Activating Windows 7 in Boot Camp and VirtualBox?

[ChrisByrd]

Hi,

I'm new to VirtualBox - I'm very impressed so far, but wanted to check something before I went much further.

I've already installed and activated Windows 7 under Boot Camp, and the question is - will I be able to activate the VBox VM without affecting my Boot Camp activation?

It seems to be possible in Fusion and Parallels, but I tried the demos of both and much prefer the speed and smaller footprint (and price!) of VBox.

TIA

Chris

[JakeS]

That really depends on what your license agreement states. If you have a license which activates up to 10 computers, no problem. If you have one, for one computer, it won't allow you to. All down to your license type.

[ChrisByrd]

Thanks for the reply

Yes, just checked the Windows 7 Home Premium licence, which says-

Use with Virtualization Technologies. Instead of using the software directly on the licensed computer, you may install and use the software within only one virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system on the licensed computer. When used in a virtualized environment, content protected by digital rights management technology, BitLocker or any full volume disk drive encryption technology may not be as secure as protected content not in a virtualized environment. You should comply with all domestic and international laws that apply to such protected content.

So I guess I'll need to decide whether to stick with Boot Camp or go with virtualisation software.

Chris

[JakeS]

I believe Microsoft have "trial" iso's which are available legally online (Usually last 10 days or something, not sure, as now your not required to enter a product key until "grace" period is over.)

Maybe you could go to MS's website and download an iso (From them directly, not from a torrent) and see if you prefer it? Though this is only what I've heard.


EDIT: Found it, here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/eval ... ID=sprblog

You could try that.

[ChrisByrd]

Thanks, I'll check that out.

[ChrisByrd]

If anybody else is interested - I logged a question with Microsoft support explaining the full situation, and they came back and told me to use the phone system to activate the Virtualbox Windows 7. I did this, it worked, and so far everything seems OK. I can use VBox most of the time and boot into Boot Camp when I need - the best of both worlds

[ksm]

Sorry to be so dense, but do you mean that you had to make a phone call to Microsoft? If so, how long were you on hold?! Would you be wiling to share the phone number, as I'm soon to be in the same situation -- have to first back up all my files and then install Win 7 on Boot Camp and then on VirtualBox. Thanks.

[ChrisByrd]

If you try to activate the Windows in the VM, you'll get a message saying that it couldn't activate automatically. There'll be an option to use the automated phone system with the number for your region. It'll also display a long list of numbers. The system is fully automated from there (no humans involved) - basically you type your numbers in and get a set of numbers back to do the activation. At one point it asks if the software is going to be installed on more than one computer. It didn't take that long, less than ten minutes. I can't get to the exact screen now as the Windows Activation window shows me as activated.

[ksm]

Thank you! Knowing what the expect is always helpful. Much appreciate the reply.

[maccamb]

@ChrisByrd,

I think I have the same situation as you i.e. I installed a copy of Windows 7 obtained legally via a school (university) license, on a separate partition on my MacBook using BootCamp. In fact the Windows 7 installation overwrote a Windows XP install that I had successfully "incorporated" as a Vmware VM and hence obtained the flex to switch usage modes: boot up directly into it using bootcamp or launch it as a VM. Based on reading the post thread, I understand that to do the same using Vbox (instead of Vmware) I would need to "re-activate" the same Windows 7 installation even though all I was trying to do was use it via a hardware virtualization conduit?

I would greatly appreciate a confirmation of my understanding and any personal experience you could share beyond what has been captured in the post already.

Best,
- m