Get a Windows 11 Development Environment for Free

Windows 11 development environment version 2307 is based on Windows 11 build 22621.1992, the latest stable Windows 11 release that includes Patch Tuesday updates for July 2023. Virtual machines are available in four formats: VMWare (supports Workstation Pro and Workstation Player), Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and Parallels. Downloading WDE in one of those formats lets you set up a Windows 11-based virtual machine with just a few clicks.

1. Windows 11 VM

URL: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/virtual-machines/

We currently package our virtual machines for four different virtualization software options: VMWare, Hyper-V (Gen2), VirtualBox, and Parallels. These virtual machines contain an evaluation version of Windows that expires on the date posted. If the evaluation period expires, the desktop background will turn black, you will see a persistent desktop notification indicating that the system is not genuine, and the PC will shut down every hour.

• VMWare
• Hyper-V (Gen2)
• VirtualBox
• Parallels

Expiration date: September 13, 2023

The evaluation virtual machine includes:

• Windows 11 Enterprise (Evaluation)
• Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition with UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure, and Windows App SDK for C# workloads enabled
• Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 enabled with Ubuntu installed
• Windows Terminal installed
• Developer mode enabled (the recently announced Dev Home Preview app is not there yet).

Still, several limitations are worth noting. Although Microsoft’s virtual machines are free for download and use, they are only valid for 90 days. According to the official website, WDE version 2307 will expire on October 10, 2023 (expect a newer version with a new expiration date next month). Also, you cannot activate a WDE—Microsoft says these do not support activation with a product key. Finally, Windows 11 development environment is x86-only, and Microsoft does not plan to provide developers with an ARM version.

If you want to try Windows 11 development environment, head to the official website and click one of four available formats. Before installing, make sure you have a minimum of 8GB of RAM and 70GB of free disk space. Microsoft also provides “clean” Windows Enterprise evaluation images without extra software installed. You can download them here (Windows 11) and here (Windows 10).

2. VMware 17.0 Pro

URL: https://www.vmware.com/au/products/workstation-pro/workstation-pro-evaluation.html

Workstation 17 Pro improves on the industry defining technology with DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.3 3D Accelerated graphics support, a dark mode user interface, support for Windows 11, , the vctl CLI for running and building containers and Kubernetes clusters, added support for the latest Windows and Linux operating systems, and more.

Use the links below to start your free, fully functional 30-day trial, no registration required.

Download Link: https://www.vmware.com/go/getworkstation-win

3. Special Code

For Win:

Evaluation to Full Version: https://blog.51sec.org/2023/01/how-to-upgrade-windows-10-evaluation.html

For VMWare:

Special Activiation Code:

NZ4RR-FTK5H-H81C1-Q30QH-1V2LA

4. Windows 10/11 Evaluation Download

https://www.microsoft.com/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-10-enterprise
https://www.microsoft.com/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-11-enterprise