Export to OVF 2.0 Appliance Expired All Windows Evaluations

[Creepy Gnome]

Greetings,

I setup a few VM's running Windows Server 2012 R2 and one running a Windows 10 LTSB, and all using the Microsoft evaluation installers. After getting them configured I exported them as a virtual appliance using OVF 2.0 from VirtualBox. Unfortunately when you import this appliance into another VirtualBox all the licensing for the evaluation has expired. I did this a few more times to confirm and had a few friends also import it on their systems with the same output every time. Also this environment was setup as an AirGap on a internal network only those VMs can talk over, and when importing the VM I did NOT choose the change MAC addresses as I wanted to avoid anything triggering Windows deactivating itself.

The rub though is if I copy the VM folders over to another system and just use them, everything is okay and the evaluations are not expired.

I am not sure what the export to OVF 2.0 is doing that is causing this and if there is a way to prevent this from happening. As the appliance format is a great compact way to distribute full multiple VM environments, however if for it to be useful for me I need it to be able to maintain the state of the Windows evaluation period. I am not trying to trick the evaluation, I still want it to tick down day by day for the full period before it stops. These are demo environments to show of various features or functionality that are throw away after a few months, and the evaluation time period is more than enough for my needs.

Any help on understanding what is happening when VMs are exported to the OVF 2.0 format is appreciated, especially if anyone can help fix the issue so that the export and import process maintains the evaluation period.

My host if it maters is Windows 10 Pro in all situations where I created the environment and imported the OVF 2.0 file.

[mpack]

That's correct. An export is a clone, not a backup. A clone has new UUIDs and will behave as a new PC whose disk contents happen to be imaged from a previous PC.

If you want a backup, make a backup - not a clone, and not an exported appliance. Howto: Move a VM. (which includes moving a copy to backup media).

[Creepy Gnome]

That is great as it explains why this happens I appreciate that. That makes me wonder then, would new UUIDs deactivate a Windows environment that is activated using a valid key then too? If so what good would an appliance be?

I really would love it in the appliance form, so is there a way to make it not change the UUID when creating an Appliance? Is this something that happens in the 2.0 version only and if I use the 1.0 or 0.9 version that it wouldn't happen? Or is there a configuration I can set in a file in VirtualBox that would prevent this change?

[mpack]

That makes me wonder then, would new UUIDs deactivate a Windows environment that is activated using a valid key then too?

For Windows 7 and later, yes. As would a change of host CPU. Imaging the disk has never been a guarantee that software won't notice a machine change.

As to "what good would an appliance be", you might as well ask "what good is a file copy function?". The fact that you can copy something has nothing to do with whether a copyright holder will approve of what you're doing, nor guarantee that they won't try to stop you. OTOH people who export/import Linux appliances don't much care what a Microsoft Windows license says.