This is a pre-WGA version of Windows XP (Unlike Vista, XP doesn't have WGA built in, it's an addon), so it's not a matter of "Authorization", it's a matter of getting the VM setup right, if that's possible.
Craig White wrote: > On Sun, 2008-01-13 at 12:21 -0700, Joseph Sinclair wrote: >> All, >> Knowing that some of you are far more experienced with running things in a >> VM than I am, I would like to know if any of you have ideas for the >> following scenario: >> >> I have a family member who is running Windows XP and the box it's on is >> dying fast. Rather than buy a new >> Windows box and attempt to, maybe, migrate everything, my thought is to take >> a full disk backup of the Windows >> machine and load that into a Virtual Machine on one of my Linux systems. >> This, however spawns a few questions: >> 1) Is it possible to load a live Windows system backup into a fresh VM on a >> different machine like this and have it actually work? >> a) Is there a specific way I should take the backup to ensure an easier >> transition? >> b) Which VM software would be the best choice for this? >> c) Does anyone have any other suggestions to help make this as smooth as >> possible? > ---- > I have no first hand knowledge of running WinXP on VM of any type. > > I have enough knowledge of WinXP to know that a hardware signature is > computed during installation and this information is fed back to > Microsoft when that particular installation code is 'authorized'. Once > authorized, you can replace many individual elements such as the hard > drive, but once the motherboard is factored, the 'authorized' copy > cannot be moved to any other motherboard without authorization including > situations where the motherboard dies and is replaced with an identical > copy. > > This isn't an issue with the 'oem' versions that are attached to a > computer because the computer itself has the authorization which permits > a company such as Dell to replace a defective motherboard but those > Windows XP versions aren't available to the general public. > > Thus, I would expect that if you migrate the current working version of > Windows XP from the computer that was authorized to a VM run on > different hardware, Windows will detect this at startup and go into > unauthorized mode. > > Craig > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss