, but with a few small differences.
My advice to SQL professionals… the Copilot+ PCs mean you won’t to be unable to have SQL installed locally, so make your decision based on that.
