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Use XP Pro key to validate XP MCE in Virtual Machine? RRS feed

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    I have a XP Media Center laptop that is dying (intermittent motherboard problems not worth fixing, and it's an old machine anyway) and I need to migrate the entire environment (OS, apps, data) to a virtual machine on a Mac running Parallels as the VM manager.

    I have used the Parallels Transporter to get the XP MCE environment onto the Mac ok. Now I need to license the XP MCE environment.

    I know I cannot re-use the licence key from the dying HP laptop, and I do NOT have an unused system builder XP MCE key.

    I have two legitimate XP Pro licence keys (unopened packages) . Is there any way to use an XP Pro key to validate Windows in the VM?  I have 80+ Windows apps and I'd really hate to have to manually reinstall them in the VM under XP Pro.

    Wednesday, September 7, 2011 5:00 PM
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    "VirtualMachineGuy" wrote in message news:f5228e76-1783-4a1b-a2e7-1acce84b220f...

    I have a XP Media Center laptop that is dying (intermittent motherboard problems not worth fixing, and it's an old machine anyway) and I need to migrate the entire environment (OS, apps, data) to a virtual machine on a Mac running Parallels as the VM manager.

    I have used the Parallels Transporter to get the XP MCE environment onto the Mac ok. Now I need to license the XP MCE environment.

    I know I cannot re-use the licence key from the dying HP laptop, and I do NOT have an unused system builder XP MCE key.

    I have two legitimate XP Pro licence keys (unopened packages) . Is there any way to use an XP Pro key to validate Windows in the VM?  I have 80+ Windows apps and I'd really hate to have to manually reinstall them in the VM under XP Pro.

    Unfortunately, there is no way to do what you want – MCE is a superset of Pro, so even a repair install wouldn’t work, as far as I know.
    Your only options would be to find a NEW MCE license (all MCE’s are OEM installs, so license transfers are not allowed) and use that – or flatten and rebuild.
     
    Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth
    • Marked as answer by Darin Smith MS Wednesday, September 7, 2011 7:35 PM
    Wednesday, September 7, 2011 5:25 PM
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    "VirtualMachineGuy" wrote in message news:f5228e76-1783-4a1b-a2e7-1acce84b220f...

    I have a XP Media Center laptop that is dying (intermittent motherboard problems not worth fixing, and it's an old machine anyway) and I need to migrate the entire environment (OS, apps, data) to a virtual machine on a Mac running Parallels as the VM manager.

    I have used the Parallels Transporter to get the XP MCE environment onto the Mac ok. Now I need to license the XP MCE environment.

    I know I cannot re-use the licence key from the dying HP laptop, and I do NOT have an unused system builder XP MCE key.

    I have two legitimate XP Pro licence keys (unopened packages) . Is there any way to use an XP Pro key to validate Windows in the VM?  I have 80+ Windows apps and I'd really hate to have to manually reinstall them in the VM under XP Pro.

    Unfortunately, there is no way to do what you want – MCE is a superset of Pro, so even a repair install wouldn’t work, as far as I know.
    Your only options would be to find a NEW MCE license (all MCE’s are OEM installs, so license transfers are not allowed) and use that – or flatten and rebuild.
     
    Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth
    • Marked as answer by Darin Smith MS Wednesday, September 7, 2011 7:35 PM
    Wednesday, September 7, 2011 5:25 PM
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    I kinda figured I'd get hosed by Microsoft over this.

    Guess I'll have to re-assess whether it's worth my time to reinstall everything from scratch, or to simply get Mac equivalent apps and forget Microsoft all together.

    Wednesday, September 7, 2011 5:53 PM
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    Apple licenses their software the same way - its tied to the original hardware.
    Carey Frisch
    Thursday, September 8, 2011 5:06 PM
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