Windows 10 as both guest and host Activation of License

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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jkane13
Posts: 31
Joined: 1. Nov 2008, 04:31

Windows 10 as both guest and host Activation of License

Post by jkane13 »

I installed Windows 10 on a SSD card and it activated the license as expected.

I then installed Ubuntu on another SSD card and am using it as the host.

I am running Windows in a VirtualBox VM as raw disk pointing to the SSD I installed it on. I am giving it 3 CPU's out of 8 and 8G out of 32G of memory. I get why Micky$oft thinks it has new hardware. But why will it not let me migrate the license to the VM?

After a couple of days Windows complains the the license is not activated. I go through the troubleshooting steps and it offers me a chance to activate it, but not with the license it is supposed to use. It seems to find my wife's surface tablet I used a couple of times. It does not offer me the same exact O/S I installed and am just running in a VM.

I can go back to running Windows as the host and it works again. I use Ubuntu every day. I will use Windows once a month. I want to keep it running in a VM so it is updated and when I need it I don't have to wait 20 minutes for it to catch up on updates and boot 3-4 times.

I don't want to use Windows as the Host. It is much slower than using Ubuntu as the host.

Any idea how to get Windows to let me use the license key in a VM after it was used as a Host when they are both the same exact O/S installed on a SSD card?
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Windows 10 as both guest and host Activation of License

Post by mpack »

As you say, Windows sees different hardware when running as a VM. This is expected.

Beyond that, you need to ask Microsoft if you have Windows 10 licensing and activation questions.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Windows 10 as both guest and host Activation of License

Post by scottgus1 »

You could try looking here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31759 Sticky at top of Windows guests, about Windows 7 in both a VM and native running. Windows 10 may allow these steps, maybe not.
jkane13
Posts: 31
Joined: 1. Nov 2008, 04:31

Re: Windows 10 as both guest and host Activation of License

Post by jkane13 »

scottgus1 wrote:You could try looking here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31759 Sticky at top of Windows guests, about Windows 7 in both a VM and native running. Windows 10 may allow these steps, maybe not.
Now I am embarrassed! I saw that thread and started reading it. It looked like that was about the actual install and not licensing, plus it was Win 7. I didn't read far enough to get to the good stuff.

I will have to do some experimenting. Got plans for this weekend so it may take me a week before I get that done.

Thanks for the pointer!
jkane13
Posts: 31
Joined: 1. Nov 2008, 04:31

Re: Windows 10 as both guest and host Activation of License

Post by jkane13 »

It does not seem to work. I have tried many variations. It was really quite easy to use VboxManage setextradata to make the bios settings look the same. Something that is not obvious in the sticky thread is that all of those are stored in the <VMName>.vbox file as xml. Makes testing various settings much easier if I just go there direct. Yes, there are some things to be aware of when doing that. I will put those in the sticky thread when I am done figuring this all out.

When I compare a system information output from within the guest to when it is a host, the only difference is SMIBIOS version. As the host it is 3.0. Within VirtualBox it is 2.5. I can't find a place to change that value.

Comparing dmidecode between the 2 is kind of the same. Except that as a host, there are a lot more values. None of the extra ones are available with setextradata.

When I try to use the troubleshooter to activate the license, I see the activated license from when it was a host, but it won't let me activate the guest in VirtualBox. From what I have read, it could be because I have tried to many times to activate it in too short of a time. My next action should be to call or chat or whatever to see if it can be activated that way.

However, for now, I am running Windows as the host and Ubuntu as the guest. I want to see how well that works. When I am done, I will try again. I have had one bad situation. I came home from work one day to see windows must have rebooted itself. I had a problem getting Ubuntu to boot up. Grub was confused and I had to fix it. Not a catastrophe, but frustrating.

I will put my steps in the sticky thread when I am ready with everything I have tried. Just wanted to follow up in this thread with an update in case someone else is trying to do the same thing.
jkane13
Posts: 31
Joined: 1. Nov 2008, 04:31

Re: Windows 10 as both guest and host Activation of License

Post by jkane13 »

It's been about 8-9 months since I first did the Windows 10 install. I went back to using Ubuntu as the host and Windows 10 as the guest. I just ignored the licensing message since I don't use it much. Every now and then I would try to get it to activate.

Then last week, I happened to unlock the screen and didn't see the notice in the bottom corner. I checked, and now it is activated as the guest! I have not gone back to making it a host again to see what happens, but it seems that if you wait long enough, it will activate itself. I had read that time is one part of the equation. It sound like 8-9 months it that time frame.
jkane13
Posts: 31
Joined: 1. Nov 2008, 04:31

Re: Windows 10 as both guest and host Activation of License

Post by jkane13 »

I finally booted directly into Windows. The license is no longer activated that way. This is OK since I will not boot directly into it very often. It is staying activated as a guest O/S.

Just adding this note so someone searching in the future can see what happened.
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