Test Windows 11: Microsoft publishes installation images
Instead of going through the Insider Program, interested parties can now download a dedicated ISO for Windows 11 and thus test the new operating system.
With the current Insider Build for Windows 11 Microsoft also released dedicated ISO files for testing purposes for the first time. The installation images are required for a complete new installation on hardware. Up until now, Windows 11 could only be tested using Windows Update and the Insider Program.
In a roundabout way, ISO files could also be downloaded using a UUP script. Golem.de has written a short guide on this topic. It seems that this is no longer necessary: Open a separate website ISO downloads are available. You can choose between different channels, such as dev and beta channels, and different builds.
The Windows versions Home, Pro, Education and Home Single Language are included in the ISO images and are selected during the installation process. It is also often useful to create an external medium for the installation. For this purpose, Microsoft has developed the Media Creation Tool, which is already known in other Windows versions. This unpacks the content of the ISO image onto a correctly formatted storage medium, such as a USB stick or DVDs.
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Windows 11 is still a beta
For the installation of Windows 11, the restrictions due to TPM 2.0, Secureboot and the correct processor still apply. According to the IT magazine Ars Technica however, the workaround still works via registry entry. In this way, the TPM and Secureboot force are switched off. Golem.de has also published a tutorial on this.
In the case of a complete new installation using an ISO image, all data on the host system will be deleted. This is not necessarily the case when installing via Windows Update. Hardware that is not in practical use should therefore be used for the beta test of Windows 11 – also because the operating system has not yet been fully developed and malfunctions and bugs can occur.
The author of the article is Oliver Nickel.