Microsoft has updated its free Windows 11 virtual machines (VMs), which can provide users with an ideal way to try out the new operating system before making the switch.
Previous Windows 11 VMs, which are due to expire on July 10, have been replaced by a new batch that expires on September 11. The demo is designed to give developers a way to play around with the operating system, but downloads are available to everyone.
The latest update currently supports four different virtualization software options: VMWare, Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and Parallels.
News arrives in the wake of the search (Opens in a new tab) This indicates that Windows 11 is still struggling to attract new users, with Windows 10 continuing to hold the lion’s share of the market.
Windows 11 sampling
New VMs are available for download via Microsoft website (Opens in a new tab). However, it does not offer a path beyond Windows 11’s strict hardware requirements, and users will also need 20GB of free disk space.
Virtual Machines are ready to take over until September, and will give users access to tools like Visual Studio 2022 with UWP enabled, .NET Desktop, Azure, and Windows App SDKs for C# workloads, as well as a Windows Subsystem for Linux with Ubuntu installed.
But there’s no reason that non-developers can’t use virtual machines to test the new version of Windows before a possible transition either.
The announcement arrived because Microsoft was rolling out several updates for Windows 11. For example, Windows 11 users were set to a newly developed search function with the latest round of updates.
The new Search Highlights feature promises to “present interesting and memorable moments of every day — holidays, anniversaries, and other educational moments — globally and in your region” by tapping or tapping the taskbar.
Separately, Microsoft is preparing to roll out an update to File Explorer, introducing a scheduling system for the first time to help reduce desktop clutter and improve multitasking.
These updates are unlikely to be of much interest to users in Russia, however, as users in the region are said to be no longer able to download Windows 10 and Windows 11 as the country continues its crackdown on Western technology.
Across Newwen (Opens in a new tab)
