Just a quick post letting everyone know that Microsoft has officially released Windows 11 22H2 to the "retail channel". This would be my "go-to" build for a brand new Windows 11 virtual machine - you no longer have to install Insider release preview channel, beta channel or dev channel releases and have to deal with expiration and convoluted upgrade scenarios.
I've been running the release preview channel build of this for a while now. Some of the oddities found in the 22H1 release such as Windows Store crashing (still has to be installed, though!) and apps such as Calculator not running appear to have gone away.
The ISO as of now is only available by building it from uupdump.net. Note that you can only build this ISO on Windows 10 version 2004 or later. That can be on a Windows 10 or 11 physical or virtual machine - that machine can be on either Intel or ARM CPUs. Sorry, but you can no longer build these latest ISOs from uupdump on Linux or macOS and expect to get a working ISO.
The build hasn't yet been populated into the Quick Options section of uupdump.net yet. To find the build, type "22621.521" in the search box:
Hit return and the following shows up:
I have downloaded the highlighted build and verified that it installs into a new virtual machine using the alternate procedure in the unofficial Tips and Techniques guide. The instructions in the Tech Preview Testing Guide may also work, but I haven't had time to check them out.
Note that Windows 11 22H2 Home and Pro Editions now require you to have a Microsoft account in order to use them. If you want to use them without a Microsoft account, you can try out the Enterprise edition (which can be added to the uupdump.net ISO build on the last "Summary for your selection" page by clicking on the radio button "Download, add additional editions and convert to ISO", then selecting the edition(s) you wish to add.
Good luck. We're all counting on you. Have fun storming the castle!
