Nikon Studio will not load on my Surface laptop.

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Nikon Studio will not load on my Surface laptop.

Laurie Tonkin 0

Nikon say problem is with Microsoft as Surface uses a different processor architecture which leads to compatibility issues. So question is, How, What is required to fix?ure

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Answer 1

Jess-Q 9,585 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Laurie Tonkin

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Regarding your issue, this behavior is expected on some Surface models that use ARM‑based processors (such as Snapdragon). These devices run Windows on ARM, and while Windows can emulate many traditional desktop applications, some applications especially creative software that relies on specific codecs or low‑level components are not fully compatible unless the developer provides ARM64 support.

In the case of Nikon NX Studio, the application is not currently provided as a native ARM64 version. While some Nikon components may install, NX Studio itself relies on certain libraries or components that are not fully compatible with Windows on ARM. As a result, the app may fail to install, not launch at all, or close immediately after starting.

To move forward, you may consider one of the following options:

Use an Intel/AMD‑based Windows PC to run Nikon Studio.
Use ARM‑compatible photo editing software (such as Lightroom or Photoshop) that supports Nikon RAW files on your Surface.

I understand this can be especially frustrating, since from a user perspective everything appears to meet the Windows 11 requirements, yet the application still doesn’t work as expected. For a long‑term solution, I recommend reaching out to Nikon Support and asking whether an ARM64 version of NX Studio is planned, as only Nikon can address this at the application level.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Jian 0 Reputation points

2026-01-18T03:40:28.9666667+00:00

Have exactly the same problem, the installer runs without an error, but only Nikon Transfer 2 installs. NX Studio itself does not install. Surface Laptop 7th edition.
Jess-Q 9,585 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-19T10:13:21.6933333+00:00

Hi @Jian

Thanks for the details.

On the Surface Laptop 7th Edition (ARM-based), Nikon NX Studio does not install because the application is not currently supported on Windows on ARM. The installer runs without errors, but the NX Studio component is skipped, while Nikon Transfer 2 installs successfully.

For more details, please refer to: Arm-based Surface devices FAQ

This is a compatibility limitation of NX Studio rather than an issue with your Surface device. To use NX Studio, you’ll need an x64-based Windows PC. Alternatively, you may consider ARM-supported photo editing applications on your Surface. I apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.
John Deur 0 Reputation points

2026-03-14T07:13:58.6166667+00:00

Ironic that we bought a Surface Laptop because we've been using a Surface Pro to do photo editing in the field and wanted a bigger screen version with the same 3x2 screen format and screen "look," only to find that one of the software packages that we've been using for over a decade, Nikon NX Studio, isn't supported. We find it doubly ironic as Microsoft made the computer and made the operating system, yet doesn't support applications specifically written for that operating system on their own computer. Fortunately, there's only one step in our photo editing process that we still use Studio for because, well, we just like the way it does that one thing very nicely for us. Of course, this isn't the only application that doesn't work on a Surface Laptop - of all things, Adobe Acrobat doesn't either. It would be useful (not to mention restoring our desire to buy and use Microsoft products in the future) if Microsoft would work with software vendors to help them expediently port these and other packages to their own computing products - frankly Microsoft has a lot of egg on its face on this one (not that this is a unique situation).

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Nikon Studio will not load on my Surface laptop.

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