Download a free Windows 11 virtual machine


  • Staff

Get a Windows 11 development environment​

Start building Windows applications quickly by using a virtual machine with the latest versions of Windows, the developer tools, SDKs, and samples ready to go.

Download a virtual machine​

We currently package our virtual machines for four different virtualization software options: VMWare, Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and Parallels.

Download links: VMWare, Hyper-V, VirtualBox, Parallels
File size: 20 GB
Expiration date: September 11, 2022

The evaluation virtual machine includes:​

  • Window 11 Enterprise (Evaluation)
  • Visual Studio 2022 with the UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure, and Windows App SDK for C# workloads enabled
  • Windows Subsystem for Linux enabled with Ubuntu installed
  • Developer mode enabled
  • Windows Terminal installed

Source:
 

Attachments

  • Hyper-V_Manager.png
    Hyper-V_Manager.png
    7 KB · Views: 6
At first, I thought 20GB was a bit much, but I tried and it's only a 5-minute download, so this could be quite handy for testing stuff that won't work in the sandbox.

Edit - I've just noticed this is 40GB when unzipped :scream: I think I may give this a miss.
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Workstation
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    doofenshmirtz evil incorporated
    CPU
    Ryzen 9 5950X
    Motherboard
    Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Formula
    Memory
    Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO Black 64GB (4x16GB) 3600MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB ROG Strix LC OC
    Sound Card
    Sound BlasterX Katana
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x27" Dell U2724D & 1 x 34" Dell U3415W
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 980 Pro 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 NVMe Solid State
    Drive
    PSU
    ASUS ROG THOR 850W 80 Plus Platinum
    Case
    ASUS ROG Strix Helios Midi-Tower ARGB Gaming Case
    Cooling
    ASUS ROG Strix LC Performance RGB AIO CPU Liquid Cooler - 360mm
    Keyboard
    Logi Ergo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    900/100 Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, Malwarebytes Pro
    Other Info
    HP M281 Printer
    Logitech Brio Stream webcam
    Yeti X mic
  • Operating System
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop
    CPU
    i7
At first, I thought 20GB was a bit much, but I tried and it's only a 5-minute download, so this could be quite handy for testing stuff that won't work in the sandbox.
Hmmm .. developing virtually?

Like developing on a Preview Windows with Preview Visual Studio ... no real world... just my thoughts though.. I'm sure others will find it helpful, but that being said - thanx Shawn, John always good to know.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows
I have a virtual computer that i use for testing Malware, other tools for cleaning computers & also for testing viruses ! It is a bare bones with nothing much other than what i need for testing things, never use it for personal use !

Chuck
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows11 23H2 (OS Build 22631.2428)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP HP ENVY TE01
    CPU
    2.90 gigahertz Intel Core i7-10700
    Motherboard
    Board: HP 8767 A (SMVB)
    Memory
    16214 Megabytes Usable Installed Memor
    Hard Drives
    1511.52 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
    1418.15 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless
    Mouse
    M 185 wireless
    Internet Speed
    12 ms Jitter 8 ms Download 10.5 Mbps Upload 1.7
    Browser
    Edge & FF
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
What's really interesting is that unless they have changed it since I downloaded and tried it, it is an MBR virtual disk booking in legacy BIOS mode, which is not supposed to be supported by Windows 11.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
What does this offer apart from temporary activation that you could not download and set up youself?

It seems to me if you have the experience to use this download for its development intent, you are savvy enough to download it all anyway?

Is there something special about using Enterprise apart from fact that certain group policy edits do not work in Pro?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
What does this offer apart from temporary activation that you could not download and set up youself?

It seems to me if you have the experience to use this download for its development intent, you are savvy enough to download it all anyway?

Is there something special about using Enterprise apart from fact that certain group policy edits do not work in Pro?
Not sure what it buys one either unless it´s ways of tempting people who procure I.T hardware on behalf of work organisations who are currently still on W10 or even on W7 to go for W11. However a better and cheaper option for those people might be to go for Ms´s AZURE or Cloud VDI options in a corporate setting.

I might download this though just to try it out in order to see see what´s in it. I´ll convert to "real" and boot from a real vhdx and see what happens. As for the unzipped 40GB size doesn´t W11 require 48GB of HDD anyway whether you use it or not, At least to install it. I´m currently only using 30GB on W11 with quite a few apps installed !! so maybe after W11 has installed one can reduce partition or vhdx size.

Skjámynd 2022-07-04 110121.png

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,7,10,11 Linux Arch Linux
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
Expiration date: September 11, 2022
That fixed expiry date is a shame. The last free VM I downloaded from MS was a Win8.1 Enterprise one to showcase IE11, but that had a 90-day licence, and MS specifically told you to set a checkpoint so that you could start again (and again) whenever it expired. Mine's still working.....
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
I guess I should start using Hyper-V since I have a physical instance of Insider. For another day. I am working iwth virt-manager (QEMU/KVM) not now or ever on Windows until maybe an imaginary day when Windows is open-source
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Fedora 39 Silverblue and Rhino Linux . Kernels 6.6x and 6.7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HomeBrew
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight-Core Processo
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell
    Hard Drives
    4 2 in Linuz raid0
    Keyboard
    Eluktronics
    Mouse
    Eluktronics
    Browser
    Firefox and Chromium
    Other Info
    Gnome 45
I guess I should start using Hyper-V since I have a physical instance of Insider. For another day. I am working iwth virt-manager (QEMU/KVM) not now or ever on Windows until maybe an imaginary day when Windows is open-source
Or install in a virtual hard disk and create a dual boot entry?

This way it activates if same edition e.g. pro
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0

Latest Support Threads

Back
Top Bottom