I’m looking to test out Windows, but I don’t want to download it without my VPN. I’m trying to use it in a virtual machine with GPU passthrough so I can play all my games. I also obviously don’t want to pay for a copy. TIA!

  • flathead@lemm.eeEnglish
    20·
    9 months ago

    Hardly ever use Windows myself, but I’m pretty sure you can just download it from Microsoft and refuse all the nags to register it when you are installing it.

    • BuffaloPants@kbin.social
      11·
      9 months ago

      You can indeed. You end up with a permanent small water mark on bottom right hand side of the screen as a reminder to activate. Currently you can keep it like this indefinitely.

      You cannot personalise the desktop but I think that is all.

      • myxi@feddit.nlEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        You end up with a permanent small water mark on the bottom right-hand side of the screen as a reminder to activate. Currently, you can keep it like this indefinitely.

        There are tricks to make the watermark invisible without activating Windows. It works just fine if Windows 10 is not your primary operating system and you don’t plan to personalize your operating system after fiddling around a bit just after you get it installed. You can personalize it for about a couple months before the activating logo shows up; at least that’s how I always experienced it.