Microsoft recently rolled out the October 2016 evaluation Windows developer virtual machines (VM). The editions have been released on the Windows Dev Center.
These virtual machines are designed for Windows 10 development. They allow dev's to start creating for the platform more easily and quickly.
The VMs have the newest builds of Windows, SDKs, related samples, and developer tools.
The virtual machines are available in Parallels, Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and VMWare editions.
Microsoft points out that the releases will expire on January 17, 2017.
These installs contain:
- Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation, Version 1607
- Visual Studio 2015 Community Update 3 (Build 14.0.25425.01)
- Windows developer SDK and tools (Build 14393)
- Microsoft Azure SDK for .NET (Build 2.9.5)
- Bridge for iOS (0.2.160927)
- Windows UWP samples (October 2016 Update)
- Windows Bridge for iOS samples
- Bash on Ubuntu on Windows
Free evaluations
Microsoft says the VMs are available as free evaluations because dev's can test creating for Windows 10. Particulalry, the company wants to see developers embrace the Universal Windows Platform:
“If you just want to try out Windows 10 and UWP, use the free evaluation version of the VMs. This will expire after a pre-determined amount of time. However, if you want a VM that won't expire, choose the licensed version and add your Windows license key.”