The most common way to get an official Windows 11 VHD is through the . These are pre-configured virtual machines that include developer tools like Visual Studio, VS Code, and the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
If you are running a virtual machine on Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3) using software like Parallels or UTM, you specifically need the ARM64 version.
For enterprise users or those testing cloud configurations, you can export a Windows 11 OS disk directly from the Azure portal as a VHD file. 01 - Set Up a Windows 11 Development Virtual Machine
These are evaluation versions that typically expire after 90 days. You can download the latest version from the Microsoft Developer Portal .
Hyper-V (VHDX), VMware (VMDK), VirtualBox (VDI), and Parallels.
This is exclusively available through the Windows Insider Preview Downloads .
You must be signed in with a Microsoft account registered for the Windows Insider Program to access the download button. 3. Downloading a VHD from Azure