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.

This new feature update for the old operating system was first spotted in June, but it took the company a while to confirm that this version would also be rolling out for users still on Windows 10.

It did so during the Windows 11 2022 Update rollout, in fact.

Microsoft said that this new version would arrive in October as the company prepares to deploy this release to its servers, prepare the ISO files, and do all the cool stuff that goes into launching an operating system feature update.

Well, it looks like the software Titan is in on it and gearing up for launch because, as it happened for the Windows 11 2022 Update release, ISO links have just been spotted.

There are two of them up on the TechBench dump website, as you can see above.

As you may expect, these links are not live, and you cannot download them just yet. However, their presence confirms that the general availability of this new update for Windows 10 is almost ready for prime time.

In the case of Windows 11 2022 Update, those links went live just a few days before its arrival, so we can imagine something similar at play here as well.

And as for what we can expect with Windows 10 version 22H2, it won’t be anything special, and this release will be very light on new additions. Microsoft has clearly suggested that it is only working on a scoped set of features for this release.

We’ll know exactly what they are once Windows 10 22H2 takes flight.

As expected, this will be a phased rollout strategy that has been in place for some time now.

This simply means that not everyone will see this first major update for Windows 11 deployed on their machine from the word go. Redmond will be making use of machine learning to selectively make the update available on devices and then use that data to give the all-clear for a wider rollout.

You know, to make sure that users don’t run into trouble while (or after) installing this update.

Of course, you can check whether your device is included in the first lot via Settings. But if not, you can also skip ahead by downloading the ISO files to cleanly install Windows 11 2022 Update on your devices.

At your own risk, obviously.

That’s because Microsoft has released the disk images for this version of Windows 11, which are now available for download. The links are valid for both the Home and Pro variants of the operating system.

Follow the instructions below to get started:

1. Go to the official download site.
2. Under the Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) dropdown, click on the Windows 11 (multi-edition ISO) option and hit Download.
3. Under Select the product language section, choose your language, and then Confirm.

You will now see a tab to download the 64-bit version of Windows 11, as there is no longer a 32-bit variant. The above option also works for the operating system’s Pro and Home editions, and you will get the latest bits for both.

Click the link that is generated, and the download process should begin.

Happy downloading!

Which is tomorrow.

And while Microsoft may be customarily mum on the matter, some solid sources have claimed this specific date. This was followed up a few days back with a report from a user who revealed that a new Dell laptop that they purchased already shipped with Windows 11 22H2 inside.

To add to the mystery, with just a day or so remaining till launch, some more pointers have emerged, this time in the form of ISO files that have been pushed to the servers ahead of release.

So far, two ISO files are available with download links on the TechBench dump website:

As you would expect, the links are useless for now. The downloads will not go live until Microsoft officially launches the 22H2 Update, which, by most estimates, should be tomorrow. But their sighting this early surely lends weight to those rumors.

It should not be too long before the links go live for users with compatible PCs.

Fingers crossed that Microsoft itself formally announces these ISOs so that folks who want to upgrade via a fresh install will be able to do so easily.

Watch this space!

Redmond is all ready to roll out this first major release later this month.

Like all previous arrivals, chipmakers have also started pushing their newest drivers with support for this version so that users are up and running on launch day.

Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA have been busy compiling, testing, and releasing their latest drivers for Windows 11 22H2. While older drivers will continue to work thanks to Microsoft’s ensuring backward compatibility, dedicated driver support for each release is vital to ensure the smoothest experience.

The Windows 11 2022 Update also includes a new version of the company’s GPU architecture, otherwise known as WDDM. WDDM 3.1 includes not just performance improvements but also a couple of unknown changes that will be revealed at a later date.

This is why all three companies have spent the better part of the summer releasing early versions of support drivers to iron out any compatibility of performance issues.

That done, the latest driver releases from these companies are now out — just in time for the Windows 11 2022 Update launch.

First, we have Intel. The company published a range of new drivers earlier this month, including new wireless drivers that support WiFi 6 adapters and new graphics drivers.

You can download these drivers either directly from Intel’s website via the Intel Driver and Support Assistant (iDSA) tool and check for updates or manually from the company’s GPU and wireless drivers portal.

AMD’s Ryzen chipset driver version 4.08.09.2337 is available for download. The changelog mentions only Windows 11 version 22H2 support. Grab it here.

The company has also released new Adrenalin Edition 22.7.1 drivers for its Radeon GPUs, which support Windows 11 22H2 and offer OpenGL optimizations. To download these, you can use the Radeon Settings app or visit the official website.

And finally, we have NVIDIA, which has launched both Game Ready and Studio drivers for its RTX and Quadro enterprise GPUs that have been updated with proper support for this Sun Valley 2 release.

These can be availed using the official GeForce Experience app.

Dynamic ones, at that.

Dynamic wallpapers are a personalization feature that MacOS has and Windows users lack. The Apple desktop operating system neatly cycles through different wallpapers that adapt to the current system time, thereby creating an immersive and beautiful desktop background experience.

While there were rumors that Microsoft was considering implementing similar functionality in Windows, nothing of substance emerged from them.

That said, dynamic wallpapers are a possibility on Windows, thanks to a third-party app that goes by the convenient name of WinDynamicDesktop.

The app has received an update to version 5.10 today, and this latest release arrives with new wallpapers and other improvements to the program itself related to the user interface and application of themes.

You can check out the changelog for the full details.

It is worth mentioning that version 5.1 ditched the Sync Virtual Desktop script that was responsible for changing wallpapers on all your virtual desktops. According to the developer, the script used an experimental API that was too unstable to support.

Still, restoring this deleted feature by installing the script is possible.

As for the app, WinDynamicDesktop is a free application that contains many free dynamic wallpapers, mostly the ones included with macOS. You can also buy additional packs from the app’s repository here.

You can download the program from the Microsoft Store or directly via GitHub.

And Windows 365 is no exception.

This new service was officially introduced last year. It allows businesses to securely stream the full Windows experience with the OS hosted on the Microsoft Cloud. Even though the service is aimed at business users and not your average Joe, it does come with some neat and clean images.

Interestingly, these designs are rather graphically intensive, which is in contrast to the use of solid background colors and blank screensavers that were the norm to help with streaming.

The simpler these were, the lower the bandwidth usage and the higher the perceived user responsiveness.

But apparently, that’s no longer a concern for Microsoft and users, which is why the company has put together these beautiful wallpapers. They certainly do a good job of showcasing the virtual nature of the service and highlighting the fact that it is beamed from the cloud.

These are the default wallpapers that Windows 365 comes with, very much like the standard version of Windows that you install on a local device. These unique wallpapers are created to add some fresh touch to your computer.

Or even a tablet or smartphone if you so desire.

The collection has been put together by a Reddit user here.

Apparently, a bunch of these are new releases, with designs that folks have not seen before. The only thing missing are dark versions of these images, which would be great for those who have turned dark mode on their devices.

You can download full HD images of these 23 wallpapers individually in the standard 1920 x 1080 resolutions above or get them all neatly packed in higher resolutions like 4K in the ZIP file below.

Download: Windows 365 Wallpapers

Of course, these also come in handy if you are not a developer, as you can download a ready-for-use virtual machine with the Windows 11 operating system already deployed. This way, you can try and evaluate the new OS by updating your primary computer.

Who wouldn’t want that, right?

Alongside offering access to the full capabilities of the Enterprise SKU of Windows 11, these VMs from Microsoft come packed to the brim with a whole array of developer tools. These utilities allow developers to dive into development right after installing these virtual machines.

What tools are available, you wonder?

Well, how does Visual Studio 2022, complete with the UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure, and Windows App SDK for C# workloads, sound? Add to it Windows Subsystem for Linux with Ubuntu, Developer mode, and Windows Terminal, and you are cooking with gas!

And to top it off, these official Windows 11 VMs that Microsoft offers do not require activation immediately. This is unlike standard virtual machines with Windows 11 that ask for activation with a genuine key like a typical local installation of the operating system.

The official website notes that the new virtual machines are valid until September 11, 2022 — a solid bump from the July 10 expiry date on the previous version.

If you want to download these, you can grab the bits from the official website that has the full range of Windows 11 virtual machines available.

Included are variants for VMWare, Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and Parallels.

As far as the system requirement of these virtual machines is concerned, you just need to make sure that your computer is compatible with Windows 11 and can run the new operating system. The VMs should then run on your PC without any issues.

In addition, you need a minimum of 20 GB of free space to download. And then extra to deploy.

It does not help that Microsoft has not confirmed or denied this.

But a couple of days back, Russian news agency TASS began reporting that users in the country were unable to install Windows 11 from the official Microsoft Russia website. Below, you can find the original news report on the left, with an English translation on the right.

Trying to download the operating systems from the official sources leads to a “404 — File or Directory not found” error message. The report claims that download works fine with a change in location via a VPN connection.

Apparently, both Windows 11 and Windows 10 are affected, with attempts to download ISO or installation utilities being met with error messages.

As noted, when trying to download Windows 11 ISOs in Russia, you are shown this error message above.

Interestingly, the Media Creation Tool download works fine, but it, too, eventually fails, giving an error code 0x80072F8F-0x20000. It is accompanied by a message revealing that this tool failed to run on your computer for some unknown reason.

Unknown reason?

Yeah, right!

At this point in time, there is a distinct possibility that this latest move is part of the company’s plan to slowly withdraw more of its products and services from Russia. Sure, there is still a chance that this could be a technical glitch, but that chance is very slim.

Microsoft, as you may be aware, is in the process of a major downsizing in its quest to disrupt Russia, with some 400 employees said to be affected by this withdrawal.

The company’s relationship with the country has been at odds ever since the invasion of Ukraine, with Redmond not only disrupting Russian cyberattacks but also suspending the sales of its products and services since March.

This latest barrier set by the company clearly is another step in that direction.

We’ll just have to wait and see if Microsoft has anything to say in this regard. And more importantly, if and when the downloads will be back on the plate. Until then, a VPN seems to be the only way to grab the newer versions of Windows straight from the source.

This is a flavor of the operating system based on the command line and designed primarily for hardware and software vendors. In other words, this platform has nothing to do with end users, and the general user base will find almost no use for it.

It is not meant for them at all, all said and done.

The idea behind this new variant is to help hardware and software vendors, developers, and technicians diagnose and mitigate issues. They will be able to build their solutions around Windows 11 without installing the whole damn thing.

Microsoft describes this new Validation OS as:

“Microsoft Validation OS is a lightweight, fast, and customizable Windows 11-based operating system that you can use on the factory floor to diagnose, mitigate and repair hardware defects during Windows device manufacturing. Validation OS boots into a Command Line environment to increase reliability on the factory floor and supports running Win32 apps, smoothing the transition from early hardware bring-up to retail OS and apps development.”

As you can gather from the description above, Validation OS supports Win32 programs, which is a big deal as this API provides direct access to system hardware and offers a number of tools for diagnostics that can truly aid the development of a Windows 11 based project.

And although the software titan has launched this new variant of its operating system without much fanfare, it does provide a collection of resources regarding Validation OS for those who seek.

• Mount and customize a Validation OS image
• Setup a bootable Validation OS installation
• Validation OS feature packages reference
• Launching an app or command when Validation OS starts
• Debugging Apps in Validation OS

Should be enough to get you started.

Those of you who want to try out this new flavor of Windows 11 can download Microsoft Validation OS as a Window Image (.WIM) file at the link below. Thankfully, this shiny new operating system is available in both AMD64 and ARM64 architectures.

Download: Validation OS