Win7 Activation woes

[whitenoise]

Hey there.

So, I've got 3 days to activate my VirtualBox Windows 7........ I was running win7 on an iMac in Bootcamp and I had an urge to use VirtualBox, so I don't have to reset all the time.

I used the instructions from here:

http://luckyviplav.blogspot.com/2011/06 ... rtual.html

I took a while to get the Terminal commands to take, as I was having some problems with permissions, but I finally got through that and win7, (from bootcamp), is now running on VirtualBox on my iMac.

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Problem is ...... the VirtualBox Win7 is now telling me I need to activate! When in Bootcamp, win7 says its activated. I know this is a regular problem and I see a lot of posts, but I can't see any conclusive way to overcome this.

Please if you someone could walk me through how to sort this I would be grateful. I am wary of doing anything without knowing the outcome, at least I have bootcamp working at the moment.

[stefan.becker]

Its your problem.

This has nothing to do with VBOX. You have one license. Changig hardware may need a new activation.

If its a legal version, call Microsoft for reactivation. If not, delete it.

[whitenoise]

I upgraded to win7 using a legit copy of windows7, so thats not the problem. I have seen so many different threads saying different things about this topic, so I wasn't sure what the situation was now. Some have said its the equivalent of two machines, so two licenses are needed, while others have said that its one instance of windows so only one license is needed.

I seem to have a working bootcamp version, if I call Microsoft for reactivation am I changing the license to the VirtualBox instance? (taking away the bootcamp). If that is the case, as I game a little, I suppose I will stick with the Bootcamp - I was happy to realise that VirtualBox would allow me to do quick jobs in windows without having to restart or have another instance of windows on the machine.

Things are never easy.

[stefan.becker]

Its easy. Every installation needs one Windows 7 license. And you have 2 installations. There are differences between the the versions. AFAIK for Home you need 2 licenses and for ultimate its allowed to install additional in a VM. But AFAIK. To be sure better ask MS.

[whitenoise]

Hmm, well I see that this argument hasn't been resolved. If Microsoft do call this use two installations then I guess thats what it is, but I can see only one installation and two ways to access it. I will have to contact them as you say, but if I can only have one install, the ability to use the full power of the iMac for gaming means that I will have to give up on using VirtualBox at the moment.

I do run a pc with windows 7 and a VirtualBox instance of XP for any older pieces of software, but both are individually licensed, so I have never had this problem.

One question though....as this is only one install, if I purchase another license, will both be able to be active? It seems like when I make changes to the install in VB it is changed in Bootcamp, all that is different is that the windows licensing sees the Virtual hardware as another install......So if I change the license on the Virtual Machine doesn't that also change it on the bootcamp side? (and then bootcamp will complain that it is not licensed!)

I'll look for the best way to contact Microsoft about this, although if this hasn't been resolved yet, then I can't imagine I will have any luck. Thanks for your help.