How To Install Windows 10 in a Virtual Machine or PC?

In this tutorial, we will learn that how you install Windows 10 on a PC, or inside a Virtual Machine. In our previous video, we have learned that how you can download Windows 10 Technical Preview from Microsoft website.
So, before we get started with installation process, let’s first take a look about the Hardware Requirements to install Windows 10.

The first thing you need to consider is the CPU. To install Windows 10, your system must have at least 1 Giga Hertz of Processor, with support for PAE, and NX, and SSE2. You don’t need to worry about those terms, as most of the latest processors support all of these.

Then we need to take care of the Random Access Memory require to install and run Windows 10. Your system must have at least 1 Giga Byte of RAM, if you are planning to install a 32 Bit edition, and 2 Giga Bytes if it is a 64 Bit edition. But if you are planning to install Windows 10 on a Virtual Machine, just to explorer the new features of Windows 10, then I will advise you to have at least 4 Giga Bytes of RAM, for a smooth operation.

Third thing to consider is the Disk Space requirements. For a 32 Bit edition of Windows 10, you need a minimum of 16 Giga Bytes of Hard Disk Drive Space, or 20 GB for 64 Bit edition. If you want to install and try more applications inside Windows 10, then you should consider the space accordingly.

Finally, the Graphic Card. Your graphic card must support Direct X 9 with WDDM drivers. Most of the modern graphic cards support it.

I will recommend you to install Windows 10 inside a virtual machine, or to another PC, as it is not a final product from the company. It is just a Technical Preview to try, and if something went wrong, then you will not end up with a crashed PC.
So, let’s get started with the installation of Microsoft’s New Generation Operating System, Windows 10.

You can download the Windows 10 Technical Preview from Microsoft’s website, which is preview.windows.com, if you have not already done so. You can watch our previous video about Downloading Windows 10.

Once the download is complete, you can burn the ISO image to a DVD, or can mount it to Virtual CD-ROM, or can use the ISO image directly into a Virtual Machine. If you are planning to install Windows 10 on a separate PC, then you need to burn the ISO image to a DVD, and later you need to configure the Boot Order to first boot from DVD drive, through the BIOS setup.


Once you are done with the configuring the boot order, rest part is easy to accomplish. In this tutorial, we are going to install Windows 10 into a virtual machine, but the rest of the installation procedure will remain the same.

Open Hyper V Manager. You can watch our previous video about installing Hyper V in Windows 8. Once you are inside Hyper V, click New, and the click Virtual Machine, from the left side pane. Click Next from the welcome wizard to configure the Virtual Machine settings according to your preference. Type a name for your new virtual machine, like Windows 10 Technical Preview. Make a check mark on “Store the virtual machine in a different location”, and choose the path to save your virtual machine. That location must have sufficient space to store the virtual machine. Choose Generation 1 for your virtual machine as will discuss about Generation 2 in our next videos. Then you need to allocate the memory to your virtual machine. A minimum of 1 Giga Byte of RAM is required for 32 bit edition of Windows 10. So, allocate the memory according to your downloaded edition and click next. Then we are presented with Network settings, you can click next to skip this section, as we can configure network environment later. Then you need to allocate the size to your virtual machine. Consider providing a sufficient space for the operating system as well for the applications that you are going to install later, and then click next. Finally, the most important part, configuring the installation option. Click “Install an operating system from bootable CD / DVD ROM, and then click ISO image file. Click browse and select the downloaded Windows 10 ISO image. Click open and then click Next. Now, click Finish to finalize your new Windows 10 virtual machine. It may take a little bit of time to finalize all the settings. Once it is done, then next step is to start and connect the virtual machine, and you don’t need to change the boot border inside the virtual machine, as you have already configure this through the “Installation Method” to boot from ISO image. Right-click on your new virtual machine and then click Start. Right-click again and then click Connect.

The first thing in the Windows 10 installation wizard is to choose the Language, Time, and Keyboard layout. Set them according to your preferences and then click Next. Click Install Now to customize and begin the installation of Windows. Accept the Microsoft Agreement of installation and then click Next. Click Custom Install as we are doing a clean installation of Windows 10 inside a Virtual Machine, and not upgrading it from an older version of Windows. Then you need to configure the Hard Disk Drive space. You will the same amount of unallocated space that you have define will creating the virtual machine. Click New, and allocate the entire space to a single partition. Setup will confirm if you want to create a separate partition for system files, click OK to accept it. Then click Next to Begin the installation.

During the installation, your system or virtual machine may reboot several times. After copying the installation files, your system get restarted for the first time, and you don’t need to press a key to boot from ISO image again, else the installation will start from the beginning. Let Windows reload itself again, and then you will be presented with Settings dialog box. Click Use Express settings. Type a User Name and then click Finish. After that it may take several minutes to complete the installation.

Once everything is setup, you are ready to explore Microsoft’s New Operating System, Windows 10. In out next videos, we will cover the new features of Windows 10 that Microsoft is considering to have in the final release of the product. 

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