Windows 10 Professional

About this release

Windows 10 Professional on the 22H2 branch is where a very large number of machines have settled and stayed. The interface is predictable, the driver situation is completely solved after a decade, and it does not carry the hardware requirements that pushed a lot of otherwise healthy machines off the upgrade path. For workstations that need to run older peripherals or licence bound software, this is still the sensible install.

Professional rather than Home matters if you need any of the following: BitLocker drive encryption, Remote Desktop as a host rather than only a client, domain join, Group Policy editing, Hyper-V, Windows Sandbox, and the ability to defer feature updates properly rather than being asked politely. All of those are present and enabled in this image.

This is a multilingual image, so the language is chosen at setup rather than being fixed in the file. All editions in the Professional family are selectable from the standard edition picker, and the image passes the normal setup path without any modified installer wrapper, which means in place upgrades and repair installs behave exactly as they should.

The image comes up already licensed. Nothing needs running afterwards and the state survives cumulative updates and feature reinstalls.

What you get

• Final 22H2 servicing branch with the full cumulative update path still open
• BitLocker full drive encryption with TPM or password unlock
• Remote Desktop host, domain join and Group Policy editor
• Hyper-V and Windows Sandbox for disposable test environments
• Multilingual image with language chosen during setup
• Standard unmodified setup path, so in place upgrade and repair install both work
• Windows Subsystem for Linux available through the optional features panel
• Full driver compatibility with hardware that never received Windows 11 support
• Offered as a direct download and as a torrent magnet
• Comes up activated with no post install step

Changes in this build

• Image refreshed against the newest cumulative update so the first patch cycle is much shorter
• Additional language packs folded in
• Servicing stack updated to avoid the long stall on first update check
• Setup media rebuilt to fit standard USB writing tools without splitting the install file
• Removed several preinstalled store applications that most people uninstall anyway

Installation

Read the whole list before you start. Most of the reports that come into the desk about this title turn out to be a step taken out of order.

1. Write the image to a USB stick of at least eight gigabytes using a tool that handles GPT and UEFI.
2. Back up everything on the target drive first. A clean install erases the partition.
3. Boot from the stick and choose your language and keyboard layout.
4. Skip the product key prompt by choosing the option to do it later.
5. Select the Professional edition when the picker appears.
6. Complete setup, connect to the network, and confirm the activation state in system settings.

System requirements

Processor	1 GHz or faster, 64 bit, two cores or more
Memory	4 GB minimum, 8 GB recommended
Graphics	DirectX 12 capable with WDDM 2.0 driver
Storage	64 GB minimum, 128 GB SSD recommended
Display	800 by 600 minimum, anything modern is fine

Notes from the desk

Full details

Title	Windows 10 Professional
Developer	Microsoft
Version	22H2 build 19045
Category	Operating Systems
Release type	Pre-activated
Operating system	Standalone operating system
Architecture	x64
Interface language	Multilingual
Archive size	5.31 GB
File name	windows_10_pro_22h2_x64_multilang_preactivated.iso
Shelf updated	1 week ago
Total downloads	2,279,663

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