virtualbox.org

Experts,

short version:
I cannot get a Disk2vhd'd P2V's OS to boot as a Windows guest (Linux host)...

Option 1
- I purchased an Intel box, Dell, refurbished. I have both a W7 Pro OA Product Key on a sticker on cabinet, and a W10 Pro (1903 installed) key from ShowKey, regedit, etc.
- When I run Disk2vhd, the resulting vhd, or vhdx converted to vdi with VBoxManage, won't boot (UEFI shell).
- There is no EFI partition to use DISKPART on, so dead end.

Option 2
So, I tried to just install 1903 on a clean guest from a new ISO.
- But I cannot activate the guest's OS.
- I tried the Windows 10 key, but the issue is that on my physical box: "Windows 7 OEM marker present in firmware"
I can't find any mention of anyone setting this in VB BIOS, but I'm posting anyway.

Is there a way to get Option 1 to work? A clean P2V into a VB guest would be best... Is there a 3rd option?

Holes Flow wrote:- When I run Disk2vhd, the resulting vhd, or vhdx converted to vdi with VBoxManage, won't boot (UEFI shell).

Are you 100% sure that your original Dell was booting in EFI mode? Did you select *all* the partitions when doing the Disk2VHD conversion?

socratis wrote:Are you 100% sure that your original Dell was booting in EFI mode? Did you select *all* the partitions when doing the Disk2VHD conversion?

No. system info on the running W10 says "Legacy". The UEFI shell comes from trying to boot the exported image in VBox. It ends up like this:
Oh FFS... I still had EFI enabled... Unchecked it, and the VMDK conversion (via VBoxManage) worked. I imagine all the rest will, too. Geez, no wonder the shell said UEFI!

Thanks @Socratis for making my remaining 2 brain cells bump into each other!



P.S. But I still can't activate, as successfully booted VN in W10P says (see attached): Seems it still requires a digital license for activation. I didn't expect the VBox bios to have the original W7Pro key (which I have from sticker on box), but how to activate from inside VBox is a problem not for this thread, I imagine...

BTW: The key shown above is a generic one that is all over the Internet. The system cannot be activated with just this key, as I think it is one of those generic upgrade keys. This is why ShowKeyPlus says this, and says yuo need an OEM key.

Think is, I have one for W7Pro, but how to apply?

TIA!

Microsoft apparently allows activating Windows 10 with Windows 7 keys. I have done it several times. They must be 7 Home -> 10 Home, 7 Pro -> 10 Pro, etc.

If you have a Windows 7 Pro key that hasn't been used, and the guest you're trying to activate is Windows 10 Pro, you can go to the Windows 10 Activation page and change the guest's product key. Google will show you how to do this.

"OEM key not present in firmware" probably means that this install of Windows is tied to the hardware to keep it from being migrated. Dell, HP, etc. do this, probably because the install was OEM, which is not to be moved to new hardware unlike retail, which can be moved. Virtualbox is new "hardware".

You could check out DMIdecode and the DMI editing commands in Vboxmanage, See the manual.

scottgus1 wrote: If you have a Windows 7 Pro key that hasn't been used, and the guest you're trying to activate is Windows 10 Pro, you can go to the Windows 10 Activation page and change the guest's product key. Google will show you how to do this.

This didn't work, no matter which formats I converted the vhd to. I was contemplating grabbing a w7pro iso, and going that route, but found I didn't have any official ones lying around. So I just activated the converted VM. And when I checked the w7pro key in ShowKeyPlus, it said invalid, so... Who knows.

Thanks for the reply, though!

scottgus1 wrote:"OEM key not present in firmware" ... You could check out DMIdecode and the DMI editing commands in Vboxmanage, See the manual.

This is why I posted here, mostly. I thought that someone smart would know a way to have vb emulate the environment the guest OS is looking at.

It's HP hw, so I'll google what the OS is looking at. Thanks for the tip!

Holes Flow wrote: I thought that someone smart would know a way to have vb emulate the environment the guest OS is looking at.

Your product key is node locked to HP. You could try fiddling with the DMI information (almost certainly without success), but it would probably be cheaper to get a new license on eBay.

Thanks for writing, @mpack.

I just activated the VM with KMSpico, as I have both keys. You have me curious now about DMI... I will learn what I can, and if there is any joy or progress, I'll be back to share.



P.S. I know it's a long shot, but does anyone know the values, or what the group of values are called, that the guest is looking to the host to provide in it's boot environment for verifying pre-installed OSes, as in the above example? Any hints appreciated!

I'm afraid that none of us can help you defeat the licensing conditions of copyrighted software. It will have to be your own research project.

mpack wrote:I'm afraid that none of us can help you defeat the licensing conditions of copyrighted software. It will have to be your own research project.

It's too bad you see it like that. I see it as recreating the BIOS conditions my physical, licensed instance ran in within a VM. Nobody mentioned defeating licensing, as the licenses purchased with the physical machine are still legit.

But I appreciate your candor and feedback. I'll ask elsewhere.

Thanks to all for getting this issue this far!

Experts,

I have HP boxes that have been upgraded from W7 (mostly) to W10. I have both licenses. I want to take a P2V'd machine ,and make it happy in a VM, but there is a snag.

The VM knows it is not on the original hardware, and does not recognize either the old W7 or new W10 keys.

How can I adjust the BIOS/SMBIOS/DMI/... in my VM to make the VM happy?

I see this as 2 steps:

1. Find where the code/data is burned to the MB (BIOS?), and...
2. Use VBoxManage and DMI (?) to enter these same values into a VM's "motherboard" (prob something like this)

Holes Flow wrote:But I appreciate your candor and feedback. I'll ask elsewhere.

By "elsewhere" you meant in the "Using VirtualBox" area instead of "Windows guests" one?

I don't see the need for an additional topic, it's essentially the same duplicate question, that's why it got merged...