How To Create A Windows 11 Virtual Machine in Azure
Published: 2024-04-10 14:10:57

Experience the versatility and convenience of a Windows 11 virtual machine, providing the perfect platform to explore and test the latest version of Windows without any permanent alterations to your primary operating system or hardware. Customize your environment to suit your exact needs with a Windows 11 virtual machine.
This article will show you step-by-step how to create and connect Windows 11 Virtual Machine in Azure

Before you start, ensure you have an active Azure subscription, if you don't have one, [Click here](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/) to create a free account.

Now that you have created your Azure subscription, sign in to the Azure portal using your e-mail and password to get started.

 ![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/92n9xg4g6lc5jhh4hzsj.PNG).


- On your Home Dashboard click on the **Virtual Machine icon**
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/y8cqkfkaain5cfmyo3ox.PNG).

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 Click on **Create** and select the **Azure Virtual Machine** option


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/amcb6q6u2db2vvv9ftcr.PNG).

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**_We will now go through different tabs to configure our virtual machine._**

   

## **<u>In Basics tab</u>**

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Click on **Create new** below the **Resource group** selection field, enter a **Name** and click **OK** button.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ebzhjtima5198tkmgztf.PNG).
**In the Project Details Above, we have the Subscription and Resource Group**
**a)Subscription**
_To utilize Azure, a subscription to the platform is required. This subscription grants authorized access to a wide range of Azure products and services and the ability to organize resource groups effectively and manage billing. Additionally, Azure subscriptions offer a free trial and a flexible pay-as-you-go pricing model._

**b)Resource Groups** 
_Resource Groups are essential containers that house multiple Azure resources, such as virtual machines, app services, storage accounts, and databases. They offer crucial flexibility for managing the lifecycle of all services in one central location within the Azure cloud. With a resource group, you can confidently deploy, update, and delete these services simultaneously._


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/gepnpr0j0nv2mvgwz3u2.PNG)
**In the Instance Details Above:**

- Enter a name in the **Virtual machine name** field.

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Select a region closest to you in the **Region** field.

_**Regions** refer to the geographic areas where Microsoft Azure has deployed its data centers, from which users can deploy their applications and services. Each region is made up of multiple data centers that are connected by a low-latency network, enabling users to access their resources quickly and reliably_


 

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Click on the drop-down to select your **availability option** and **availability Zone**.


_**Availability zones** are physically separated data centers within an Azure region. Each availability zone encompasses one or more data centers that function independently with their own power, cooling, and networking infrastructure. These zones are interconnected through high-speed, private fiber-optic networks. Therefore, if one zone experiences an outage, the others remain operational. At a minimum, three distinct availability zones are situated kilometers apart._


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Click the drop-down menu to select your **security type**

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/lzmv1xrmk9yn9zz5rviz.PNG).


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In the Image field, click the dropdown menu and select **Windows 11 Pro, version 22H2 — x64 Gen2.**




![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/i3rn91vfa0hfci0e0u3q.PNG)

_In Azure, **images** are utilized to install an operating system in a new virtual machine. An image may also contain one or more data disks. To view a range of operating systems available in the Marketplace, including the latest versions of Windows Server and various Linux distributions, click on **"see all images"**._


- In the **size field**, click the drop-down menu to select your **size** or click to **see all sizes**



![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/l8ho6guzrg6oartf3q71.PNG).


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In the **Administrator account** category, set up a unique **Username** and **Password**. Keep them secure as we will require them later to log into our virtual machine.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/h7jk6r95u5q8t5y3pn84.PNG).




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Under **Inbound port rules**, choose **Allow selected ports** in the **Public inbound ports** and then select **RDP (3389)** and **HTTP (80)** from the drop-down menu.

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Check the **Licensing** checkbox to **Confirm** and click the **Next:Disk** button to go to the next **tab.**



![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ms0xna43th1ftola8eat.PNG).


## **<u>In DiskS tab</u>**

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Leave the **OS Disk Size** in the **image default setting** or select a preferred **size** from the drop-down menu.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/shmoeiwgg78iya7b12ez.PNG).

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Select **Standard SSD** or any other disk type of your choice in the **OS disk type field**. Leave other columns as default.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/mk72fbbyd4qaxt4olkyd.PNG).

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**Leave networking, management, monitoring, and advanced tabs configurations as default. Skip to the Tag page.**


## **<u>In Tag tab</u>**

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Give your **tag a name and Value**

_**Tagging** is a way to organize your Azure resources, resource groups, subscriptions, and management groups hierarchy for better filtering, monitoring, or querying a few scenarios. Each tag contains a name and a value pair._

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/1czukc4el93p92nafsge.PNG)


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Review the summary of your virtual machine configuration 


**<u>In the Review + Create tab</u>**
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Click the **Review + Create** tab and click on the **Create** button to begin the deployment process.



![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/a2av7fesg0fkromyqfiq.PNG)


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After the deployment process is finished, you need to click on the **Go to resource** option to proceed.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/yn35asn4s4v7p2tib1ez.PNG)

 

## **<u>Connecting to Your Windows Virtual Machine**
</u>

The following steps will help you create a Remote Desktop connection to your virtual machine and connect to the Windows 11 operating system.

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Click on the **connect** dropdown menu from the overview page of your virtual machine, then select **Connect**.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/lci6qmlwjp9q603hyhod.PNG)

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To proceed, select the **Native RDP** option and then click on the **Download RDP file** button. 

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/g55145eoczz9e87m8kww.PNG)

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Open the downloaded RDP file and click **Connect**

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wzz9zkukqlcljpobk94v.PNG)

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Input your Administrator **username** and **password** of your virtual machine, and then click on the **ok** button.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/psqmbxjvt2ltb3rh3k4p.PNG)

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Click the **Yes** button on the window prompt

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/pjqzst527dmidl8oen9p.PNG)

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**Congratulations! You have successfully connected to your Windows 11 Pro operating system.**

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/9dh1fj23t3h3ra73hpfq.png)


## <u>How to disassociate an IP address
</u> One method to reduce cost is disassociating your virtual machine from its IP address.

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Click on the **Public IP address** associated with your virtual machine


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/40ye1tvam7fv1670tqjc.PNG)

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Click on **overview**


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/e15lh7wx3vzw1989r74r.PNG)

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On the overview page, click on the **Dissociate** option located at the top of the page 

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wvbbr14fl1jj2sciu79i.PNG)

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Click the **Yes** button to confirm the permanent dissociation of your public IP address from your virtual machine

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/jezrf01yqn7v0y008mu7.PNG)

## <u>How to delete resource group and its associated resources (virtual machine, network, database, etc.)</u>
_This section will guide you on how to delete any resources that you have created. It is important to delete these resources after completing your work to avoid unnecessary costs and usage of services on the Azure cloud._

_Note that deleting the entire resource group will help you save costs as there will be no resources left on the portal_

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Close to disconnect the Virtual Windows 11 Pro operating system.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/8gf4nhn72jd59v8idu8z.PNG)

 

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In Azure portal **search bar**, type **Resource groups**
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From the search results, select **Resource groups**

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/g6agxtez27yoisjqicr6.PNG)
 

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Click on the **Resource group name (JoshVMGroup)** or any other dependent resources
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/mpmy4eboes9qs7gelpq1.PNG)

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Click on **Delete resource group** at the top of the **resource group page.**

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wmfxisb4spyheggpfd5k.PNG)


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On Delete a resource group page, copy and paste your resource group name **'JoshVMGroup'** in the **'Enter the resource group name to confirm deletion'** field.

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Check **"Apply force delete for selected virtual machine and virtual machine scale sets"** checkbox and click on the **Delete** button



![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/0vvdvzywl4dpvqh5ka8c.PNG)

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Click **Delete** to confirm your action

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/vf6e7savgk6qklnb072y.PNG)

I hope you had an informative learning journey on this topic. Stay tuned for more editions of new informative learning on this Channel.
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