Windows Setup

This guide covers installing the Axelera software on Windows 11. The main path is native Windows — you install the driver and Axelera components directly on Windows without WSL.

Feature	Ubuntu (Linux)	Windows (Native)	Windows (WSL2)
Network deployment	Yes	No	Yes
Inference	Yes	AxRuntime API only	No

For model deployment, you need Linux or WSL2 — see Step 2 below.

Step 1: Install the Windows driver​

The Axelera Windows driver is not yet Microsoft-certified (certification is in progress). Until then, it requires testsigning mode to install.

1a. Disable BitLocker (if active)​

To temporarily suspend BitLocker:

1. Open the Windows search bar, type BitLocker, and select Manage BitLocker
2. If BitLocker is active, click Suspend protection and confirm
3. BitLocker reactivates automatically after the next reboot — suspend it again before any future bcdedit changes

1b. Enable testsigning​

Open a Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

bcdedit /set testsigning on

Restart your PC. The desktop will show "Test Mode" in the lower-right corner — this confirms testsigning is active.

1c. Grant "Lock pages in memory" privilege​

This step is required once per machine. The Axelera runtime needs the Lock pages in memory privilege to operate correctly.

1. Press Win + S, type secpol.msc, and press Enter to open the Local Security Policy editor
2. In the left pane, navigate to Local Policies → User Rights Assignment
3. In the right pane, double-click Lock pages in memory
4. Click Add User or Group, enter your Windows username, and confirm

Log out and back in (or reboot) for the privilege to take effect.

1d. Download the drivers​

Download the driver archives from the Axelera software portal:

• Metis driver (required for all hardware): MetisDriver-1.3.11.zip
• Switchtec PCIe switch driver (required only for the Metis PCIe 4-AIPU card): switchtec-kmdf-0.7_2019.zip

Extract each archive locally. Each extracted folder contains three files: .cat, .inf, and .sys.

1e. Remove any previous driver version​

If you already have an older Metis driver installed, remove it completely before installing the new one. Windows can keep multiple drivers for the same device.

In Device Manager, locate the Metis device under Neural Processors, right-click and select Uninstall device:

In the confirmation dialog, check "Attempt to remove the driver for this device", then click Uninstall:

Verify the device now appears under Other devices as a generic PCI Device — this confirms the driver is fully removed:

1f. Install via Device Manager​

Open Device Manager (right-click the Windows Start button → Device Manager).

From the menu, open Action → Add Drivers:

Set the path to the folder where you extracted the Metis driver files:

Select Install the driver anyway when prompted:

Confirm that the Metis device now appears under Neural Processors:

If you have a Metis PCIe 4-AIPU card, repeat the same steps for the Switchtec driver:

Step 2 (Optional): Install WSL2 for model deployment​

Network deployment is supported exclusively in Linux. WSL2 is the recommended approach for deploying models for Windows use.

2a. Install WSL2​

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu-22.04

Restart your computer when prompted. After restart, Ubuntu opens and asks you to create a username and password.

2b. Clone the SDK in a Windows-accessible folder​

After the restart, open a regular Command Prompt (not PowerShell, not Administrator) and enter WSL:

wsl

Inside WSL, clone to a path under /mnt/c/ so both Windows and WSL can reach it:

# /mnt/c/ maps to C:\ on Windows
cd /mnt/c/Axelera
git clone https://github.com/axelera-ai-hub/voyager-sdk.git
cd voyager-sdk

This means:

• From WSL: /mnt/c/Axelera/voyager-sdk
• From Windows: C:\Axelera\voyager-sdk

2c. Follow the Linux setup inside WSL​

Install the SDK inside WSL, then use it for model deployment:

1. SDK Install — clone, install, and activate
2. deploy.py — compile and deploy models for use on Windows

Step 3: Install Python (Windows native)​

1. Download Python for Windows from the official website. The latest stable release tested by Axelera is 3.13.5.

2. During installation:

   • Enable "Add Python to PATH"
   • Select "Disable path length limit" when prompted

3. Add the Python installation path and the Python\Scripts path to the Windows Path environment variable:

   

4. Create a virtual environment:

   python -m venv venv-win
   

Step 4: Install Windows Axelera components​

Open a regular Command Prompt (not PowerShell, not Administrator) and navigate to your SDK directory:

cd C:\Axelera\voyager-sdk

Create a local download directory and download all packages:

rmdir /s /q windows-packages 2>nul
mkdir windows-packages
cd windows-packages

curl -L -O https://software.axelera.ai/artifactory/axelera-win/packages/1.6.x/axelera-win-device-installer.exe
curl -L -O https://software.axelera.ai/artifactory/axelera-win/packages/1.6.x/axelera-win-runtime-installer.exe
curl -L -O https://software.axelera.ai/artifactory/axelera-win/packages/1.6.x/axelera-win-syslibs-installer.exe
curl -L -O https://software.axelera.ai/artifactory/axelera-win/packages/1.6.x/axelera-win-toolchain-deps-installer.exe
curl -L -O https://software.axelera.ai/artifactory/axelera-win/packages/1.6.x/axelera-win-services-installer.exe

cd ..

4a. Install the executable packages​

Using Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Axelera\voyager-sdk\windows-packages and run each .exe installer in sequence.

After installation, verify via Settings → Apps & features (or Add or remove programs):

All five packages must be listed:

You must see: Axelera Cross Compiled Libraries Package, Axelera Device Package, Axelera Runtime, Axelera Services, and RISC-V Toolchain and Dependencies for Axelera. Exact version numbers will vary.

Close all Command Prompt and PowerShell windows after the installers complete, then open a new Command Prompt before continuing.

4b. Install Python packages​

Activate the virtual environment and install the packages:

venv-win\Scripts\activate.bat

pip install --extra-index-url https://software.axelera.ai/artifactory/api/pypi/axelera-pypi/simple axelera-runtime==1.6.1 axelera-llm==1.6.1 axelera-types==1.6.1

venv-win\Scripts\activate.bat

Step 5: Run examples​

First, obtain a deployed model. If you completed the WSL2 setup in Step 2 and deployed a model there, it is accessible from Windows at C:\Axelera\voyager-sdk\build\. Otherwise, download a pre-built model:

axdownloadmodel resnet50-imagenet-onnx

The model downloads to C:\Axelera\voyager-sdk\build\.

Run inference using the axrunmodel utility (measures performance):

axrunmodel C:\Axelera\voyager-sdk\build\resnet50-imagenet-onnx\resnet50-imagenet-onnx\1\model.json

Run inference using the Python API:

Download an image to C:\Axelera\voyager-sdk\examples\axruntime\images, then:

cd examples\axruntime
python -m axruntime_example -v --aipu-cores 1 --labels imagenet-labels.txt ..\..\build\resnet50-imagenet-onnx\resnet50-imagenet-onnx\1\model.json images

Step 6: Run LLM models​

A set of precompiled LLM models can run natively on Windows. To see available models:

axllm --help-network

Run a model in single-prompt mode:

axllm llama-3-2-1b-1024-4core-static --prompt "Give me a joke"

Run interactively in chat mode:

axllm llama-3-2-1b-1024-4core-static

For all options, see the LLM Inference Guide.

Using PowerShell​

After completing installation, you can use PowerShell instead of Command Prompt. The only difference is how you activate the virtual environment:

.\venv-win\Scripts\Activate.ps1

Once activated, all the same commands work as in Command Prompt.

Get-ExecutionPolicy

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Use Command Prompt (not PowerShell) for the installation steps — particularly Step 4a. PowerShell is fine for running examples and day-to-day use after setup is complete.

Troubleshooting​

See also​

• SDK Install — the main Linux/WSL installation guide
• Verify Setup — confirm hardware and SDK are working
• LLM Inference Guide — full LLM options including Windows