Creating a Windows VM

Author: Stefan Waldvogel

Creating a Windows VM with Virtual Machine Manager

If you use Virtual Machine Manager, you can use this guide to create your Windows VM.

Step one:
Download a legal Windows 10 copy here:
www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-10-enterprise
This version runs for 90 days and the file is about 5 GB large.

Create a new machine and select Local install media and select the right iso file.

Select the wanted RAM and CPUs and create the disk. You can take the standard configuration.

Pick a useful name and select the wanted network. I pick "Customize" because I want to add a different network and I want to make sure the VM boots via CDROM.

If everything works, install Win 10 as usual. Deactivate all spy features and use a local account.

If you use a static network (without DHCP) you must set your IP address according to your network.
My second network does not have internet access and this is wanted. If you see "unknown", you have to fix the network settings.

I use the internet access to install wanted features, but I will remove the network connection later.
Now, we have a client or victim. If you use it as a victim, switch off the security features. Nowadays, Windows 10 is smart and after a while Windows will activate the security features (Defender, real time protection) again.
Changing these settings in a lab is fine... but don't do it on a real machine.