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New OEM WinXP+ in a VM on OSX - Re/Activation necessary?
Hi,

Just wondering if anyone knows off-hand...

I am using OSX more frequently these days, but still need to use Winders. Before going too far down the path of contemplating building a Hackintosh or getting a fast MacBook Pro and installing Winders in a VM I have a (possibly stupid) question.

If I get an OEM/SystemBuilder copy of Win7 or use an existing (uninstalled) copy of XP Pro or XP Home and install it on a Virtual Machine on OS X Snow Leopard (or the upcoming Lion), will it ask to be Activated with MS in a way that makes it tied to that particular installation? Can I transfer that virtual machine image from a MacMini to a MacBook without it asking to be activated again? What happens if I change the VM "hardware" by giving it more RAM, etc.? Does it need to be Activated again?

In other words, does something like this apply in a VM installation? http://technet.micro...ary/bb457078.aspx or http://www.microsoft...28&displaylang=en

I don't mind buying OEM copies for each physical PC, if necessary (I don't want to have to buy "full versions", but I don't want to be in a situation where if I tweak the VM or need to reinstall the OS that I need to call MS multiple times and risk them saying - "Sorry, too many changes; Sorry, that's not allowed, you need to buy a new copy; Sorry OEM copies aren't licensed for VMs; Sorry, ...."

Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott.
New FYI...
on VMWare Fusion, I've been running the same version of WinXP for my wife's "daycare reporting software" which is web based since 2007, through three upgrades on VMWare Fusion.

I've not had to re-activate it yet.

TLAs that apply:
YMMV, IANAL, FWIW, TING, PAYOR.
New Thanks. I'll have to try XPHome and see how it goes.
New It is points based
Couldn't relocate the TechNet article, but this one sums it up pretty well:
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php

Basically, as long as all your VMs present the same hardware and serial numbers to Windows, it will be happy even if you move it around. What happens with the boot volume serial number depends on whether the VM uses a file or a real partition. (No idea what Bootcamp does, but e.g. VMWare flipped on their recommended practice on that point.)

MS way not be happy if you use a system builder license. They nailed that down a while back to the point that you need to be building complete machines. I don't think this will count as one ;)
New Great information. Thanks a bunch.
New They also want a license for each VM install...
http://wskills.blogs...-and-virtual.html

A Software Assurance chit gets you up to 4 VMs with a desktop license, but all others need a license for each VM. Unless things have changed, YMMV, etc., etc.

As is usual with anything Windows, it's not straightforward. 7 apparently allows native and VM installs on the same PC, but each must be activated separately. I've just skimmed this thread which talks about differences between retail and OEM versions - it appears that users are able to get MS to give out the magic numbers for the VM install activation with an OEM version, but more evidence might be needed.

http://forums.macrum...read.php?t=827339

Nothing is easy, at least not if you want to be reasonably legal without giving MS more money than the least they'll accept...

Cheers,
Scott.
New My Version of WinXP
is OEM.

And its actually gone from being a VM on Linux, three different machines (and various versions)... and to OSX and three different versions.

I told it I moved it, which I really did.

I've never had a single problem with WGA.
New Excellent. Thanks.
New Well that's interesting. OS X really doesn't like 15 MB free
I installed the latest Virtual Box on this MacMini Server (4 GB RAM) this morning, and installed an OEM XP Pro+SP3. The only changes I made from the defaults were to give the Video 64 MB of RAM for 2D acceleration, and increased the VM RAM to 2 GB. I figured, hey, why not. I'm going to be increasing the RAM to 8 GB soon, so ...

(One gotcha I never would have figured out without Google. I have a wired Apple keyboard. F8 starts iTunes. You have to hit F8 to accept MS's license. There's a little "fn" key next to the Home key on the keyboard that makes the function keys act like PC function keys. That got me over the hump.)

Well, the install went Ok, but I had to leave for work before the XP install finished.

OS X was very unhappy. The screen saver would try to come on, but there was such an overcommitment of RAM that it would take 5 minutes to respond to the mouse or keyboard. Firefox 4 was giving the spinning beachball.

This PM I finished the XP install and let it run. I activated it. Even after the install finished, FF4 was unhappy. I had to kill the VB session even after exiting XP.

iStat said that only 15 MB of RAM was free, so no wonder it was unhappy.

So, I dropped the VM size back to 512 MB (I think the recommended default was 128 MB or something). XP hasn't complained about needing to be reactivated (not enough points yet). FF is still very unhappy when the VB session starts up, but it works (no beachball). With XP doing nothing, Thunderbird running, and FF4 running with 78 tabs, I've got 829 MB free and things are snappy enough.

(Turning off the eye candy in XP is something I always do.)

I'll have to play around some more, but so far so good. I haven't tried transferring the VM file to another PC/Mac yet - don't know how soon that will bubble up the queue...

Thanks, everyone.

Cheers,
Scott.
New Preferences -> Keyboard lets you change that
There's a checkbox that turns the function keys back into standard function keys. You then hit fn to trigger the special features like iTunes control.
New Ah, nice. Thanks.
     OEM WinXP+ in a VM on OSX - Re/Activation necessary? - (Another Scott) - (10)
         FYI... - (folkert) - (1)
             Thanks. I'll have to try XPHome and see how it goes. -NT - (Another Scott)
         It is points based - (scoenye) - (4)
             Great information. Thanks a bunch. -NT - (Another Scott)
             They also want a license for each VM install... - (Another Scott) - (2)
                 My Version of WinXP - (folkert) - (1)
                     Excellent. Thanks. -NT - (Another Scott)
         Well that's interesting. OS X really doesn't like 15 MB free - (Another Scott) - (2)
             Preferences -> Keyboard lets you change that - (SpiceWare) - (1)
                 Ah, nice. Thanks. -NT - (Another Scott)

I don't get no respect!
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