Microsoft has updated Windows 11 Virtual Machines for August 2023. They are available for free download and use in four different formats for major hypervisors on the market and are based on OS build 22621.2134, the latest cumulative update released a year ago. couple of weeks.
Windows 11 virtual machines are intended for developer professionals, students, and software programming enthusiasts. They are ideal to access the Windows 11 development environment (WDE) as they enable you to quickly build Windows applications with a virtual machine by including the latest versions of Windows, developer tools, SDKs, and a collection of ready-to-use samples.
How to use Windows 11 virtual machines
Virtual machines are pre-built and do not require any additional configuration. In addition, Microsoft offers the development environment in four main variants at the user’s choice: VMWare, Hyper-V Gen2, Parallels, and VirtualBox.
It is simply a matter of downloading the corresponding ZIP compressed file from the official Windows Dev Center portal, decompressing it and running the machine to access this environment that includes:
- Windows 11 Enterprise SKU.
- Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition, with UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure, and Windows Apps SDK for C# workloads enabled.
- Windows Subsystem for Linux with Ubuntu pre-installed.
- Windows Terminal installed.
- Developer mode enabled.
It should be noted that it includes a Windows 11 Enterprise free use license for a determined time, which is usually 90 days from its publication.
These Windows 11 virtual machines are very interesting, taking into account that they are completely free and serve to thoroughly assess (or learn about it if you are concerned) the Windows development environment. During the license period you can customize the system and use all its capabilities. Furthermore, all of the listed developer tools are available without the need for additional installations.
