Microsoft is currently facing challenges with its official virtual machines, a situation that has escalated beyond the previously delisted Parallels configuration from July. As of now, all four variants of the Windows 11 Development Environment virtual machines are unavailable for download.
Expiration and Activation Issues
On October 23, 2024, the virtual machines reached their expiration date. Users who still have these environments operational will encounter activation problems. Notably, the Windows Development Environment does not support activation via product keys, leading to a rather disruptive outcome: expired virtual machines will revert to a black desktop background and will shut down every hour.
Details surrounding the situation remain sparse, with Microsoft offering only a succinct notice on its official website:
Note: Due to ongoing technical issues, as of October 23, 2024, downloads are temporarily unavailable.
The last update for the Windows 11 Development Environment virtual machine was rolled out in July 2024, based on Windows 11 build 22621.3880, which included the July 2024 Patch Tuesday updates. In early August, Microsoft had previously restored the missing virtual machines for VMware, extending the expiration date to October 23. With that date now past, customers and developers are left without access to Microsoft’s evaluation virtual machines.
For those who may not be familiar, the Windows 11 Development Environment was offered in four configurations: Hyper-V, Parallels for Mac, VirtualBox, and VMware. These prebuilt virtual machines are based on Windows 11 Enterprise and come equipped with essential tools for building Windows applications, including:
- Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition with UWP
- .NET Desktop
- Azure
- Windows App SDK for C#
- Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 with Ubuntu
- Windows Terminal
- Developer mode
We will continue to monitor the situation regarding Microsoft’s Windows 11 virtual machines and will provide updates as soon as they become available for download again.
