How Do I: Create a Business Central Trial From Scratch

Key points

• Start with a new Microsoft 365 trial in an InPrivate browser to ensure a clean environment and predictable trial creation
• Select a country where Microsoft provides localization support, as Business Central is not available everywhere and feature availability varies by region
• Trial timer activates only when creating a new company beyond the default Cronus demo company, allowing unlimited exploration of demo data first
• Trial environments unused for 45 days are automatically removed; keep access to Cronus to prevent deletion
• Disable Microsoft 365 recurring billing after setup to avoid unexpected charges when the trial period ends

Quotes

• “The moment you create a new company that is not a Cronus demo company, the Business Central trial starts.” (Understanding when the trial actually begins helps users maximize exploration time with demo data before committing to actual company setup)
• “If a Business Central trial environment is created but no one signs in at all for 45 days, Microsoft may automatically remove the environment.” (Users need to know about automatic cleanup policies to prevent losing their trial environments)
• “Selecting the correct country during the Microsoft 365 trial setup is important. Business Central is not available in every country.” (Country selection directly impacts trial creation success and feature availability, making it a critical first decision)

Context

• Features: trial environments, demo company, sandbox creation, trial extension, Business Central Admin Center

Source: think about IT - Steven Renders, community blog. Summary, key points and quotes are derived (CONTENT-NOTICE.md); read the original for the full text.