Well, the first snow of the season is currently falling outside my window...
It's not sticking to the roads, but it is staying on the grass and cars...

You're quite welcome, but I'd still push to get a test server stood up.  The advantage you've got is, because you're on a VM you should be able to stand...

I'm with Jo on everything, with a few comments of my own here on your plan...

The two items that jump out at me the most are, you're only...

I'm probably the most boring one here...
If SQL Server vanished from the face of the earth tonight, and I had to find a new role / job tomorrow, I'd...

I would expect if you launch the install from the command line, you ought to be able to specify the location for the system databases.  Seeing as it looks like...

So...
If someone's wife woke them up at 3am when they had to get up for work at 6am, because the toilet kept running, and the someone couldn't really get...