is installing the copy of win that came with my pc OK?

[x86_64man]

hi all,
i wanna know if installing the copy of vista that came with my pc is OK or will mr. Gates hunt me down and slap my bum till i delete it i have just linux on my pc (ubuntu 9.04 64bit and opensuse 11.1 32) so can i install it?
hanks in advance x86_64man

[dmcgraw]

If it is an OEM copy of windows, it probably will not install under VB.

[Sasquatch]

You can try, but you're breaking the OEM license agreement. The license you got with your PC is for that hardware only, so installing it on different hardware (the virtual machine emulates other hardware) is a breach of that license. Some will get away with it and have a fine, legitimate Windows, while the chance that your key will be marked as illegal is possible.
So, you can try, but don't come crying here if it's marked as invalid, ok?

Oh, one last thing. If it's a recovery install, it won't work at all because you don't have the recovery partition available.

[x86_64man]

it is recovery but i have discs so it should work but i might not bova cos win sucks like mad

[dmcgraw]

it is recovery but i have discs so it should work but i might not bova cos win sucks like mad

As I said above, if it is an OEM version, it probably will not install. OEM versions are designed only to install in the original hardware. A VM is NOT the original hardware.

[x86_64man]

well it is oem but i installed it on a pc that had vista that got screwed but it didnt accept the product key

[Sasquatch]

That's what I said, hardware bound license key. If a different computer didn't get it, neither will the VM. Buy a new license (retail) and you get yourself a working, legal OS.