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windowsvirtual-machinevirtualboxparallelsvmware-fusion

Windows 10 VM for MS Edge Testing

Microsoft offers virtual machines containing different versions of Windows (7, 8, 10) to enable testing of websites under IE and Microsoft Edge.

Site Link: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/mac/

I've been trying to piece together information before taking the plunge with such a virtual machine, and I'm hoping the community can answer some of my lingering questions:

  1. Do these VMs require activation? Should I activate?

  2. Microsoft suggests implementing a rollback strategy. Assuming I'm using Parallels, can I literally configure Windows how I want, then take a snapshot and roll back to this when the VM expires?

  3. Assuming yes to question two, how does this affect activation? In other words, if I rollback to my snapshot, does it go back to day 1, or does it still recognize day 90 and complain about expiry?

  4. I've read on blog comments that the VM only runs for a period of an hour then reboots. Is this true?

  5. Are there any other limitations with the VMs?

Many thanks!

Solution

  • Try them out, most of your questions will become apparent.

    1. Yes they require activation, but has 90 day trial.
    2. Yes.
    3. You can rearm machines a set number of times (2 or 3), if you snapshot before doing that, you can keep rearming.
    4. Doubt it, but for what they are intended for that should be fine, unless you are planning something else?
    5. It's a preinstalled windows unactivated, with most of the annoyances of logins etc turned off, you can change it to whatever you want, but it's primarily meant to just do tests on Internet Explorer.