As some may be aware, there has been a CRC error when trying to extract the 2nd file of the SharePoint VHD from the Microsoft site for at least the past week. Well as of this writing, clicking on the SharePoint link on the VHD landing page
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/try/vhd/default.mspx
yields the following error message.
The download you requested is unavailable. If you continue to see this message when trying to access this download, go to the "Search for a Download" area on the Download Center home page.
Let's cross our fingers that this is a good sign that the problem has been noticed, the current VHD removed, and that a proper set of uncorrupted files might be reposted later today or early this coming week. If you don't already know about these, they are a great way to get up and running with a demo environment. They do have a 30 day "time bomb" in them that will cause them to expire though. So, if you're looking for a long term more sustainable sandbox environment these might not be for you. They're great if you need to give a demo, do some quick experimentation, evaluate SharePoint for the boss, if you are the boss, and for the merely curious.
Robert Wuhrman