Free virtual machines! Get your free virtual machines here! Hot off the launch of Windows 11 22H2, Microsoft has made available VMs powered by this latest operating system version.
Free and on demand.
These are great for developers who want to start writing apps for the new OS, or you know, regular folks who are curious to see what’s new in the new Windows 11 release. If you are one, you can now download these virtual machines that the Redmond-based company has just put up.
The software titan updated its VMs with the latest tooling, and these virtual machines are loaded full of developer tools, including Visual Studio 2022, WSL, and other utilities.
Here’s what they offer:
- Windows 11 Enterprise SKU (Evaluation)
- Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition with UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure, and Windows App SDK for C# workloads
- Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 with Ubuntu pre-installed
- Windows Terminal
- Developer Mode
Rock solid!
It is worth mentioning that these Windows 11-based virtual machines are not entirely free, in the sense that you can use these VMs at no cost until January 10, 2023. After this date, Microsoft will ask you to activate your copy of Windows just like any other virtual machine or local installation.
Meaning you can activate your system with a genuine key to continue using it beyond this date.
Still, two months should be more than enough time for people to get acquainted with the latest operating system’s tooling and features.
These official Windows 11 virtual machines are available in four variants for different virtualization software: VMware, VirtualBox, Hyper-V, and Parallels. You need at least 20 GB of free disk space to get started with one of these puppies.
Details and download links are available on the official website.
