Last updated: April 21, 2025

🎯 Introduction

Are you an IT admin, platform engineer, or a developer looking to explore a developer-centric, cloud-powered workstation experience? In this post, I’ll show you how to start quickly and try out Microsoft Dev Box using either a Microsoft 365 Business Premium or Microsoft 365 E3 plan — both of which come with licenses of Windows 10/11, Microsoft Entra ID, and Microsoft Intune and offer free trials. Check out my other post about subscriptions and licensing requirements for Microsoft Dev Box to understand what subscriptions and licenses are required to successfully get started with the Microsoft Dev Box service.

Microsoft Dev Box provides secure, ready-to-code cloud-based workstations with enterprise-grade configuration and controls. In order to follow along with the steps in this post, you’ll need four things:

1. ✅ A Microsoft 365 Business Premium or E3 plan (Both plans offer a 30-day free trial)
2. ✅ Microsoft Intune license (included in both plans)
3. ✅Microsoft Entra ID license (included in both plans)
4. ✅ A Microsoft Azure subscription (Pay-as-you-go subscription)

🧭 In this post

In this post, I will show you all the major steps you will need to take to create a Dev Box machine. You will start with signing up for a Microsoft 365 Business premium or E3 subscription, sign up for a pay-as-you-go Azure subscription, and then create a Dev Box machine in the developer portal.

• Step 1: Sign up for Microsoft 365 Business Premium or E3
• Step 2: Sign up for an Azure subscription
• Step 3: Configure and set up Microsoft Dev Box
• Conclusion

🛠️ Step 1: Sign up for Microsoft 365 Business Premium or E3 plan

Both these plans offer 30-day free trials for up to 25 users.  Windows 10/11, Microsoft Intune, and Microsoft Entra ID licenses, which are required for setting up the Dev Box service, are included with both these plans.

1.1 Start the free trial

👉 Compare Microsoft 365 Plans

• Choose Business Premium or E3 30-day free trial link to start the process of signing up for either one of them.
• Provide your personal email and begin the setup process

1.2 Enter business information

Enter your company name, mycompany, on signup the form — this forms your domain (e.g., mycompany.onmicrosoft.com) and email identity.

1.3 Create the admin account

You’ll set up a global admin account like admin@mycompany.onmicrosoft.com. This will be your main Microsoft 365 admin account for managing your Microsoft 365 plan, users, and services.

1.4 Provide payment info

Enter your credit card (nothing is charged on it for 30 days). Confirm and start the trial.

1.5 Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Set up MFA using the Microsoft authenticator app for the admin account.

1.6 Access the Admin center

Go to 👉 Microsoft 365 Admin Center From here, you’ll manage licenses, create users, and configure your tenant.

☁️ Step 2: Sign Up for an Azure subscription

Now use your Microsoft 365 admin account to create a Pay-as-you-go Azure subscription.

2.1 Sign up for Azure

👉 Azure Free and Pay-As-You-Go

• Choose Pay-As-You-Go since getting a free Azure trial won’t work
• Sign in with the Microsoft 365 admin account
• Complete identity verification and enter payment info

⚠️ You won’t be charged unless you create resources like Dev Box machines. Be sure to delete the Dev Box machine after testing or use shutdown automation to control costs.

2.2 Set up MFA (if prompted)

Follow the steps to verify your identity and finish the signup process.

💻 Step 3: Configure and set up Microsoft Dev Box

Now it’s time to deploy and use a Dev Box machine!

3.1 Configure resources for Dev Box service in Azure

You can use the Dev Box resource creation experience to create all the necessary Azure resources to get ready to create your first Dev Box machine.

👉 Create and configure the necessary Azure resources

It will create a Dev center, project, Dev Box definition, and Dev Box pool for you.

3.2 Create your first Dev Box machine

👉 Developer Portal

1. Sign in as the Microsoft 365 admin account
2. Choose a project and pool
3. Click “Create Dev Box”
4. Wait a few minutes… and you’re ready to code! 🚀
5. Use this resource to learn more about how to configure and access your first Dev Box machine.

✅ Conclusion

In just a few steps, you’ve:

• Set up a free trial of Microsoft 365 Business Premium or E3 plan
• Signed up for a Pay-as-you-go Azure subscription
• Configured the Microsoft Dev Box service in the Azure portal
• Launched your first Dev Box machine in the developer portal

🔗 Additional Resources

• ✅ Microsoft Dev Box documentation | Microsoft Learn
• ✅ Dev Box architecture overview
• ✅ Key Dev Box concepts
• ✅ Microsoft Dev Box roadmap