Can a pre-inbstalled windows be put inside a VM?

[jlittle]

But unless you really need to run Windows on the bare metal, might I suggest you try a virtual machine instead, using either VMware Player or VirtualBox? Ultimately this is simpler to maintain, and you can still share resources by mounting Linux directories as network shares inside the VM. It's how I roll, and it works pretty darn well.

Is it possible, given Windows on a bought machine, get it inside a virtual machine, without a windows DVD?

[oshunluvr]

Short answer: No

[james147]

Is it possible, given Windows on a bought machine, get it inside a virtual machine, without a windows DVD?

Even if it was simple to do windows would freak out and lock up when it detected the different hardware.

[oshunluvr]

I suppose it might be possible if you could somehow work around the manufacturers lock-down in the registry file, but even then only maybe. Besides, this is the wrong forum to get that kind of info. However, we'll be more than happy to help you complete your tasks using Kubuntu rather than winders

[GreyGeek]

Steve would know better than I, but the last time I looked into this situation I learned that when it is installed Windows measures 10 parameters (cpu, gpu, ram, hd, etc...) and uses them to create a unique GID (or is it GUID?). If you change more than three items the computed GID is different enought from the original GID that Windows labels the install a pirated copy and reduces or shuts down activities, like accelerated video, cpu speed, etc..., if it boots at all.

That said, there are ways to virtualize the installed Windows: http://askubuntu.com/questions/21961...lled-windows-7
According to one who tried it:

Sadly, its not an awesome solution, as there are a few gotchas.

• It wasn't trivial to setup, I had to manually modify some partition permissions and such (but there are some decent articles on this you can google for)
• As it only works with disks and not partitions, I had to use my main disk virtually. So when it started up, I got the multi-boot GRUB menu, as if I was starting up the machine. If I were to select the same OS in the virtual instance that I was running in the physical instance, it could cause serious problems with two OSes trying to mount the same partition.
• You need to have free space on your drive to do any of this (to even dual boot). Usually pre-installed windows instances don't leave any space for a 2nd OS, so you'd have to re-size or something just to get dual booting.

Moral of the story: its possible, but I haven't found an easy, error free way to get it working.

Of course, your milage may vary.

[Snowhog]

I believe that it can be done. See VMware vCenter Converter™ CONVERT PHYSICAL MACHINES TO VIRTUAL MACHINES - FREE!

[jlittle]

Thank you all for your replies. The reason for asking is that the only windows licence I'm likely to have would be the one forced on me by a laptop vendor, and one normally doesn't get the OS on distribution media such as a CD or DVD. Sure, dual boot, but Steve's remarks about the advantages of putting windows in a VM had me wondering.

I had a look through the VMware Converter manual, but most of it is way over my head. I did see

If you migrate an OEM Windows image, you must have a Windows Server Enterprise or Datacenter Edition license to run multiple virtual machines.

That's not likely

[zzzleepy]

If you have a valid key for Windows, you can do a fresh installation inside your virtual machine using any disk image downloaded from the internet. It just have to be the same version as the one you have the key for (like Home Premium or Ultimate) and maybe you need to do a phone activation at the end. I have a Toshiba laptop which came with Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit preinstalled and backup disks only for the 32bit version. The 64bit version was stored inside a partition on my hard disk and I had to use a utility called "Startup Disk Creator" (or something similar) to create backup disks for the 64bit version. But these backup disks were not normal installation disks for Windows and if I used them to restore my installation, I would again get hundreds all those useless crap from Toshiba.

So, I decided to download a dvd image for Home Premium 64bit from the internet, wiped the whole disk (getting rid of the useless crap) and did a clean install with my serial number.

Of course, that was before Linux...

[jlittle]

If you have a valid key for Windows, you can do a fresh installation inside your virtual machine using any disk image downloaded from the internet. It just have to be the same version as the one you have the key for (like Home Premium or Ultimate) and maybe you need to do a phone activation at the end.

Ah... that would be the way. Thank you.

[SteveRiley]

OEM license keys can't be used to activate retail Windows. So the "Windows downloaded from the Internet" is an ISO that contains an OEM build.

A hash of the license key on your sticker is stored in a data structure called the SLIC table, which lives your computer's BIOS. If Windows detects that the stored hash doesn't correspond with the license key used during installation, it will eventually refuse to boot.

It's becoming increasingly challenging to obtain a replacement sticker if your original one got damaged. A good habit is to write it down when you first purchased the PC. It probably comes as no surprise that you can always active any kind of Windows with a (purchased) retail key; an OEM build activated with a retail key ignores the fact that the hash in the BIOS no longer matches the key.

Virtualizing an OEM install, activated with an OEM key, is truly a risky thing to do. I'm actually suprised it would work at all. I suspect that this instance would start to complain about licensing issues after 120 days. You can follow some interesting tricks to extend this, but you should expect none of them to remain permanent.

[jlittle]

Thank you.:roll:

...Why does the world use Windows? (-_-?)...

[wmrobins]

I was able to do that with my wife's XP laptop installation. FIrst I used dd to save the drive as an ISO. Then I installed the ISO into virtual box on Kubuntu. (I don't remeber how (it was two or three years ago) but I beleive it was covered in the virtual box documentation. At that point, I booted without issues. No Re-Activation was needed. I can't say it saved my marrige.... well, yes I can!

[SteveRiley]

I was able to do that with my wife's XP laptop installation.

Windows XP was far more forgiving of such manipulation than is Windows 7.

[Fintan]

Just my 2cents worth. I did it with my preinstalled win 7 on my laptop and the windows key on the backside of the laptop.

read this:
http://www.petri.co.il/virtual_conve..._converter.htm

be sure to get the latest version: (version 5.0)
https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/e...er?p=converter

You will need a vmware account.

Install vmplayer and use the converted win 7 as your guest.

Just to be comlete: I you want to use vbox read this:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuMagazi...Qemu_+_VdiTool

Personally I don't like Oracle at all so I stick with vmplayer, but as I said that is personal.

enjoy

[SteveRiley]

Let us know what happens 120 days from now. If you don't receive a warning that your license requires re-validation, I'll be pleasantly surprised.