How do you maintain Windows 10 license when you recreate a VM?


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So Windows 10 is tied to hardware, once you install it the key is tied to the motherboard and you never have to re enter it no matter how many times you reinstall Windows 10 on the same hardware. Change the hardware and you have to re register the key. Now if you have a Windows 7, 8, 8.1 key you can use these when registering a fresh install of Windows 10 and it will work. As far as virtualization goes, you are required to have a unique license for every virtual machine you run. So if you are running Windows 10 on your physical desktop, setup an unRAID server and decide you would like to try and build a Windows 10 VM, you can't use the same license you have for your physical desktop, you are required to buy a new separate license for your VM, this goes for any Microsoft VM's you setup.

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Yes, understood that unique windows license per instance. My concern now though is up to when will Microsoft allow Windows 7 serial number to be used to activate Windows 10? It may very well stop next month. So my concern is, assuming i want to make sure my VM has a proper license now, and everytime I reinstall, is there a way to extract windows 10 license provided, and reuse next time I recreate the VM?

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