That's how to install Windows 11 on your virtual machine

Microsoft said it plans to release Windows 11 publicly by 2021end and the new version of the operating system promises data protection and more security with more features than the current Windows 10 version.

Materialization of the promises is a different story altogether. It is only prudent in the meantime to test the pre-release versions of Windows 11 for compatibility and reliability.

Replacing Windows 10 with a beta version of a new operating system on computers we use every day is, however, just not pragmatic.

Way out of this dilemma would be to install Windows 11 on a virtual machine that we could test without risking lost productivity on our primary PCs.

And since Microsoft doesn’t have such a practical solution available—we must do it ourselves.

Here is a tutorial for you to install Windows 10 on your VMWare virtual machine and then upgrade that VM to Windows 11.

For a non-commercial purpose, VMWare’s Workstation Player can be accessed for free, making it a good candidate for this project. However, other virtual machine platforms may do the trick just as well.

Run the Create a New Virtual Machine process, as shown in Figure A after you download and install VMWare Workstation Player.

You need an ISO version of Windows 10. With that, a valid Product Key for the Windows 10 version.

Once all things are in order, create your Windows 10 virtual machine following instructions by the VMWare Workstation Player.

Here, instead of the default 2GB, specify that you want 4GB memory for your new VM. The installation process (Figure B) will take a while.

Sign in with a valid Microsoft Account while Windows 10 initialization process. As you can see in Figure C, the desktop looks just like the standard desktop because settings are associated with the Microsoft account.

Join the Windows Insider Program using our virtual machine version of Windows 10 before installing Windows 11.

In the VM, click the Start Menu button, select Settings (gear icon), and then the Update & Security tab.

Using the left-hand navigation tab, scroll down to the Windows Insider Program item in the list to reveal the screen shown in Figure D.

Click the Get Started button on this screen and register with the program.

When asked, select the Dev channel. You will have to restart the virtual machine Windows 10 version to continue.

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Now open Settings again on the VM and select the Update & Security tab. Click the Check for Updates button, as in Figure E, to have Microsoft beginning to download and instal Windows 11.

This process could take a while, but then you get to have a virtual machine with Microsoft Windows 11 installed on it, as shown in Figure F.