Trying out a new operating system is usually a mixture of curiosity and fear. Whether it’s something completely new or an update like Windows 11 22H2, the desire to discover what’s new is always an incentive, but the fear that problems may arise is always present, because as a general rule, major updates , which does not arrive is rare.with some surprise in that regard. And yes, it is true that those responsible, in the case of Windows Microsoft, usually react quickly to these problems, but even so, their consequences can be quite negative.
As a general rule, you know, we we recommend not installing the update firstexcept when it comes to security, in which case the risks of installing them are always lower than the risks of being exposed to the vulnerabilities they fix. Unless, of course, we have an environment specifically designed for testing updates, which in no case should be the one we use for our daily activities to avoid compromising them.
In this sense, the most practical option is to use virtual machines, because that way we can try to perform in-depth tests and verify both its reliability and that it adapts to what we need. Ever since desktop applications that allow the management and use of virtual machines became popular, a large number of people have adopted this option, from hobbyists to IT managers in corporate environments and industry professionals who rely on the same for both testing and auditing .

At Microsoft, they are aware of this model and not only validate it, but also explicitly support it. And the latest evidence of this can be found in the recent The official release of Windows 11 22H2 virtual machines for the four major virtualization platforms: Hyper-V, Parallels, VirtualBox and VMWare. These instances have been specifically designed for developers, so their content is as follows:
- Windows 11 Enterprise (trial version).
- Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition with UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure and Windows App SDK for C# tasks.
- Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 with Ubuntu preinstalled.
- WindowsTerminal.
- Developer mode activated.
These virtual machines are free, although they have a temporary limitation because the trial version of Windows 11 includes “expires” on January 10, 2023. Attention, this does not mean that the mentioned system is non-functional, but from this date it will be necessary to use the Windows 11 22H2 Enterprise license to activate it and thus be able to continue working with the mentioned virtual machine.
However, two months is more than a reasonable amount of time to try Windows 11 22H2 and that way determine if it suits your needs (although of course you have to remember that you’re running the Enterprise version, so if you switch to Home or Pro later, you’ll find some differences). Still, it’s a great opportunity to do your research and try it out for yourself. And if you don’t know how to do it, start by downloading the virtual machine from the Microsoft website and then follow the steps that we provide in this complete tutorial.