You can avoid the added cost and legally download VMs that Microsoft is currently providing. You can download pre-configured Windows 11 VMs for free and then deploy them using a hypervisor. They are currently offered for the following hypervisors:
Microsoft Hyper-VOracle VirtualBoxVMware WorkstationParallels
Microsoft offers different downloadable Virtual machine setup for these hypervisors since each of them require a different format. Below are the details for the respective hypervisor:
Hyper V: VHD & VHDXOracle VirtualBox: VDI, VHD, VMDKVMWare Workstation: VMDKParallels: VDI, VHD, VMDK
Since these VMs are intended purely for development and testing purposes, they come prepacked with a few tools so that you will not have to create a VM from scratch and then install the tools yourself. Here is a list of the included software and enabled features:
Window 11 Enterprise (Evaluation)Visual Studio 2022 with the UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure, and Windows App SDK for C# workloads enabledWindows Subsystem for Linux enabled with Ubuntu installedDeveloper mode enabledWindows Terminal installed
Each image for the said hypervisors is nearly 20 GBs in size, therefore, you need to have the available space on your hard drive to install the VM. Let us now show you how to download and install these VMs on their respective hypervisors.
Download Windows 11 Virtual Machines for Hyper V, VMWare, VirtualBox, Parallels
Here are the steps to download the Virtual Machines directly, instead of manually creating one using a Windows 11 ISO image: To prevent your VM from expiring, it is recommended that you capture a checkpoint as soon as the VM is deployed and then revert to it when it is nearing its expiration date. Of course, this will also undo any configurations made to the VM. The VM will then immediately begin downloading. When it finishes, you can now create a new VM in the selected hypervisor.
How to Create a Windows Virtual Machine in Hyper V
You can perform the following steps after downloading the VM for “Hyper-V” using the guide given above: In the image below, you can see that the Hyper V VM has been deployed and updated via Windows Update with preinstalled software. Learn how to enable Hyper-V in Windows Home edition. Note: You cannot use “Generation 2” since the VM is already configured for Generation 1. Note: This VM will need internet connectivity to install updates and renew the expiration date after installation. You can apply the same methodology and provide a pre-configured VHD for a VM for the other hypervisors as well, which includes VMware Workstation, Oracle VirtualBox, and Parallels.
Final Thoughts
Windows pre-configured VMs is a time-saver for the developers. Everything needed to begin any testing or development is already there, and a user does not need to spend the time installing the OS in the first place. If you are looking for an isolated development/testing environment for a few days, you can create a free VM in a few minutes.
