Can I activate a VM with my key from the same machine?

I have a laptop that came with Windows 11 pre-installed that I've setup to dual boot with Arch Linux. I do most of my work in Linux, but I need to run a few Windows apps, which don't work properly with Wine. I created a recovery media from the Windows system and installed it in a VMWare Workstation virtual machine on Linux. Can I activate it with the key from my Windows boot, or does that violate the license? It's technically the same computer, but it's virtualized hardware so I believe Windows would see it as a different machine. Are there a fixed number of activations? Also does activating it in the VM break the real activation in the actual Windows boot partition?

Hi amnesia, welcome to the Eleven Forums

I recalled, our member @Bree touching on this in a thread he created. Post #5 by Bree specifically makes comment on your question.

I see, thanks. I guess this answers my question:

A VM is a separate device with its own unique hardware ID. It cannot activate from the host machine's digital licence. If you want to activate it you need to provide it with its own separate key.

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Bummer.

amnesia said:

I see, thanks. I guess this answers my question:



Bummer.

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Times are tough but there are always cheap keys to be bought.

Someone once posted a link in here to these guys.
But always do your research.

US$5.99

antspants said:

Someone once posted a link in here to these guys.
But always do your research.

US$5.99

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Cheers, mate. This looks promising, I didn't realize they could be had on the cheap like this.

Not $5.99 but $39.99 with 15% off on one of the forums' sponser sites

glasskuter said:

Not $5.99 but $39.99 with 15% off on one of the forums' sponser sites

Microsoft Windows 11 Pro Deal — Lifetime License

<p>Is your computer's OS up to date? Enhance productivity and security with this Microsoft Windows 11 Pro deal, courtesy of a Microsoft-verified partner.</p>

www.stacksocial.com

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John actually informed me that there isn’t an affiliation. Not sure if sponsorship and affiliation are the same thing though. He mentioned that there is no benefit to the site from buying from Stacksocial, just that he likes their offers.

If nothing else, we can at least be sure they are trustworthy.

Correction, John doesn’t bother taking the commission, my mistake.

Perfectly reasonable -- I'd trust stuff on his site far more than some dubious provider I've never heard of.

If you need another Windows Pro license and it only lasts 2 years you've still saved a whole slew of money and presumably when the next version of Windows comes out - be it Windows12 or anything else - Ms will surely offer free updates for a time too.

You might need to check though if it's an OEM key (which means it can only be tied to that specific computer) or a Retail key which means it can be moved with free re-activation to another machine. I suspect these licenses are of the "retail variety" though which makes them even better value.

I'd buy one myself but I got a whole slew of W11 licenses from the old Technet W8.1 / W7 serials before the free update offer was closed down relatively recently.

Cheers
jimbo

Going back to the original question...

You CANNOT activate a VM using the same key as the physical because a VM uses different hardware. It uses virtualized hardware which is seen as a different machine and thus will not activate using the same key.

HOWEVER, you CAN install one or more additional instances of Windows to a VHD and natively boot those instances of Windows from the VHD. That type of installation CAN be activated using the same key because it uses the same physical hardware (it is not virtualized).

hsehestedt said:

Going back to the original question...

You CANNOT activate a VM using the same key as the physical because a VM uses different hardware. It uses virtualized hardware which is seen as a different machine and thus will not activate using the same key.

HOWEVER, you CAN install one or more additional instances of Windows to a VHD and natively boot those instances of Windows from the VHD. That type of installation CAN be activated using the same key because it uses the same physical hardware (it is not virtualized).

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Not always true for VM's. Also booting a native vhdx or vhd file is NOT booting a VM. I think the OP wanted to know about VM's.

If you do it THE OTHER Way around and have some pass thru stuff so a lot of the VM uses the native hardware so minimal "paravirtualisation" you can activate the VM and then convert it to a Physical machine where windows update can update any missing physical drivers -- and even if Windows does ask for activation it probably will work. What you need to ensure is in the VM use a Virtual CPU that W11 can use, pass thru graphics and physical disks, as well as a TPM etc and ensure when you created the VM it uses UEFI and Secure boot.

I've done this a few times with recent W11 insider builds and they've remained activated. I usually convert to physical installs on external devices as WindowstoGo systems as these can't generally update to newer builds and its a pain to clean install every time there's a new build.

Cheers
jimbo

hsehestedt said:

Going back to the original question...

You CANNOT activate a VM using the same key as the physical because a VM uses different hardware. It uses virtualized hardware which is seen as a different machine and thus will not activate using the same key.

HOWEVER, you CAN install one or more additional instances of Windows to a VHD and natively boot those instances of Windows from the VHD. That type of installation CAN be activated using the same key because it uses the same physical hardware (it is not virtualized).

Click to expand...

Additional clarity:

You can install Windows to Hyper-V vms and they will be unactivated and you cannot personalise it.

However, you can then native boot the vhdx file as @hsehestedt says, and it will become activated and you can personalise it.

Thing is the personalisation gets remembered, so when you run the vm again, although unactivated, everything is personalised. Everything else works fine.

Of course, it does violate terms of EULA to run unactivated. In the old days, you could install an OS for 30 days unactivated.

But hey MS relaxed the rules from the old days where an installation went into reduced function mode. There is no time limit.

So MS dispensed with trial versions and allow you to run unactivated for an unlimited period, but then more or less contradict themselves in EULA saying you cannot run unactivated. MS even removed the watermark!

Some zealous purists will say "just because you can run it unactivated, does not mean that you should".

My counter argument is MS could easily stop unactivated versions running (or severely restrict it). They do this with MS 365!

Frankly, it seems MS does not give a poop about Windows being activated or not. They make revenue from ads etc.!

To me, buying a cheap key (most are hidden piracy really) to activate a vm is worse than not bothering as people are being scammed, parting with cash they do not really need to. People are deluding themselves the scammers are doing them a favour just to "tick a box".

Of course, you do need an activated version of host OS or you cannot personalise it.

For avoidance of doubt, I neither discourage or encourage people to run unactivated.

As an aside, the biggest MS contradiction is using sandbox, as it is effectively runs as an unactivated "virtual machine" i.e. you officially violate the EULA if you use sandbox (worse, it is based on Enterprise for which you need a volume licence key).