eric.frederich Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 I'm wondering how a Windows 10 license plays nicely with these VMs? I saw that it is popular to buy a license online but for like $15 but they're OEM licenses... something about them not being able to be transferred? How does this work with VMs on unRAID? It took me several tries to get my Ubuntu VM configured the way I want it... if I get one of these licenses do I have to get it right the first time? Any tips please? Quote Link to comment
DZMM Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 I purchased a couple of my licenses on eBay and I've got upgrade keys from my old w8 installations. Both sets of keys have worked perfectly, even when re-used after setting up VMs again. Quote Link to comment
eric.frederich Posted May 18, 2017 Author Share Posted May 18, 2017 Thanks, do you know the details about what Windows looks at to determine if it's a new PC or not? I'm trying to see what the most I can get away with is, legally of course. If I buy a single license can I use it on multiple VMs so long as only one of them is running at a time? Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 A single-use license can only legally be used on one machine, whether it's "real" or "virtual". But what will WORK isn't necessarily the same as what's LEGAL I'm also very skeptical about the licenses sold on e-bay for very low prices (e.g. $15 or so). But IF they install and activate that's certainly not a bad price for a valid license. Certainly cheap enough to test. Quote Link to comment
DZMM Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 As far as I'm aware if the hardware fingerprint changes you just have to register the key via the online verification tool. I was skeptical about the ebay licences at first, but I've purchased three now I think with no probs and for the price it's not really worth worrying about! I bought mine from this seller http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/igs365?ul_noapp=true Quote Link to comment
DZMM Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 3 hours ago, NAStyBox said: I have no idea what happens when you try to apply a second OEM license in a new VM on the same CPU. Might work, might not. The new one might disable the old one or the old one might disable the new one. I just don't have a need for a second Win 7 or 10 VM at the moment so I haven't tried it. Works fine for me - got two on the go at the same time with no problems. I agree with your sentiment - Microsoft are happy with the keys so they are good enough for me Quote Link to comment
lionelhutz Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 A W10 VM uses the UUID to identify the VM. So, it's rather easy to re-use the license if you have to re-install. There are 2 ways I know of. 1. Copy the UUID from the XML file. Then, completely kill and remove the VM. Create a new VM but uncheck the box to start it when you hit save. Edit the XML and change the UUID to the UUID you copied from the old VM XML file. Now, start it and install W10. 2. Click on the VM name beside the icon. This will drop down a list of the connected storage devices. Click the icon to drop the virtual disk image. Go to the file location and delete it too. Then, edit the VM and setup the image again and pick a size. Start the VM and re-install Windows. Of course, you need to have the W10 iso and the virtIO drivers setup so you can install W10 again. I've done both and both work to preserve the previous license. W10 will be registered again once you have it installed and the VM connects to the internet. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 1 hour ago, NAStyBox said: I've reinstalled twice without incident. All I did was re-run the install and activate. That's typical. On ANY PC that has had Win10 activated -- virtual or real -- re-installing on the same system will work with no problem, as long as it's the same version (Home or Pro). You can even change the "bitness" (32 vs 64) of the installation without a problem. Quote Link to comment
lionelhutz Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 1 hour ago, NAStyBox said: I've reinstalled twice without incident. All I did was re-run the install and activate. Ya, you could run the install on the iso or boot off the CD without killing the virtual disk. Just do a new install and pick the disk to install to. Any way you choose, you can re-install W10 and as long as you keep the UUID the install will activate itself. No need for any key. I re-installed a W7 upgrade so I have no key. I've added and removed a USB controller and/or video card (both video and HDMI audio parts) and changed the amount of memory and changed the cores on a W10 VM and it didn't have any affect on the activation yet. Quote Link to comment
eric.frederich Posted May 23, 2017 Author Share Posted May 23, 2017 So I've heard two things here. Someone mentioned a UUID from an XML file and someone mentioned a "hardware fingerprint". Also, "re-installing on the same system will work with no problem" ... but what exactly (or combination of things) makes it the same system? Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 5 hours ago, eric.frederich said: ... but what exactly (or combination of things) makes it the same system? The following is a very old link (16 years), but fundamentally the process has not changed -- only been refined. Indeed in updated documents on MSDN for Windows 7 & 8, Microsoft referred to this old XP document as the fundamental basis for the key system hash that's still used for the activation process. I don't know for sure, but I suspect the same is true for Windows 10. Bottom line: As long as the "machine" hasn't fundamentally changed, it will continue to activate. The most heavily weighted hardware component is the network adapter -- if that doesn't change you can make a fair number of changes without impacting activation. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457054.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396 Quote Link to comment
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