Virtual Machine XP license problems

You cannot move an OEM license - that is likely what has happened. I assume you moved to a different machine.

You can use a Retail XP license, move it and activate it. I have done this.

How did you create the virtual machine?  VMware, Virtual PC, XP Mode from Windows 7?   XP Mode machines won't work in Windows 10 which is another possibility here.

Even though out of support, Retail XP will still activate.

>>You can use a Retail XP license, move it and activate it?

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone->VMware Workstation 10 format


Is this impossible to do of the system to be saved was originally installed on XP OEM..?

Edit
The question to the answer should be..

How did you create the virtual machine?

I am not sure you can do what you want with an OEM license. OEM licenses cannot be moved. You are making a new machine and XP will think it is on new hardware.

You need a Retail license of XP to do what you want.

You can create a virtual machine in VMware very easily. File, New Machine. But you need a proper license to do it.

Is the destination computer a OEM? Dell, HP, Lenovo? Is the an OEM COA for XP on it?

The destination is a VM (VMware Workstation or Virtual PC). Host computer unknown..
I have tried VMware format so far.

I meant is the host computer a Dell, Lenove, HP?

Host computer unknown..

That is why XP OEM won't activate.

Well actually it's a dell like the original but i doubt XP will recognize that through VMware..?

This is the essential question here:

Is this impossible to do if the system to be saved was originally installed on XP OEM..?

Not sure I understand the question. As a rule the original computer should have used Dell OEM XP but that doesn't necessarily have to be the case. One way or the other you have a licensing issue.

This is to be EXPECTED with an OEM version.

You will need to re-use the OEM Key, or now you will need to run a repair using a Volume or Retail product key.

You could try and contact Microsoft Licensing. Depending upin your country of origin, this was deemed illegal in the courts!

Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) versions

Note: Physical-to-virtual hard drive migration of a Windows installation is a valid function for customers with Software Assurance and full retail copies of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Software Assurance provides users valuable benefits—please contact Microsoft Corporation for further information. Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 installed by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) using OEM versions of these products may not be transferred to a virtual hard drive in accordance with Microsoft licensing terms.

Source
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ee656415

https://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Microsoft_Operating_Systems/Windows/XP/A_3721-Can-I-transfer-my-OEM-version-of-Windows-to-another-PC.html

You need a volume licence to activate a virtual machine and you need the volume licence media for installing the OS in a virtual machine.

You can use a Retail license also. I have done this.

@dr_fred - If you need an XP machine, you can still buy XP Pro Retail licenses on eBay (check out the vendor).

Thanks Andrew for the Article mention but actually the one needed here is https://www.experts-exchange.com/articles/3218/XP-OEM-and-the-repair-reinstallation-which-disk-do-I-need.html

Which covers the re-install you mention. The XP image from the Dell is locked to the Dell hardware and as the VM doesn't have a Dell BIOS identifier it won't activate and using a System Builder OEM key on Dell usually doesn't work as the ProductIDs don't match.

If you carry out a repair re-install using media that you do hold a license for you can change the install from OEM to that version.  Your difficulty may actually be creating an XP Pro SP3 install image that is as up-to-date as the one on the VHD (otherwise the installer will baulk that the version on the VHD is newer that the XP CD and quit).

It's certainly possible but you'll need to spend sometime creating the installer.

Get a retail license of XP...
Do a repair install on the VM from the retail media. (google it  if you don't know how.)
Or you can try this first if you have a proper key...  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/help/genuine/product-key#T1=tab03

activate with the retail license...

@MASQ I had no idea that you had written that one!!!

But it's committed to the memory bank now!

(and that was written before the one I quoted) Maybe you need to Update and include a Link to the later Article in your first article!

That would be fine if the disk had been put inside a Dell machine but the VM "hardware" isn't Dell.

@PCLANVADWPB - Have you ever read an OEM license agreement?  It appears not.

I have found that sometimes this can work!

hence why I wrote..."You will need to re-use the OEM Key"

in https:#a41641504

but if you don't have the OEM key, and sometimes it does not work!

and if it does not work, see above..

I'll make two comments:

1) PCLANVADWPB is correct about the activation. Dell supplies OEM SLP media which bypasses the normal activation process. It looks in to the BIOS of the PC. If it is a Dell it will skip the activation process. The Product Key on the COA is there just in case the OEM SLP activation is broken. In that case you should be able to activate it with that product key.

2) You still won't be legal because the OEM license dies with the computer it is installed on.

@LockDown32

2) You still won't be legal because the OEM license dies with the computer it is installed on.

I believe that depends on your country of origin!

I understand the Dell part, but you cannot take the Dell license and put it on a Lenovo machine. And it this issue above the converted machine is different hardware.

PCLANVADWPB  You are recommending an action that is against licensing rules in MOST countries...

Re-using an OEM key violates Microsoft rules and could end up getting someone in trouble... The fact that you commit this in the execution of your day to day business activities worries me to no end...
It doesn't matter if the original system used activation bypasses or not...

We don't know his country of origin. It might not be a license violation in that country :)

@David Johnston the product key was not stored in the BIOS back them. That is correct if that is what you are making reference too but it did look in the the BIOS for something. Signature bytes or something. That is the way Dell OEM SLP media worked in general. Putting the Product Keys in the BIOS really didn't start until Windows 8. Prior to that it looked for something else.

@LockDown32

However, EE forum is in the states and discussion of how to circumvents legal licensing is prohibited in this forum.

thx guys

@Jackie Man no one was talking about how to circumvent legal licensing. The discussion was defining legal licensing.