Install a Windows 10 Pro VM For Free Without Using A Microsoft Account In VirtualBox on MacOS
In this blog post I will be showing you how to install Windows 10 Pro for free in a VM in VirtualBox in MacOS, though the process should be similar for Windows and Linux hosts.
Believe it or not Microsoft allows you to download the Windows 10 .iso file from their website and you can install it in a VM without entering a license key. They make a bit more annoying now to log into Windows 10 without a Microsoft account but in this demonstration I will show you how I did this. I chose Windows 10 Pro as that is the most common version in use in corporate IT departments but you can choose to install any other version.
The only downside to installing it without activation is a watermark on the desktop wallpaper which you can actually remove and a slight hinderance to customization which you can also workaround.
Believe it or not Microsoft allows you to download the Windows 10 .iso file from their website and you can install it in a VM without entering a license key. They make a bit more annoying now to log into Windows 10 without a Microsoft account but in this demonstration I will show you how I did this. I chose Windows 10 Pro as that is the most common version in use in corporate IT departments but you can choose to install any other version.
The only downside to installing it without activation is a watermark on the desktop wallpaper which you can actually remove and a slight hinderance to customization which you can also workaround.
Downloading The .iso File
Go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO
Click Select Edition to choose the latest version unless you have a good reason not to do so
Click Confirm
Click Select Product Language choose your language then click Confirm
Unless you have a very good reason not to do so click 64-bit Download then click OK to save the file
Install the VM In VirtualBox
Now with the .iso file downloaded (it took around 5 minutes to finish) open VirtualBox and click New
Name it Windows 10 this way the other fields auto populate and click Continue
Give it at least 2GB of RAM and click Continue
Leave Create a virtual hard disk now as the default and click Create
Leave VDI as the default and click Continue
Leave Dynamically allocated as the default and click Continue
Move the scroll bar to at least 32GB then click Create
Click Start
Click the folder icon to choose a Virtual optical disk file...
Choose the .iso file downloaded earlier and click Open
Windows 10 Installation Wizard
Choose your language, time, and keyboard setting and click Next
Click Install now
Click I don't have a product key
Click the I accept the terms of the licensing agreement check box and click Next
Click Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)
Click Next
Wait for the installation to complete
Click Skip or add an additional layout
Click Set up for an organization and then click Next.
Click Domain join instead. Since we haven't configured networking or domain information yet this will fail and the installer will allow you to use a local user account.
After it fails to connect to the network it will ask you to type the name of the local user that you want to create. Type the user name then click Next
Fill out all 3 security questions and click Next
Click Yes or No
Click Decline or Accept
Choose your privacy settings then click Accept
Wait a few moments longer. You are now ready to start using your Windows 10 VM
That's it, you're now using a Windows 10 VM in VirtualBox.
