How Do I: Create a Dynamics 365 Business Central Demo/Sandbox Environment?

There are many ways to spin up a demo environment for Dynamics 365 Business Central.

For example, you can use a Docker image, or register for an online tenant, or create one on Azure:

• What Docker Image is right for you?
• Multiple ways to run a NAV on Docker image.
  • http://aka.ms/getnav
  • http://aka.ms/navdeveloperpreview
  • http://aka.ms/getnavworkshopvms
• Sign up for a Dynamics 365 Business Central sandbox.

But, when I have to deliver a demo, I don’t always have the time to do that, and I then opt for one of the following:

• Microsoft Demos
• Create an Office 365 trial

Microsoft Demos

The Microsoft Demos website is one of the best locations to get the latest demo resources from across Microsoft.

First you need to go threw the registration process, using either a personal or work account.

To be honest, although I’m an MVP, an MCT and also work for a Microsoft Partner, I have not been able to register using my work account(s). Even after some emails and discussions with Microsoft support on the matter, it still does not work for me.

As it states on the website, there might be some difficulties:

Anyway, using the personal account it worked for me. So, give both options a try…

Once logged on, you will see the following screen:

You can explore the different demos and scenarios. Actually, it does not really matter, I use them to create an Office trial. So, simply go to My Environments and select Create a Tenant:

Next, select your tenant location:

The tenant location you select will determine the domain extension and localization that will be created. But, you can not specify a specific country, only a region:

I usually select the North America option, or the Europe (emea) one, and then I will get a .com (usa) or a Canadian tenant, or a Dutch one (.nl), or a French (.fr) or a German one (.de). But never a Belgian one (.be) 😉

Anyway, the idea here is to create a new tenant, which is an Office Trial, that will be valid for 90 days.

Then select one of the options, and click Create Tenant:

Your tenant will be created in a few seconds, and you can see it in My Environments:

Here you will see your admin user and password for Office 365. Use them to login to Office.com.

This Office 365 trial will, usually, be valid for 90-days.

Create an Office 365 trial

Another way to get started is to manually create an Office 365 trial account: https://products.office.com/en-us/business/compare-more-office-365-for-business-plans

Now you can select your country (localization):

Then follow the registration process. You can choose a domain (xyz), and it will end on (xyz).onmicrosoft.com.

This Office 365 trial will, usually, be valid for 30-days.

Create your Business Central Tenant

From now on, the process is simple. Just goto https://signup.microsoft.com/signup?sku=6a4a1628-9b9a-424d-bed5-4118f0ede3fd and sign up for a new tenant:

Use the Office 365 trial email address that you create in the previous steps.

A Business Central tenant will be created for you…