Frugal advice on a obtaining legit copy of Win 7 for a VM I'm adding.
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@coliver said:
Honest question because Microsoft licensing is vague and hard to understand sometimes - can you easily virtualize Windows 7? I thought you need special licensing on top of the base license?
"You may run on the licensed device at any one time one copy, or instance, of the software directly on the hardware (the physical operating system environment) and up to four instances of the software in virtual machines. You may create and store an unlimited number of copies (for example, copies in VMs) for use on any licensed device."
Taken from the Win 7 EULA
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@Breffni-Potter said:
@coliver said:
Honest question because Microsoft licensing is vague and hard to understand sometimes - can you easily virtualize Windows 7? I thought you need special licensing on top of the base license?
"You may run on the licensed device at any one time one copy, or instance, of the software directly on the hardware (the physical operating system environment) and up to four instances of the software in virtual machines. You may create and store an unlimited number of copies (for example, copies in VMs) for use on any licensed device."
Taken from the Win 7 EULA
Good to hear. Thanks.
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@Breffni-Potter said:
@coliver said:
Honest question because Microsoft licensing is vague and hard to understand sometimes - can you easily virtualize Windows 7? I thought you need special licensing on top of the base license?
"You may run on the licensed device at any one time one copy, or instance, of the software directly on the hardware (the physical operating system environment) and up to four instances of the software in virtual machines. You may create and store an unlimited number of copies (for example, copies in VMs) for use on any licensed device."
Taken from the Win 7 EULA
Isn't that from the Enterprise EULA?
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It shouldn't matter if he is going to use it to run as a VM or on a Physical PC... A license is a license, isn't it?
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@dafyre said:
It shouldn't matter if he is going to use it to run as a VM or on a Physical PC... A license is a license, isn't it?
No, it is not. The license agreements very unclearly state this.
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They can come and arrest me then, lol. I've been alternating between Physical Machine and VM with my licenses since the XP era.
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@dafyre I would also get chucked under the MS licencing bus
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@dafyre said:
It shouldn't matter if he is going to use it to run as a VM or on a Physical PC... A license is a license, isn't it?
Not at all. Hence the entire existence of the VDI situation. In one direction, on workstations, Microsoft licensing has made it ridiculous to try to virtualize in many cases because it is so restrictive and expensive.
In the other direction on servers, there are loads of licensing advantages to running virtual (multiple VM images on a single server with a single license.)
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@dafyre said:
They can come and arrest me then, lol. I've been alternating between Physical Machine and VM with my licenses since the XP era.
XP, last I knew, had no way to be virtualized. It was Vista or 7 that introduced an option.
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I thought it was against the terms of service to strip a product key off of an already assembled computer to re-purpose it as a VM..
Maybe I was wrong with that but I'm almost certain I read that on an OEM Agreement for Windows 7.
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@dafyre said:
It shouldn't matter if he is going to use it to run as a VM or on a Physical PC... A license is a license, isn't it?
Nope.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@dafyre said:
They can come and arrest me then, lol. I've been alternating between Physical Machine and VM with my licenses since the XP era.
XP, last I knew, had no way to be virtualized. It was Vista or 7 that introduced an option.
You couldn't purchase a XP license for a machine and install that instance as a VM? one license one VM, not accessed remotely?
I know the remote access is where you run into all kinds of trouble.
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@DustinB3403 said:
I thought it was against the terms of service to strip a product key off of an already assembled computer to re-purpose it as a VM..
Maybe I was wrong with that but I'm almost certain I read that on an OEM Agreement for Windows 7.
OEM licenses are tied to the hardware. I have a scenario where SBS2008 was purchased OEM. Legally, I cannot reinstall that license on any other hardware. I can legally format the hard, install a Hypervisor, and install SBS as a VM on that hardware.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@dafyre said:
They can come and arrest me then, lol. I've been alternating between Physical Machine and VM with my licenses since the XP era.
XP, last I knew, had no way to be virtualized. It was Vista or 7 that introduced an option.
You couldn't purchase a XP license for a machine and install that instance as a VM? one license one VM, not accessed remotely?
I know the remote access is where you run into all kinds of trouble.
I asked about that once, never felt like I got a straight answer.
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So then whoever made the comment about purchasing old NSA equipment and taking that key is outside of bounds in Microsoft's Eyes...
Just sayin'
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To answer the OP,
It depends on where the VM will live. If the VM will be on a single desktop/laptop, then you need to purchase a Full Box Product license to put assign to that machine - you can't take an OEM from another computer and move it to this machine.If you want to run the VM remotely, and access it over the network/internet/whatever, then you have to either purchase VDI for the, I think, every machine that will access the VM, or you can purchase SA for every machine that will access it.
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OEM licenses can never move, no matter what the circumstances. They are where they started and they die when that device retires.
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@Dashrender said:
You couldn't purchase a XP license for a machine and install that instance as a VM? one license one VM, not accessed remotely?
I was told (and I submitted it as such to a self audit from MS) that a retail copy can be installed that way. I never got a clear answer if an OEM license (never installed elsewhere) could be installed in a VM legally. It lets you obviously, but that does not mean it is in the terms of the EULA.
One could infer that an OEM license installed as a VM would legally be tied to that physical host though. You would not legally be allowed to migrate it to a new host later.
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@JaredBusch said:
I was told (and I submitted it as such to a self audit from MS) that a retail copy can be installed that way.
I asked about this a few times and never got a clear answer. But it logically seems to make sense that doing this should be okay.
