Running Windows XP natively and within VmWare at the same time.
- Hi,
I am trying to run the same Windows installation natively on my laptop and within VmWare running in Linux.
I have setup two hardware profiles in Windows, one for the real hardware (called Hardware) and one for the VmWare emulated hardware (called Virtual).
Everything works fine except that each time I boot with a different hardware profile, Windows complains about activation.
Do you have any suggestions on how to properly activate both profiles?
I do not believe I am violating the EULA since I am performed one, single installation and I am running Windows on one, single machine (using a software layer when running it inside VmWare).
Answers
- Running a virtual machine counts as running two copies of Windows.
- I would agree with you if there were two installations of Windows, one traditional and one for VmWare.
However, I am using the 'Hardware profiles' feature of Windows XP to run a single installation both natively and within VmWare. Single device, single installation.
Could you please point out what part of the EULA I am violating? - I would agree with you if there were two installations of Windows, one traditional and one for VmWare.
However, I am using the 'Hardware profiles' feature of Windows XP to run a single installation both natively and within VmWare. Single device, single installation.
Could you please point out what part of the EULA I am violating? Vulcano23 wrote: I would agree with you if there were two installations of Windows, one traditional and one for VmWare.
However, I am using the 'Hardware profiles' feature of Windows XP to run a single installation both natively and within VmWare. Single device, single installation.
Could you please point out what part of the EULA I am violating?A Windows XP license can only be used once on one
(1) computer. A second installation requires a second
license, even if its installed on the same computer.
From the Windows XP EULA:
1.1 Installation and use. You may install, use, access,
display and run one copy of the Software on a single
computer, such as a workstation, terminal or other
device ("Workstation Computer"). The Software may not
be used by more than two (2) processors at any one
time on any single Workstation Computer.
Please read your End-User License Agreement by going
to Start > Run and type: WINVER , and hit enter. Then
click on "End-User License Agreement".
If you already have a retail copy of Windows XP, you can obtain
an additional license by visiting the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/products/info/editorial/22/promotions/wal/- Sorry for the multiple posts, but the website gave error messages and I thought the post did not go through.
It seems to me that you are not reading my posts carefully enough.
I am running ONE copy of Windows, installed only ONCE.
To be precise it is installed on the first primary partition of my laptop's hard drive.
Using VmWare can access the partition directly and run the same SINGLE installation within a virtual machine (with a different Hardware Profile).
So I AM "installing, useing, accessing, displaying and running one copy of the Software on a single computer", namely, my laptop. - Contact Microsoft Support directly and ask them: http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&x=11&y=13&prid=3518&gprid=185522
- I have a little problem with that:
"No charge support is not available from Microsoft
Products purchased under a Microsoft Developer Network License Agreement are not eligible for no-charge support"
Do I really have to pay $35 for this? I'm not sure I'd complain about $35.. when I call in for server support it's $249 a pop.
I still think there's two OS's being run. Vmware is causing it to see a different XP OS in my opinion.. it's been installed twice.
- There are NOT 2 OS's installed. Only one installation took place and was on the machine itself, not within VmWare. I have then configured VmWare to access the raw partition in which XP is installed and run on the exact same installation.
Please, take a look at the following webpage which describes a process for doing this:
http://news.u32.net/articles/2006/07/18/running-vmware-on-a-physical-partition
Regarding the support price... I am not sure I would complain about $249, when I call my cluster support it's $1799 a pop... I'm not sure I'd complain about $35.. when I call in for server support it's $249 a pop.
I still think there's two OS's being run. Vmware is causing it to see a different XP OS in my opinion.. it's been installed twice.
- Susan, i can atest it is a single install as i have allso followed the guide.
Windows in my system is installed in C:\windows (partition 2) on a physical drive and works as a dual boot.
When i boot into Linux, i can run vmware and select the physical hard drive to be the drive for my virtual machine. in doing so i am not installing Windows a second time mearly booting up windows which is already installed in physical partition 2 (C drive).
The question being asked is, when switching between the two it asks to re-activate, how can both be activated so it doesn't keep asking? - You can just call and activate. Once it activates and if you don't move it or majorly change it in vmware it should be okay (vmware warns about XP and activation)
- Doesn't that completly defeat the purpose of Hardware Profiles
if every time you select a different profile you have to re-activate? - Installing XP into a virtual machine is no different than installing it on any other system. The installation will require Product Activation within 30 days of installation or it will stop working.
Finally -- No, you cannot legally use the same License Key from your primary XP install. It's one install per license, and the primary and virtual machine each count as one install for a total of two installations.
Hello Moby,
Thank you for visiting the Microsoft Genuine Advantage Forum. The purpose of this forum is the support of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program. Your question is off topic as well as outside my area of knowledge. I suggest posting your question to one the Discussions in Windows XP General here:
If you should have other non-WGA questions please visit our other communities for helpful information here: http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/community.mspx . Thank you for visiting the forum.
Thank you,
Stephen Holm, MS
WGA Forum Manager
All Replies
- Running a virtual machine counts as running two copies of Windows.
- I would agree with you if there were two installations of Windows, one traditional and one for VmWare.
However, I am using the 'Hardware profiles' feature of Windows XP to run a single installation both natively and within VmWare. Single device, single installation.
Could you please point out what part of the EULA I am violating? - I would agree with you if there were two installations of Windows, one traditional and one for VmWare.
However, I am using the 'Hardware profiles' feature of Windows XP to run a single installation both natively and within VmWare. Single device, single installation.
Could you please point out what part of the EULA I am violating? Vulcano23 wrote: I would agree with you if there were two installations of Windows, one traditional and one for VmWare.
However, I am using the 'Hardware profiles' feature of Windows XP to run a single installation both natively and within VmWare. Single device, single installation.
Could you please point out what part of the EULA I am violating?A Windows XP license can only be used once on one
(1) computer. A second installation requires a second
license, even if its installed on the same computer.
From the Windows XP EULA:
1.1 Installation and use. You may install, use, access,
display and run one copy of the Software on a single
computer, such as a workstation, terminal or other
device ("Workstation Computer"). The Software may not
be used by more than two (2) processors at any one
time on any single Workstation Computer.
Please read your End-User License Agreement by going
to Start > Run and type: WINVER , and hit enter. Then
click on "End-User License Agreement".
If you already have a retail copy of Windows XP, you can obtain
an additional license by visiting the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/products/info/editorial/22/promotions/wal/- Sorry for the multiple posts, but the website gave error messages and I thought the post did not go through.
It seems to me that you are not reading my posts carefully enough.
I am running ONE copy of Windows, installed only ONCE.
To be precise it is installed on the first primary partition of my laptop's hard drive.
Using VmWare can access the partition directly and run the same SINGLE installation within a virtual machine (with a different Hardware Profile).
So I AM "installing, useing, accessing, displaying and running one copy of the Software on a single computer", namely, my laptop. - Contact Microsoft Support directly and ask them: http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&x=11&y=13&prid=3518&gprid=185522
- I have a little problem with that:
"No charge support is not available from Microsoft
Products purchased under a Microsoft Developer Network License Agreement are not eligible for no-charge support"
Do I really have to pay $35 for this? I'm not sure I'd complain about $35.. when I call in for server support it's $249 a pop.
I still think there's two OS's being run. Vmware is causing it to see a different XP OS in my opinion.. it's been installed twice.
- There are NOT 2 OS's installed. Only one installation took place and was on the machine itself, not within VmWare. I have then configured VmWare to access the raw partition in which XP is installed and run on the exact same installation.
Please, take a look at the following webpage which describes a process for doing this:
http://news.u32.net/articles/2006/07/18/running-vmware-on-a-physical-partition
Regarding the support price... I am not sure I would complain about $249, when I call my cluster support it's $1799 a pop... I'm not sure I'd complain about $35.. when I call in for server support it's $249 a pop.
I still think there's two OS's being run. Vmware is causing it to see a different XP OS in my opinion.. it's been installed twice.
- Susan, i can atest it is a single install as i have allso followed the guide.
Windows in my system is installed in C:\windows (partition 2) on a physical drive and works as a dual boot.
When i boot into Linux, i can run vmware and select the physical hard drive to be the drive for my virtual machine. in doing so i am not installing Windows a second time mearly booting up windows which is already installed in physical partition 2 (C drive).
The question being asked is, when switching between the two it asks to re-activate, how can both be activated so it doesn't keep asking? - You can just call and activate. Once it activates and if you don't move it or majorly change it in vmware it should be okay (vmware warns about XP and activation)
- Doesn't that completly defeat the purpose of Hardware Profiles
if every time you select a different profile you have to re-activate? - Installing XP into a virtual machine is no different than installing it on any other system. The installation will require Product Activation within 30 days of installation or it will stop working.
Finally -- No, you cannot legally use the same License Key from your primary XP install. It's one install per license, and the primary and virtual machine each count as one install for a total of two installations.
Carey Frisch wrote: Installing XP into a virtual machine
This is not happening, the OS is already installed as a dual boot and is simply being booted in VM Ware not installedCarey Frisch wrote: Finally -- No, you cannot legally use the same License Key from your primary XP install. It's one install per license, and the primary and virtual machine each count as one install for a total of two installations.
You didn't read the thread did you?
there is only a single install, not 2 installs.
the "primary" XP install is simply being booted up within VMWare, not installed. The only difference is it's hardware profile.- Windows Product Activation operates based on changes to all PC hardware. Every time you switch from the real PC to the VM to boot this installation you completely change the PC. When you then switch back from the VM to the real PC you completely change the PC again. It is one install being used on two PCs. WPA is designed to prevent that.
- Nowhere in the EULA it's written that running the SAME installation on the SAME machine but within a virtualization software such as VmWare counts as running it on a different machine.
Conclusion?
WPA is poorly designed and prevents me from using a very useful feature of Windows (Hardware Profiles) and poses additional restrictions on Windows usage which were not specified in the EULA I have accepted before install.
Vulcano23 wrote: Hi,
I am trying to run the same Windows installation natively on my laptop and within VmWare running in Linux.
I have setup two hardware profiles in Windows, one for the real hardware (called Hardware) and one for the VmWare emulated hardware (called Virtual).
Everything works fine except that each time I boot with a different hardware profile, Windows complains about activation.
Do you have any suggestions on how to properly activate both profiles?
I do not believe I am violating the EULA since I am performed one, single installation and I am running Windows on one, single machine (using a software layer when running it inside VmWare).Topic: Windows XP Authentication issue: http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=386018񞏢
Carey Frisch wrote: Topic: Windows XP Authentication issue: http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=386018񞏢
The upshot of that link is quite well expressed at the end of that threadThats sucks, its physically one machine with one install of Windows (legal) but becuase of the way WPA works, it thinks its two machine hence it asks me when I change from virtual to real and vice versa....and does nothing to resolve the issue.
So the one way to get this to work correctly is two (distinct) installs of Windows on same machine, thats lame Microsoft.- I'm having a similar issue, except I'm running XP Pro at work with our EA product number and have created a virtual machine in VMWare using the same license number.
- Can you explain to me how this sort of thing is different from using a laptop in a docking station which has different perferials and/or additional HD space or a dual-boot?
It seems to me to be a similar circumstance, how can it not be?
... or for that matter to me the senerio is similar to using remote terminal service -- just on the same machine (even though its a VM is not a diffrent copy; Linux is connecting to the Windows machine)
As has been said above, Your Real Pc hardware and your VMWare hardware are different. The VMWare "PC" is a generic setup of components; As you know when you make a major component change to your pc Windows Does need to Be Reactivated.
- I understand that the hardware is different, that's not the concern. In theory, I should be able to reactivate the VM's OS with our EA license number (as it is the only key that we should have to use). It would be ironic if Microsoft won't let us use a key that we've purchased
. Carey Frisch wrote: Contact Microsoft Support directly and ask them: http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&x=11&y=13&prid=3518&gprid=185522
I'd happily pay $35 if it meant I got a solution, but I suspect talking to them is going to be a waste of time.
Surely there must be a way of doing this, otherwise, as Volcano says:Vulcano23 wrote: WPA is poorly designed and prevents me from using a very useful feature of Windows (Hardware Profiles) and poses additional restrictions on Windows usage which were not specified in the EULA I have accepted before install.
JustynSo what about running a virtual copy of the exact same Windows installation on the same PC for testing Microsoft products?
I want to test Internet Explorer 7 on my system, but am not willing to do so in the native environment, so am trying to do so in the virtual environmnet instead. Unfortunately I have to have genuine validation in the virtual setup to download it to the virtual setup, and it may pose a problem if trying to activate a 'second' version.
No way around this, given that it's being used on the same PC for MS product testing?
Cam.
Michael OBrien HP TSG wrote: As has been said above, Your Real Pc hardware and your VMWare hardware are different. The VMWare "PC" is a generic setup of components; As you know when you make a major component change to your pc Windows does need to be re-activated.
How is the hardware different? The "vmware hardware" is an abstract concept in software only, it does not exist. There is no way Microsoft could make that stick legally.
I face a similar situation in that I have XP home on drive 1 and openSUSE Linux on drive 3. I want to run XP within vmware in Linux as I prefer that OS and there is no way I am going to pay Microsoft prices again for an upgrade to Vista. On the other hand I have a few critical apps that only run in Windows so I want to be able to quickly fire up Windows within Linux to run them.
The method described elsewhere to use the original install and hardware profiles seems too risky. Plus, I am not sure I will not have to keep the original install in case some program fails to work within vmware.
Microsoft: Find a way of switching OSes quickly the way you would switch applications! I could do that on my Atari ST yonks ago!
Mike
I share your pain. Yes, VMWare virtualizes the hardware, which causes WPA to think that you have a new install. Your in that same boat at the folks that have upgraded motherboards, or entire storage systems. If enough hardware changes are detected re-activation kicks in. I would say that using Select/Volume version of XP is best bet to get around this issue (seems M$ figures that wholesale hardware changes are commonplace, and didn't want to offend corporate customers). expect slightly degraded performance/startup time as Device Manager will alwats be looking for the 'other' hardware unless you were very meticulous in setting up your profiles.
If it weren't for the fact that (I think) WPA requires followup verification (every 6 months?) I would suggest 2 parallel installs (\Windows & \WinVM). Yes, technically in violation of the EULA, but you have been acting in good faith; and Microsoft has, in this case, not lived up to their end of the agreement.
Peter DuDeck wrote: Yes, technically in violation of the EULA, but you have been acting in good faith; >snip<
How can you violate the EULA and act in good faith at the same time?
- Looks like this has been discussed before, with no solution.
Hello Moby,
Thank you for visiting the Microsoft Genuine Advantage Forum. The purpose of this forum is the support of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program. Your question is off topic as well as outside my area of knowledge. I suggest posting your question to one the Discussions in Windows XP General here:
If you should have other non-WGA questions please visit our other communities for helpful information here: http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/community.mspx . Thank you for visiting the forum.
Thank you,
Stephen Holm, MS
WGA Forum Manager
- what the *** kind of answer was that??? do you idiots at microsoft even read these questions? this is a problem a lot of people are having and you're tossing it aside like it's some legal thing. it's not.. this installation follows the EULA... there is ONE installation.. and your too full of yourselves to just come out and say "hey, maybe there's a problem with our hardware profiles under windows"...... or maybe it would be easier for you to just say "you should go out and spend hundreds of dollars to update to vista... b/c that will surley fix the problem...
thanks for nothing microsoft! Because it's a licensing issue. When you move a license of XP from a real machine to a virtual machine inside the real machine the hardware IS different. It's now virtual nics not real nics. So the WGA /activation kicks in.
Okay so now that we've established that it's normal for the vmware version of the image of the XP to freak out and want activation the next question is will it activate (yes it will) and the second and most important question is ... "is this a legal use of the operating system in the virtual environment". If this is an OEM version of XP that is literally tied to the hardware the answer is no. You cannot move it to a virtual.
If it were a retail license, yes. OEM no.
It is a legal thing. OEMs are tied to the original hardware. VMWare does not provide the original hardware but rather emulations of the hardware. It's truly not the same thing and thus only if you are licensed to be able to move the XP can you legally do this.
Is it technically possible? Absolutely. Is it legal to do so? Dunno.
And upgrading to Vista won't solve this as again, OEM licenses are tied to OEM hardware.
- i work with faulty hard drives at times. my laptop has windows xp pro. i connect the faulty drives to my laptop with a usb2.0 to IDE/SATA adapter and try recover data from there.
could anyone point me to instructions on how to boot from these drives using VMWare Player? The bulk of the documentation i've found on the internet is how to set up from linux or mac. not really any help to me.
thanks,
Damian - You need one of the other VMWare products in order to set up the virtual machine. Player will only run the VMs, so you can't actually set things up from it. Get server, it's free.
Then, when you're running with server and you're setting up your VMWare instance:
Typical/Custom: Custom
Disk: Use a physical disk
The rest should be straightforward. It should just boot your OS, but, remember, this is different hardware, which will cause the same freakout that everyone else in this thread has been talking about. Of course, this time it's actually the use case that Microsoft was thinking of when they wrote that into their EULA (kinda, sorta), whereas I'm fairly sure that virtualization was not.
Also, it's my understanding that Vista licensing does fix this issue, in response to whoever said that it doesn't. - I don't have a copy of the EULA handy but I would say it is a legal use of the software unless it specifically stated that you can't run it in a virtualised system. Sorry Susan but he is using it on the same hardware. Even if the hardware being presented to Windows is virtualised and being reported as different it is running on the same physical hardware that vulcano has been licensed to use it on. This is a problem because on one hand MS is protecting their IP by trying to stop piracy and at the same time the people who are doing the right thing by using a legitimate copy of Windows are the ones being punished. Software pirates will still download cracks and will still use Windows without a license.
- I don't understand why everyone keeps talking about the EULA. The EULA is not relevant to Vulcano, his fifth post in this thread indicates that he is licensed to use XP via an MSDN susbscription. And, I am not a lawyer, but unless I completely misunderstood the MSDN agreement,
(1) The MSDN agreement supercedes any legal language bundled with the product.
(2) The MSDN license which applies to developer tools and operating systems (Office is different) allows you to install as many copies on as many machines as long as the every user has an MSDN subscription and the purpose is for development/testing.
If I have understood the license correctly, then the described usage is legal regardless of whether Windows is installed once or twice, regardless of whether or not the abstracted virtual hardware counts as another computer. WGA is preventing Vulcano from using Windows XP in a way permitted by his MSDN subscription and therefore might be considered a breach of the sale agreement by Microsoft. Again, this is IF my understanding of the license is correct. Furthermore, Vulcano could have the legal right to crack or otherwise circumvent WGA under the technical compatibility rights under the fair use doctrine.
That's somewhere Microsoft really doesn't want to go -- to have WGA cracks permitted by fair use -- because otherwise mere possession of a crack is actionable under DMCA. Therefore I suggest that Microsoft provide all MSDN subscribers (at a level that includes OS use) the ability to disable WGA. Replace the connection to the activation server with a dialog that requires the user to check "I attest that this copy of Windows is used only for development activities by an MSDN licensed user".
