Free Windows 10 development virtual machines for HyperV, Parallels, VirtualBox, and VMWare

The post points out that Microsoft provides free, time-boxed Windows 10 development virtual machines for Mac, Windows, or Linux users. It says these images are ready for VMWare, Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and Parallels, and are meant for quick testing or for getting a build running fast.

Reading notes

#

• Microsoft offers free developer tools for Windows 10 through the Windows Dev Center.
• Visual Studio Community is described as effectively the Pro SKU and free for open source.
• The post says the paid version of Visual Studio is licensed per user, not per machine, so a take-home license may be available through work.
• There is a free, time-boxed Windows 10 development environment available as a virtual machine for Mac, Windows, or Linux.
• Pre-configured VMs are available for VMWare, Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and Parallels.
• The evaluation VM includes Windows 10 version 2004, Windows 10 SDK version 2004, Visual Studio 2019 with UWP, .NET desktop, and Azure workflows enabled, Windows Template Studio, Visual Studio Code, Windows Subsystem for Linux with Ubuntu, and developer mode.
• The VMs are intended for evaluation or quick testing and expire regularly.
• The post notes that VS Code is free on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and Visual Studio is free on Windows and Mac.