Microsoft releases free Windows 11 virtual machines with the Moment 3 update

An image with a colorful Windows 11 logo and dimmed background

Microsoft has released a new set of free virtual machines for developers. The Windows Development Environment (WDE) has been updated to version 2306, and you can download it for free from the official website.

The Windows 11 Development Environment is a set of virtual machines you can use without activation for free for 90 days. The project's main purpose is to provide developers with all the necessary tools to start making apps for Windows, which include the following:

Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition with UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure, and Windows App SDK for C# workloads enabled.
Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 enabled with Ubuntu installed and pinned to the taskbar.
Windows Terminal installed.
Windows Developer mode enabled.

WDE version 2306 is based on Windows 11 Enterprise SKU with build number 22621.1848, the latest release currently available in the stable channel. Version 22621.1848 is also known as the "Moment 3" update. Check out our full review to learn what is new in the Windows 11 "Moment 3" update.

It is worth noting that Microsoft is gradually rolling out "Moment 3" features. Therefore, the updated virtual machines have the new features disabled by default, but you can bypass that with the corresponding toggle in Windows Update settings.

The Windows 11 Development Environment version 2306 is valid until September 13, 2023. Microsoft notes that you cannot activate these virtual machines since they are evaluation-only.

Developers and enthusiasts can download the latest Windows 11 Development Environment virtual machines for free from the official Microsoft Developer website. Available configurations include VMWare (Workstation and Player), second-generation Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and Parallels (sadly, there is no ARM version of the project). Note that you will need at least 70GB of free disk space and a minimum of 8GB of RAM.

If you do not need all the developer tools Microsoft provides in WDE, check out the company's Windows 10 and 11 Enterprise "clean" evaluation images.