Guide to installing Arc Browser on Windows 10

ArcOn10.md

NOTICE: Arc now supports Windows 10 officially. This guide is no longer necessary.

As this is not an official way of installing Arc, if you encounter any issues do NOT report them to the developers, they did not intend for people to be running Arc on Windows 10.

This guide is a bit more manual since I wanted to respect the developers' wishes and not directly link any downloads to the beta of Arc.

I don't know how this will work with updates, you may just need to redo the process to update it, but I'm not sure

1. Install this font: https://aka.ms/SegoeFluentIcons (this fixes the icons since Windows 10 doesn't have this font installed by default)
2. Download the Arc appinstaller and open it in notepad/some other text editor
3. Copy everything inside and paste it into this website: https://codebeautify.org/xmlviewer (this is optional, but it makes reading and copying from the file easier)
4. Find the mainpackage @Uri, it should end in Arc.x64.msix, and open that in a new tab. It should download that msix file.
5. Scrolling down a bit more, there should be two dependencies with their own @Uris, download them both and install them as normal (double click, press install)
6. Open the Arc msix with 7-Zip or WinRAR (others will probably work, but those are the two I've tested)
7. Extract everything inside the folder to where you want the app to be installed

Technically, these next instructions aren't required, however it makes Windows actually recognize it as an app and probably prevents some weird bugs

8. Open Settings, go into Update & Security, then For Developers, and toggle Developer Mode, you'll get a confirmation window, press Yes
9. In the newly extracted files, find AppxManifest.xml and open it in notepad/some other text editor
10. Open the Find and Replace menu (Ctrl + H or Edit->Replace for notepad), for Find what: put 10.0.22000.0, and for Replace with: put 10.0.10000.1000, then press Replace and save the file.
11. Open Powershell (from the start menu usually), then type the following commands.

cd "[PATH TO YOUR ARC FILES HERE]"
Add-AppxPackage -Register ".\AppxManifest.xml"

12. Optionally, disable Developer Mode using the same steps as step 8.

Now you should be able to see Arc in your start menu and have it function as normal

Simplified this process with PowerShell:
https://github.com/devz3ro/Arc-Windows-10

I don't know how or why, but with this script Arc started without any problems now it works! thank you!

No problem, glad it was useful. The Arc auto updater doesn't work in Windows 10, and I couldn't see myself going through the steps manually just to update it every time.
I added a .bat file to make it easier to install / update. Just download the .bat to the same location as the .ps1 file, right click it and run it as Administrator (once Developer Mode is enabled + prerequisites installed), and it should handle the rest.

amazing work @devz3ro, quick question: will i need to configure every setting/pinned tab again after updating Arc?

i'll have to see if I can add logic to update and preserve user data

Simplified this process with PowerShell:
https://github.com/devz3ro/Arc-Windows-10

I don't know how or why, but with this script Arc started without any problems now it works! thank you!

No problem, glad it was useful. The Arc auto updater doesn't work in Windows 10, and I couldn't see myself going through the steps manually just to update it every time.
I added a .bat file to make it easier to install / update. Just download the .bat to the same location as the .ps1 file, right click it and run it as Administrator (once Developer Mode is enabled + prerequisites installed), and it should handle the rest.

amazing work @devz3ro, quick question: will i need to configure every setting/pinned tab again after updating Arc?

Run taskkill /f /t /im arc.exe from the command line, delete the Arc directory, and then re-run the .bat file as administrator and wait for it to finish. This should update Arc and keep all of your settings / pins.

I found another way to install

1. Open Registry Editor
2. Navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
3. Set UBR to ffffffff. (remember the original value and change it back after the installation is complete)
4. Install arc with Arc.appinstaller (download link: https://releases.arc.net/windows/Arc.appinstaller)
5. Set UBR to original value

@T1ckbase's solution seemed to work, thanks!

@T1ckbase great find. I have confirmed this as well, and will be uploading a new version soon that I have 90% finished atm. Using this method doesn't seem to need developer mode enabled to work. You will however have to uninstall the unpackaged version first for it to work.

Updated to use this method. I've tested as much as I can, let me know if there are any issues.

https://github.com/devz3ro/Arc-Windows-10

i fuckin cannot do this damnit i am openin it in note pad dos error then copy em then still nothin cant u fuckin explain a lil more deeper

What are you having an issue with?, the whole process is automated with poweshell @ https://github.com/devz3ro/Arc-Windows-10

Ok so im having an issue, the screen is just black, like the tabs dont load

In the address bar go here: arc://settings/system

Make sure the following is enabled "Use graphics acceleration when available"

@devz3ro I'm having the same issue as @SxliHahaYez , When I try to go to settings to turn on graphics acceleration its still just black.

I found another way to install

1. Open Registry Editor
2. Navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
3. Set UBR to ffffffff. (remember the original value and change it back after the installation is complete)
4. Install arc with Arc.appinstaller (download link: https://releases.arc.net/windows/Arc.appinstaller)
5. Set UBR to original value

this worked, thanks!

@amraj007
If you didn't get invited for beta access (like me), you can create an account using a Windows 11 VM
Once you have an account, you can log into your patched Arc on Windows 10

I found another way to install

1. Open Registry Editor
2. Navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
3. Set UBR to ffffffff. (remember the original value and change it back after the installation is complete)
4. Install arc with Arc.appinstaller (download link: https://releases.arc.net/windows/Arc.appinstaller)
5. Set UBR to original value

I for one am unable to modify the system registry or run something as admin. When I launch Arc.exe after following the original instructions, I now (after 1.0 got released) get "Arc is not installed, please run [link]". Does anybody know if this can be circumvented without having Dev mode enabled, modifying HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or running as admin?

@T1ckbase great find. I have confirmed this as well, and will be uploading a new version soon that I have 90% finished atm. Using this method doesn't seem to need developer mode enabled to work. You will however have to uninstall the unpackaged version first for it to work.

Do you know if uninstalling the unpackaged version will remove my existing data with Arc?

@T1ckbase great find. I have confirmed this as well, and will be uploading a new version soon that I have 90% finished atm. Using this method doesn't seem to need developer mode enabled to work. You will however have to uninstall the unpackaged version first for it to work.

Do you know if uninstalling the unpackaged version will remove my existing data with Arc?

Unfortunately it will. But once you are on the packaged version, you can upgrade without losing any data.

any fixes?

any fixes?

Just ignore it

any fixes?

Just ignore it

I'm interested in removing or suppressing this error, that's was my question about

Interestingly, today, Arc updated from within the app with zero issues on my Win10 install - is it possible they've added Win10 support in the latest update without saying anything about it?

Interestingly, today, Arc updated from within the app with zero issues on my Win10 install - is it possible they've added Win10 support in the latest update without saying anything about it?

Looks like they have added support for Windows 10 as of version 1.3.X. I will deprecate my repo, thanks for the heads up.

@T1ckbase great find. I have confirmed this as well, and will be uploading a new version soon that I have 90% finished atm. Using this method doesn't seem to need developer mode enabled to work. You will however have to uninstall the unpackaged version first for it to work.

Do you know if uninstalling the unpackaged version will remove my existing data with Arc?

Unfortunately it will. But once you are on the packaged version, you can upgrade without losing any data.

any way to backup user data before deleting arc installed via this method?
or, is there a way to remove the appmanifest entry from the startmenu, incase that lets me have dual arc installs for a moment?

ok i figured it out myself:
using the arcInstaller.ps1 that was send here ages ago now, it worked fine. but it doesnt run unless you update the windows app sdk to 1.5, so here's a link to that: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/windows-app-sdk/downloads
i used the big "download latest stable" button and it worked

I found another way to install

1. Open Registry Editor
2. Navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
3. Set UBR to ffffffff. (remember the original value and change it back after the installation is complete)
4. Install arc with Arc.appinstaller (download link: https://releases.arc.net/windows/Arc.appinstaller)
5. Set UBR to original value

this works fine for me, nice!

Yeah I know this conversation does not uptade for months now, but for the context: I've already install arc when the version was v.0.13.x, and when I try to update with the .bat, the uptader says that is already have a version of arc install on the computer, and I need to delete this version before updating. But I don't want really to delete. So I delete my files and restart everything, or there is any other alternative ?

That's it, guys! Since today Arc is officially supported for Windows 10!

🎉