Following the release of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has made it increasingly easy for customers to access and test-drive its latest iterations of Windows client and server platforms. First off, both operating systems offer an extensive trial-base period, Vista of up to 120 days, and Windows Server 2008 up to 240 days. But at the same time, the Redmond company started packaging free copies of its operating systems as virtual hard disk images designed to run inside its virtualization solutions. This is precisely the case with a pair of downloads made available by the company for Windows Server 2008.

In fact, no less than four Windows Server 2008 downloads are available completely free of charge. Windows Server 2008 Evaluation Virtual Hard Drive Images (for Hyper-V) and Windows Server 2008 Evaluation Virtual Hard Drive Images (for Virtual Server 2005) went live on the Microsoft Download Center on November 10, 2008. The first package delivers Windows Server 2008 Evaluation Enterprise Edition and Server Core Virtual Hard Drive Images for Hyper-V, while the second offers Windows Server 2008 Evaluation Enterprise Edition and Server Core Virtual Hard Drive Images for VS 2005.

“These VHD releases are available in English only and are for evaluation and testing purposes. Evaluating Windows Server2008 software does not require product activation or entering a product key. Any edition of Windows Server 2008 may be installed without activation and evaluated for an initial 60 days. If you need more time to evaluate Windows Server 2008, the 60 day evaluation period may be reset (or re-armed) three times, extending the original 60 day evaluation period by up to 180 days for a total possible evaluation time of 240 days. After this time, you will need to uninstall the software or upgrade to a fully-licensed version of Windows Server 2008,” Microsoft informed.

Windows Server 2008 Evaluation Virtual Hard Drive Images (for Virtual Server 2005) is available for download here.
Windows Server 2008 Evaluation Virtual Hard Drive Images (for Hyper-V) is available for download here.

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Enterprise 2005 R2 SP1 is available for download here.
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 is available for download here.