The Azure Local Lab helps build your own lab environment for Azure Local and Windows Server HCI on Azure in reasonable preparation time and cost.
- You can deploy a lab environment on a single Azure virtual machine for Azure Local / Windows Server 2025 HCI / Windows Server 2022 HCI.
- The lab environment will be deployed in about 30 to 120 minutes most cases.
- It is just a plain environment, so you can try many workloads, features and scenarios in the clean environment by yourself. Also, you can customize it to your own needs easily.
- You can choose an operating system to use deploy your lab environment.
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Open Azure portal from the following Deploy to Azure to deploy your lab environment. To keep this page, open it as a new tab (Ctrl + Click).
Note: The only difference between languages is the UI language displayed when you deploy your lab environment in Azure portal. The language is not effect to the lab environment you deployed.
Note: Recommend to choose Yes, I trust the authors to use the user friendly deployment UI. Read FAQ for details.
Lab environment English Japanese (日本語) Azure Local Lab Windows Server HCI Lab -
Fill out required fields in the Basics tab on Azure portal. Other fields in the rest tabs can leave with default values. Click Review + create to start deployment.
Tips: If the deployment failed, try deploying again that will resolving the issue in most cases. If not, please create an issue, it will help lab quality improvement.
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After completing the deployment, you need to allow Remote Desktop access to your lab host Azure VM from your local machine. It can be by enabling JIT VM access or adding an inbound security rule in the Network Security Group. The recommended way is using JIT VM access.
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Connect to your lab host Azure VM using your favorite Remote Desktop client. To connect, use the credentials that you specified at deployment.
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Your lab environment is ready for you. Let's access your VMs in your lab environment from Hyper-V Manager icon on the desktop. You can access VMs with the administrator account that you specified during deployment. The lab tour will help you to familiar to your lab environment.
- Lab tour: Explains about the configuration of the HCI Lab environment.
- Frequently asked questions: Frequently asked questions on the HCI Lab.
- Deploy AKS on Windows Server 2022 with HCI Lab: Step by step to deploy the AKS on Windows Server 2022 with HCI Lab.
The following operating systems are selectable for lab machines.
| Operating system | OS build | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Azure Local 2603 (24H2) | 26100.32522 | The latest generally available version of Azure Local. |
| Windows Server 2025 Datacenter Evaluation (Desktop Experience) | 26100.1742 | Windows Server 2025 Datacenter with the standard graphical user interface. |
📚 Selectable other operating systems for lab machines
The following operating systems are still available for selection, but they have not been tested.
| Operating system | OS build | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Azure Local 2602 (24H2) | 26100.32370 | The previous version of Azure Local. |
| Azure Local 2601 (24H2) | 26100.32230 | The previous version of Azure Local. |
| Azure Local 2512 (24H2) | 26100.7462 | The previous version of Azure Local. |
| Azure Local 2511 (24H2) | 26100.7171 | The previous version of Azure Local. |
| Azure Local 2510 (24H2) | 26100.6899 | The previous version of Azure Local. |
| Azure Local 2509 (24H2) | 26100.6584 | This version of Azure Local reached the end of support. |
| Azure Local 2508 (24H2) | 26100.4946 | This version of Azure Local reached the end of support. |
| Azure Local 2507 (24H2) | 26100.4652 | This version of Azure Local reached the end of support. |
| Azure Local 2506 (24H2) | 26100.4349 | This version of Azure Local reached the end of support. |
| Azure Local 2505 (24H2) | 26100.4061 | This version of Azure Local reached the end of support. |
| Azure Local 2504 (24H2) | 26100.3775 | This version of Azure Local reached the end of support. |
| Azure Local 2503 (23H2) Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2 |
25398.1486 | This version of Azure Local (formerly Azure Stack HCI) reached the end of support. |
| Azure Stack HCI, version 22H2 | 20348.1607 | This version of Azure Stack HCI reached the end of support on May 31, 2025. |
| Azure Stack HCI, version 21H2 | 20348.288 | This version of Azure Stack HCI reached the end of support on November 14, 2023. |
| Azure Stack HCI, version 20H2 | 17784.1408 | This version of Azure Stack HCI reached the end of support on December 13, 2022. |
| Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Evaluation (Desktop Experience) | 20348.587 | Windows Server 2022 Datacenter with the standard graphical user interface. |
Copyright (c) 2022-present Takeshi Katano. All rights reserved. This software is released under the MIT License.
Disclaimer: The codes stored herein are my own personal codes and do not related my employer's any way.