Download the evaluation edition of Windows 10 Enterprise for testing in customer networks

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A question was forwarded to me about partners should test Windows 10 against Windows Server (including Essentials), and whether the Enterprise edition could be used for this. The answer is yes, and other good news is that you can easily obtain evaluation editions of Enterprise in 32 and 64 bit editions. You can install these into virtual machines or onto physical hardware, depending on what your testing scenario is.

You get a chance of downloading either Enterprise or Enterprise LTSB (Long Term Servicing Branch, a deployment option for mission critical devices and environments).

Here are some of the details from the Evaluation Center.

Description

Windows 10 Enterprise is designed to address the needs of large and midsize organizations by providing IT professionals with:

  • Advanced protection against modern security threats
  • Flexible deployment, update, and support options
  • Comprehensive device and app management and control

Preinstall Information

Note: Carefully read the information below before you continue with the download.

  1. Review the Windows 10 Enterprise system requirements.
  2. Register, then download and install the full-featured software for a 90-day evaluation.
  3. Receive emails with resources to guide you through your evaluation.

Installation Guidelines

  • Plan ahead. Back up your files and settings before installing this evaluation.
  • Upon installation, Windows will prompt you to activate. A product key is not required for this software.
  • In order to use Windows 10 Enterprise, you must sign in to your PC with a Microsoft account. The option to create a local account will be made available at the time of the final release.
  • If you decide that you want to install Windows 10 Enterprise using one of the provided ISO files, you won't be able to uninstall it. In addition, after you install Windows 10 Enterprise, you won't be able to use the recovery partition on your PC to go back to your previous version of Windows. A clean installation of your former operating system will be required, and you will need to re-install all of your programs and data. 
  • If you fail to activate this evaluation after installation, or if your evaluation period expires, the desktop background will turn black, you will see a persistent desktop notification indicating that the system is not genuine, and the PC will shut down every hour.

Things to Know

This is evaluation software that is designed for IT professionals interested in trying Windows 10 Enterprise on behalf of their organization. We do not recommend that you install this evaluation if you are not an IT professional or are not professionally managing corporate networks or devices.

Windows 10 Enterprise should work with the same devices and programs that work with Windows 8.1. In some cases, a device or program might not work or may require an update, or you might need to uninstall some programs and then reinstall them after installing the evaluation.

Downloading Windows 10 Enterprise could take a few hours. The exact time will depend on your provider, bandwidth, and traffic (ISP fees may apply).

To install a 64-bit OS on a 64-bit PC, your processor needs to support CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW, and LAHF/SAHF.

BitLocker requires either Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2, TPM 2.0 or a USB flash drive. Client Hyper-V requires a 64-bit system with second level address translation (SLAT) capabilities and additional 2 GB of RAM. Windows Hello requires specialized illuminated infrared camera for facial recognition or iris detection or a finger print reader which supports the Window Biometric Framework. Two factor authentication requires the use of a PIN, Biometric (finger print reader or illuminated infrared camera), or a phone with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth capabilities. Windows To Go requires advanced hardware. To learn more about USB drives certified for Windows To Go, please visit www.microsoft.com/WindowsToGo.

For the latest information on deprecated features and additional requirements to use certain features, please see Windows 10 Specifications. For technical questions, please visit the Windows 10 TechNet forums.