VMWare workstation 10

PLC Pie Guy

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Hello there. A quick question for the VMWare gurus out there. I have created a VM of my host machine. It is a win7 64 bit running professional. I am using VMWare workstation 10. I sucessfully created a VM reflecting my host machine using the standalone converter supplied with Workstation 10. The VM works fine but keeps coming up with an error message that says windows is not genuine and it gives me the option to go on the internet and make it genuine. I do not want to do this as I do not put this computer on the internet, ever. What I am wondering is A< is there a way to get rid of this message without actually making windows genuine? and B< Is windows going to shut down on me after some pre determined grace period and cause me to looses the SIEMENS activations I have on this particular VM?
Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
If windows 7 is anything like XP and vista, it won't shut down after a period. However, you won't be ale to update it ...EVER. You may also encounter some problems with Microsoft softwares such as Office and Media Player.

There is NO WAY to make this go away without "making it genuine". Now, how you proceed to make it genuine, it really is up to you. I don't think you will be able to do it legit without spending a few bucks
 
When you converted your host machine to a VM is when the problem was created. VM Ware Converter is really not meant to convert OEM machines to VM's.

The Windows license that comnes with your PC is an OEM licenses. Thes are sold to Dell,HP and other machine builders.

Once activated this OEM license is tied to the hardware ID generated by that computer forever and can never be changed because it's an OEM license.

The only thing you can do if you wish to use this VM is to make it genuine by buying a new OEM key which will tie it to the VM virtual hardware forever or use a VL (Volume License)key to activate it if your company has one.

There are hacker ways to make it work but you would be in violation of the EULA license agreement.
 
Just to add to Kid's reply.

VM's always require a license, just like any physical computer. Just because you have Windows 7 license for your PC, doesn't entitle you to run a Windows 7 VM on said PC. You need to license both, either by an OEM on your Host, and a retail for your VM, or volume license for both, or some combination.

Volume licensing you may need to talk with IT about, is it available for us in VM's based on the volume license agreement in place? Second, volume licensing requires a connection to your network at various points in time to renew the volume license key. So, it needs to see and outside network at some interval of time, not sure how long 90, 120 days? So you can't not expose it to the outside world.

Now, if you can use Windows XP instead of Windows 7 for your VM, then you have a bit more flexibility. If you have Windows 7 Pro/Ultimate on your host machine, you are entitled to use "XP Mode" as it is part of the license agreement for Windows 7 Pro, this will license a single running Windows XP VM at anytime without hassle. No added cost, pretty easy to do.
 
Last edited:
Just to add to Kid's reply.

VM's always require a license, just like any physical computer. Just because you have Windows 7 license for your PC, doesn't entitle you to run a Windows 7 VM on said PC. You need to license both, either by an OEM on your Host, and a retail for your VM, or volume license for both, or some combination.

Volume licensing you may need to talk with IT about, is it available for us in VM's based on the volume license agreement in place? Second, volume licensing requires a connection to your network at various points in time to renew the volume license key. So, it needs to see and outside network at some interval of time, not sure how long 90, 120 days? So you can't not expose it to the outside world.

Now, if you can use Windows XP instead of Windows 7 for your VM, then you have a bit more flexibility. If you have Windows 7 Pro/Ultimate on your host machine, you are entitled to use "XP Mode" as it is part of the license agreement for Windows 7 Pro, this will license a single running Windows XP VM at anytime without hassle. No added cost, pretty easy to do.

You're on the right track but a few things. When talking Windows 7 Licenses you can run 4 local VM's for every windows 7 license you have active SA (Software Assurance On)

If you have a microsoft EA (Enterprise Agreement)then you can run as many vm's as you please as under EA microsoft only counts the number of physical machines in your buisness.

For server OS systems under an EA you are limited on VM's based on how you license the server. I won't go through them all here as it would turn into a book but if you need more than 8 VM's on a single physical server then buy the data center edition as with it you can run unlimited VM's of any flavor and they don't count.

As far as activation on Volume Licensing there are 2 methods from Vista up to and including windows 8. They are MAK and KMS.

If you are in the PLC buisness and you are a contractor choose MAK as once you activate it once it does not need internet access again. MAK licenses are tracked in your VL portal on microsofts website.

If you are on one site (Plant Engineer, etc) then you can use either but if you do imaging and deployment KMS is a better choice and less problems. For this you need a KMS server. You activate the KMS server and every clients will try to re activate based on how you have set them up. KMS activation lasts a maximum of 180 days after that you will have issues until you reconnect and reactivate with the KMS server.

The clients connect to the KMS server so it really never needs to connect to the internet again either if you so desire.
 

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