Virtualization and Windows Genuine Advantage
I’ve been loving getting to know virtualization technology. I’ve had some good success with both VirtualBox and Windows Virtual PC 2007, though I now have a hiccup: my virtualized copy of Windows (from a fresh virtual machine install) is not passing Windows Genuine Advantage.
I found a highly enlightening article on ZDNet discussing this scenario. I’m disappointed that Microsoft hasn’t been more proactive to educate virtualization users on the licensing terms and to keep from falsely identifying these legimate copies as pirated versions. I guess there is a path to get it validated again, but my experience has not been good thus far. Hopefully Microsoft will get back to me.
Assuming the ZDNet article is correct, it is nice to know that Microsoft allows ”up to four copies of Windows from the same Windows license per computer,” so it doesn’t appear to be necessary to by additional copies of Windows just for virtualization.
8/24/07 Update: Well, I was able to get my virtualized copy of Windows validated after I submitted a support request, waited a few days, got a response back, and then activated it by phone with the automated phone system. I’m pushing them to give more clarity about why it was flagged as non-legitimate. (I bought the copy directly from Microsoft through my company’s corporate discount program.)