The lab: how a page earns its evidence badge
Every page on this site carries an evidence level. This is what E1, E2 and E3 mean, which machines produce them, and what a badge does not claim.
Tested onPro (26H2) / Server · Build 26300.9457 / 26100.33650 · x64
E2- Build
- 26300.9457 / 26100.33650
- Edition
- Pro (26H2) / Server
- Architecture
- x64
- Support
- Lab (E2)
- Evidence
- E2Reproduced in the lab
- Verified
- 2026-10-29
- Page type
- Lab
The short answer
Section titled “The short answer”Three levels, and every page declares one:
| Level | Means | What you can rely on |
|---|---|---|
| E1 | Follows official documentation | the vendor’s stated behaviour, on the documented build |
| E2 | Reproduced in this lab | the steps were run here, and the output is quoted |
| E3 | Measured on physical hardware | numbers from real silicon, with the method stated |
A badge is a claim about method, not about your machine. E2 means “this worked on this build in a VM”; it does not promise your OEM image behaves the same.
What the lab actually is
Section titled “What the lab actually is”| Component | What runs |
|---|---|
| Host | Proxmox VE, 16 cores, 31 GB |
| Client VM | Windows 11 Pro 26H2, 26300.9457 |
| Server VM | Windows Server (LTSC), 26100.33650 |
| Media | official ISO, SHA-256 recorded before install |
| Snapshots | taken before each destructive step |
The VMs are stopped when they are not in use. A page that says “verified 2026-10-29” records the date the run happened, not the date the page was edited.
What a badge does not claim
Section titled “What a badge does not claim”- Not a benchmark. Timing numbers in a VM say nothing about your SSD.
- Not driver-agnostic. A GPU claim reproduced with the VirtIO display adapter is not a claim about your NVIDIA card.
- Not permanent. A build that behaves one way in 26H2 can change in the next release; the date is the boundary.
Read more
Section titled “Read more”- Lab method: E1/E2/E3, PVE templates and snapshots — the full procedure, including how a run is recorded and what counts as a failure.
Related
Section titled “Related”Lab boundary
Section titled “Lab boundary”This page describes the lab; it is not itself an experiment. The host and VM identities above are the ones used for every E2 page on the site.