Re: Which changes trigger reactivation in a Windows guest?
Posted: 17. Jan 2021, 02:46
I know these VMs are actually VMware, but the following would apply to VirtualBox as well:
I converted an old af Windows XP laptop into a VM. It asked to be activated within three days. I went to activate Windows online and it worked. For real. That was over a month ago and Windows did not ask to be activated since then.
As for my Windows 7 laptop, it ended up saying "this copy of Windows is not genuine" after a while. Internet activation did not work, (Mod edit: ixnay on the ack-cray uff-stay) I felt kinda bad about having to resort to that.
A few things to note:
- I increased the RAM on my Windows XP VM. Did not trigger reactivation.
- I increased the RAM AND number of cores on my Windows 7 VM. Did not trigger reactivation either.
There are other factors which came into play but I will not mention them here as they are VMware-exclusive. What I noted here is either applicable to Virtualbox or a universal thing with VMs.
I converted an old af Windows XP laptop into a VM. It asked to be activated within three days. I went to activate Windows online and it worked. For real. That was over a month ago and Windows did not ask to be activated since then.
As for my Windows 7 laptop, it ended up saying "this copy of Windows is not genuine" after a while. Internet activation did not work, (Mod edit: ixnay on the ack-cray uff-stay) I felt kinda bad about having to resort to that.
A few things to note:
- I increased the RAM on my Windows XP VM. Did not trigger reactivation.
- I increased the RAM AND number of cores on my Windows 7 VM. Did not trigger reactivation either.
There are other factors which came into play but I will not mention them here as they are VMware-exclusive. What I noted here is either applicable to Virtualbox or a universal thing with VMs.