How to Create a Windows 10 VM ISO

In fact, for Windows 11, you'll want even more, because the VM you're creating should have 4GB to itself in order to support Windows 11, according to the system requirements. Running a VM is not a lightweight workload, so you'll need at least 4GB of RAM on your host PC.

To enable Hyper-V in Windows 10/11, first things first, you need to make sure you have a PC compatible with Hyper-V. Officially, you'll need a Pro, Enterprise, or Education edition of Windows 10, but it's possible to install it on Home editions with some tinkering. This feature is built right into Windows, but it's an optional feature you'll need to enable.

There are many programs that allow you to create virtual machines, but in this case, we're going with Hyper-V. VMs also make it easy to boot up and shut down an operating system when you want to try it, so you don't have to reboot your PC or have another one at hand. They create an isolated environment so that any files handled inside a VM can't affect the host operating system.

To start, click the New toolbar button, ensuring that Microsoft Windows and Windows 10 are selected as Type and Version. Then, select VirtualBox Disk Image as hard disk type, dynamically allocated, with a minimum size of 32GB. Add the Windows 10 ISO file to the Storage Tree, this is done so the ISO file will be treated as an optical drive by the VM.

One VirtualBox setting that is often overlooked is found under the System, Acceleration tab: Make sure both Hardware Virtualization boxes are ticked. This ensures that your VM runs smoothly and efficiently.

Getting a Windows 10 VM image is actually pretty easy. Microsoft has VM images available for developers who want to test apps or extensions in Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge. To start installing Windows 10, simply click the green start arrow to start the VM, and begin the installation.

In terms of Memory size, try to allocate as much as possible. But in most instances, 1024 MB is sufficient to install Windows 10 in a VM. For those looking for a Windows 10 VM image from Microsoft, it's available for download and can be easily installed on your PC.

Overall, creating a Windows 10 VM ISO is a relatively straightforward process that offers many benefits, including the ability to test software without damaging your computer and create an isolated environment for testing operating systems.

Windows 10 vm iso