from Microsoft Sysinternals. It creates a VHD directly from your running physical system, which you can then move into a virtual machine like Hyper-V or VirtualBox. Important Safety Tips Avoid Unofficial Third-Parties
: Select 'Action' > 'Create VHD'. Specify a size (at least 40 GB) and choose the VHD or VHDX format. windows 81 vhd download link
Since official support for Windows 8.1 ended on , many users turn to community archives for specific versions or pre-configured images. from Microsoft Sysinternals
Initialize the disk as MBR (for broader compatibility) or GPT , and format it as NTFS [1]. 3. Deploy Windows to the VHD Specify a size (at least 40 GB) and
For older builds or specific pre-made images, many users turn to community-maintained repositories. Use these with caution as they are not officially verified by Microsoft.