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I recently started to work from home and have discovered that RDC-ing to multiple customers has some issues. No screen sharing app will work as I am not accompanied by a customer, but I just log on and fix what needs fixed. I use VM's to keep the oddities separated. I only have a few customers with few hours of work and bring home substantially less than poverty level. I know I'll get more customers to afford a computer for each customer, but for now all I have is WIndows eval iso's which don't last very long. Obviously, everything must be done legally, so I have will not go the route of cracked Windows. Can I use my own OS as the license key for several Windows VM's? How can I do this? Thanks!

bl3020 wrote:Can I use my own OS as the license key for several Windows VM's? How can I do this? Thanks!

You should really be asking Microsoft if you want definitive answers to Windows licensing policy questions.

As a practical matter I can tell you that no, you cannot simultaneously activate the same Windows CD key in both host and guest, if both have an internet connection and thus the ability to compare their own hardware against the server. Flipping activation between host and guest will eventually result in the key being disabled until you make telephone contact.

Basically you need a Windows license that you only use for VMs, and you would be morally obliged to use the VMs one at a time.

You don't say what version of Windows you want to use. Second hand or "old new stock" XP licenses are easily available on eBay, and can be pretty cheap now. However it can be a bit of a minefield avoiding the scam artists. Look for original hologrammed CDs. Do not accept named branded OEM disks such as HP, Dell etc - these may not install on other hardware. Generic OEM is ok. Also avoid Upgrade releases, or "Repair" or "Recovery" or service pack CDs. Avoid sellers who mention SP3 as these can't be genuine (SP3 came out years after Microsoft stopped making XP install CDs).

Licenses will get more expensive for newer Windows versions.

As mpack said, you didn't specify which Windows version, but the principle has been the same for all recent versions of Windows. For example, from the Windows 8.1 Pro Software License Agreement:

Use in a virtualized environment. If you use virtualization software, including Client Hyper-V, to create one or more virtual computers on a single computer hardware system, each virtual computer, and the physical computer, is considered a separate computer for purposes of this agreement. This license allows you to install only one copy of the software for use on one computer, whether that computer is physical or
virtual. If you want to use the software on more than one virtual computer, you must obtain separate copies of the software and a separate license for each copy. Content protected by digital rights management technology or other full-volume disk drive encryption technology may be less secure in a virtualized environment.

i.e. you need a separate license for each VM if you want to stay completely legitimate.

Do note that the licenses for evaluation versions do not permit commercial use, and the kind of direct revenue generating activity you describe is commercial use. Hence you are technically violating the license agreement by using evaluation versions.

As for the practicality of all this, I do not believe Microsoft would ever catch up to you, or bother doing anything to you, if you stick to evaluation versions or use a single license shared between your VMs. Whether that is moral is up to your own conscience.

PS: I am however surprised that you need to use several VMs just for multiple RDC connections. Perhaps you can write more details about what is the problem with RDC, and why can't you just use RDC from the host, without VMs. I routinely have several RDC connections open to multiple destinations simultaneously.

I should add that the requirement for separate licenses for each VM results in a large grey area, because it's not always easy to define what is a separate VM.

If you create different VMs from scratch and install separate operating systems in each, then it's fairly clear that those are separate VMs. However, consider:
- Create one VM and take several snapshots. Does firing up different snapshots at different times count as separate VMs? Clearly not.
- Create one VM and create a linked clone. That's almost like a snapshot. Does firing up the original OR the clone (but not both at the same time) count as using separate VMs? Unclear.
- Create one VM and make a full clone. Fire up one OR the other, but never two at the same time. What's the deal here?

Hence the situation is less than obvious in many cases.

Imagine a scenerio in which you have one VM, but several backups of it, each of course in different states. How is restoring different VM states from backup substantially different from having multiple VMs but running them one at a time?

Note that physical PCs can have restorable whole disk backups too. Why penalise VM users when physical PC users have no such restriction?

That is why I don't think Microsoft would pursue this clause diligently: it was written by lawyers instead of software engineers. It isn't practical and it would possibly fail in court. So. If you respect Microsoft copyright then I think you'll be fine. Having one license for my PC, and one for my VMs, is perfectly adequate IMHO, but others will need to make up their own minds.