Did Microsoft change policy?

I heard something the other day that I find hard to believe. It used to be that if you had an OEM version of Windows on your system, like most of us do, and you installed a Virtual Machine on it, you could NOT take the Windows installation disks and reinstall the same Windows inside of that VM; having two installations of the same Windows license on one pc would be violating the Microsoft license.

The other day I found a couple of folks who have done just that without any problems (so they say). One of them stated that he thought Microsoft had recently lightened up on their Windows on Virtual Machine policy as long as it is still installed on the same hardware.

Has anyone heard this? I have NOT be able to confirm this at Microsoft.

Thanks,
Acadia

 

unless they are using Win7 and XP mode otherwise one licence for host and one for guest (VM)

 

No, this would be the same OEM, any version. Like I said, I find it hard to believe. Maybe they just got lucky and Microsoft did not notice.

Acadia

 

I doubt it too. Give it time

 

Actually it's not so much that Microsoft ignored it,it's that the licence key on an installed OEM copy of XP isn't the same as the key on the sticker.At least this has been the case with the OEM systems I've seen.Therefore if the VM was installed using the external key it appears to be a separate product to MS.I'm not sure as to the legitimacy of this,I'm guessing that a separate licence should be purchased.

 

Your question needs to be way more specific to be answered...

Standard W7 EULA:

Software Assurance:

 

Well, let's say a pc that was purchased with OEM XP Pro on it. Then a person installs VirtualBox on that system. Then they want to take the OEM XP Pro disks that came with their system and use them to install into VirtualBox. Need any more info than that?

I say no, it cannot be done, well, not legally. These dudes told me that MS has changed their policy as long as it is on the same hardware; I'm skeptical.

Acadia

 

I tried it as well with both XP Home SP-2 and XP Pro SP-2.
In both cases, VirtualBox and VM Ware prevented me from installing either OS as both host and in the virtual environment.

 

EULAID:XPSP2_RM.0_PRO_OEM_EN

Sounds clear enough. (The sucky formatting is c'n'p, so blame M$ )

 

All I know is when I tried to install a guest Xp Sp3,in VirtualBox,on my host XP Sp3 system,with the host validation code,Microsoft refused the code,and began counting down the days,from 30 to 1.

I was able to obtain a valid registerable copy of XP for my VirtualBox.
All is well. I hope. I have no idea if I need to reformat and install, Windows,if my original code (for the XP that came installed on my machine)will be accepted or not.

rat