How to download a free Microsoft Lab Environment for Hyper-V

Microsoft offers a free lab environment for everyone to use. I’ve used this kit extensively throughout my IT career.

The free lab kit can be download from here: Windows 11 and Office 365 Deployment Lab Kit | Microsoft Evaluation Center

To use the lab kit, your PC needs the following specifications

1. Hyper-V role installed
2. Administrative rights on the device
3. 150 GB of free disk space (300 GB recommended)
4. High-throughput disk subsystem
5. 16 GB of available memory (32 GB recommended)
6. High-end processor for faster processing

After downloading and installing the lab kit, you’ll have the following VMs in your Hyper-V environment

• (Server) GW-01: Gateway server to create Internet connectivity for the other servers
• (Server) DC-01: Fully configured Domain Controller with DNS, DHCP, and ADCS
• (Server) CM-01: Fully configured ConfigMgr server with WDS, WSUS, and SQL Server 2022
• (Client) Client-1: Windows 11, version 24H2 Domain Joined device
• (Client) Client-2: Windows 11, version 24H2 Domain Joined device
• (Client) Client-3: Windows 11, version 24H2 Workgroup device
• (Client) Client-4: Windows 11, version 24H2 Workgroup device

Before installing the environment, you need to install Hyper-V on your PC and create an External Virtual Switch. Here’s how to configure External Switch:

1. Launch the Hyper-V Console and under Actions, click Virtual Switch Manager.
2. With New virtual network switch selected, choose External and click Create Virtual Switch.
3. Enter a name, for example, “External 2”. Under External network, select the network adapter providing Internet access to the Hyper-V Host and click Apply.
4. If prompted, click Yes on the Apply Networking Changes message box.
5. Click OK and close the Hyper-V Console.

The lab kit takes only 30 minutes to install and is perfect for hands-on learning, especially when preparing for a Microsoft certification. It’s a great resource to understand how an on-premise environment communicates with Entra ID.

1. Open the following website Windows 11 and Office 365 Deployment Lab Kit | Microsoft Evaluation Center
2. Click on Lab Environment > to download the Lab Kit
3. The setup files are 21 GB so it will take some time to download
4. Once downloaded extract the setup files from the .zip folder (Can take 40 min)
5. Click on the setup.exe file within the Win11_24H2_Lab_12.4 folder
6. Click Next on the Welcome window
7. Click Next on the License window
8. Click Next on the Network window
9. Click Next on the Provision window
10. Now the lab kit is installing which will take 20-30 minutes
11. Once its finished your Hyper-V will look like below.

The Enterprise and domain administrator username and password is the one below.

Username: LabAdmin
Password: P@ssw0rd
Domain: corp.contoso.com

The Lab Kit also features a Lab Guide and and a Setup Guide that can be download here
Windows 11 and Office 365 Deployment Lab Kit | Microsoft Evaluation Center (Just click on Lab Guides > to download it)

Enjoy learning! 🚀