Microsoft quietly delivers Windows 11 Enterprise VMs for devs

Microsoft has quietly slipped out a test cut of Windows 11 for developers. A page titled Get a Windows 10 development environment appears to have been updated on November 18th to include a Windows 11 download (although the page title remained the same). Microsoft suggests the VMs might be just the thing if you want to "start …

[georgezilla]

Huh? What?

" ... Microsoft suggests the VMs might be just the thing if you want to "start building Windows applications quickly by using a virtual machine with the latest versions of Windows, the developer tools, SDKs, and samples ready to go". ... "

Microsoft is suggesting that Windows devs might want to run Windows in a VM on Windows?

Okay.

So are they saying that Windows is such a bad OS to develop Windows on, that you should run it in a VM, so that it doesn't fuck up your Windows install?

< raises eyebrow >

< shakes head >

Okay.

[martyn.hare]

Yes and ISO2700X agrees too

For security and practicality reasons, your dev environment should be isolated from your production one, even if you’re a developer. This is true of Windows, macOS and Linux.

npm, pip, pecl, nuget... Name a convenient dev tool which doesn’t make a clusterfsck of your system?

[sreynolds]

When did it come out of alpha testing? They should recall the product, it isn't working.

[Anonymous Coward]

alpha testing is W10, currently. W11 is just a... concept packaged as a 'new OS'.

[Anonymous Coward]

'Clunky Windows Update' is all over the shop in Windows 11.

Last week, Windows 11 offered a cumulative update to .NET:

"2021-11 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 11 for x64 (KB5006363)"

that wouldn't install because it had been released a week earlier as a preview update.

And yesterday,

Windows 11 offered and installed the following critical update with what looked like an update for Windows 10 'Server Version':

KB4023057 Update for Windows SV Version 21H2.

Come on Microsoft, we know you like your code names "Sun Valley" but FFS, most people get utterly confused by this, thinking it stands for 'Server Version'. Whoever you have in charge of Windows Update, needs to be replaced or at least supervised by someone with some competency.

This is shameful. There have only been 8 patches released to date for Windows 11.The bag of clunky rusty old nails, 'Windows Update' continues to be - just that.

[Smirnov]

Re: 'Clunky Windows Update' is all over the shop in Windows 11.

No problems with the KB5006363 update on the Windows 11 machines here. So far the only issue I had was a sound driver that refused to install on the early RTM of Windows 11 but that has resolved itself a week or so later.

"The bag of clunky rusty old nails, 'Windows Update' continues to be - just that."

I don't know, so far it has been a lot better than Windows 10 where I have experienced notably more showstoppers.

[amanfromMars 1]

Is Innovative and Unexpected and Revolutionary Use, Problematical?

Playing with the VM should not prove problematic, as the Redmondians have packed it for hypervisors from four vendors: VMware, Redmond's own Hyper-V, Oracle's VirtualBox, and Parallels' eponymous product.

:-) The latest iteration of that old standard ...... Hope springs eternal.:-)

The best that one can do is simply to keep ones fingers crossed, for what will be, will be and there is nothing that anyone or anything can do to change and redirect that fact/fiction.

[Anonymous Coward]

How to run for noob

Downloading this zip now. But I'm a noob and have only ever created a single VM, last month on Hyper-V on my Win 10 Pro 64-bit machine (version 21H1). That VM was Win 11 Pro 64-bit, and it runs (although restarts are problematic.)

Please point me to some links that will explain what I do to run this new zip, in my existing Hyper-V app on my Win 10. For one thing, where should I put the zip's files?

Before (or after) you roll eyes, remember, you once were me (but you wouldn't admit it).

Grazie.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: How to run for noob

Here you go, straight from Nadella's mouth: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/virtualization/hyper-v/deploy/export-and-import-virtual-machines

Never used Hyper-V myself and don't have time to download the .zip. Depending on what it has, you can either use an import wizard that setups the entire VM just so (.ova or Hyper-V equivalent[1], have used it with success on VirtualBox).

Alternatively, you can setup a new VM with the included hard disc image (.vhd) instead of creating a new disc; this won't have the same config as the original machine, but for this case it shouldn't matter (as the image shouldn't need special network access/devices, and if your setup does you'd have to configure it anyway).

[1]: A quick perusal of the link indicates Hyper-V uses ova, but...