About this release
This is the professional edition installation image at the final feature update of the line. Nothing has been stripped out of the component store, so every optional feature, every language pack and the full recovery environment are present. What has been prepared is the setup flow, which completes without stopping to ask for a product key and arrives at a desktop in an activated state.
The professional edition is the one worth having on a machine you actually work on. It carries BitLocker for full disk encryption, Remote Desktop as a host rather than only a client, Hyper-V for virtual machines, group policy for real configuration control, and domain join if the machine ever needs to sit on a managed network. The home edition drops all of that.
The image is standard enough to be handled by any of the usual tools. Write it to a USB stick, boot it, and run through setup as normal, including the disk partitioning step and the choice between an upgrade in place and a clean install. Both legacy and UEFI boot paths are covered, and the image works from a mounted drive inside an existing Windows installation if you would rather upgrade without rebooting from media.
What it does
- Complete professional edition with nothing removed from the component store
- BitLocker full disk encryption with TPM or password unlock
- Remote Desktop host, not just the client
- Hyper-V with nested virtualisation support
- Group policy editor and full local security policy control
- Domain join and Azure AD join available
- Windows Subsystem for Linux available as an optional feature
- Full recovery environment and reset options intact
- Thirty eight setup and display languages included
- Boots on both legacy BIOS and UEFI systems
Changes in this version
- Rolled up servicing stack so the first update pass is much shorter
- Updated driver set for current storage controllers
- Fixed a setup hang on some systems with many attached drives
- Improved installer behaviour on machines with mixed NVMe and SATA disks
- Refreshed language pack set
What the package contains
- Bootable installation image for the professional edition
- All setup and display languages
- Full recovery environment
- Notes on writing the image to USB with the common tools
- Readme with the install order written out step by step
Installation notes
Follow these in order. Most reports of a failed install come from skipping a step rather than from the package itself.
- Back up anything you care about, a clean install wipes the target partition.
- Write the image to a USB stick of 8 GB or larger with your preferred imaging tool.
- Boot from the stick, choosing the UEFI entry on a modern machine.
- Pick your language, then choose custom install for a clean setup.
- Delete the old system partitions if you are wiping, then select the free space.
- Let setup run through its restarts and complete the first boot configuration.
System requirements
| Processor | 1 GHz or faster, 64-bit, with two or more cores |
| Memory | 2 GB minimum, 8 GB recommended |
| Graphics | DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver |
| Storage | 32 GB minimum, 64 GB or more recommended |
| Firmware | Legacy BIOS or UEFI, secure boot supported |
| Display | 800 by 600 minimum |
Things worth knowing
- Disconnect from the network during setup so the out of box experience does not force an account sign in step.
- Let the machine sit for a few minutes after the first boot, the servicing stack finishes work in the background.
- Chipset and graphics drivers should still come from your hardware maker rather than the generic set in the image.
Questions about this title
Can I upgrade in place from an older build?
Will it stay activated after updates?
Do I need to remove existing partitions?
Is the home edition included?
What people are saying
Wrote it to a stick, clean install on an old laptop, done in twenty minutes. No key prompt.
Network off during setup is good advice, it skips straight past the account nagging.
Installed on a machine with three drives and it picked the right one without drama.
Listing information
This entry is catalogued under Operating Systems and carries the tags below. Language coverage is Multilingual, 38 setup languages, and the supported platform list is Bootable installation image. Version 22H2 build 19045.5011 is the current catalogued build, last checked 1 week ago, and the entry has been in the index since it was added 4 years ago.