Can I re-install from scratch with my existing license?

[CMcGill]

Hi everyone. I'm a newbie here!

I plan to rebuild my Mac from scratch - reinstall the OS and eveything. I have Fusion 4.1.3. Can I just reinstall it (I still have the DMG file) and apply the same old license key, or will it complain that that key is already registered and prevent the reinstall?

Thanks everyone!

[avanish321 · Accepted solution]

You can reinstall and use the same license on same mac machine. Fusion will accept the license without complaining.

[CMcGill]

Groovy! Thanks avanish.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Make sure you don't rely on Time Machine to backup your virtual machine!  Make a copy of it from Finder (shut down, not suspended) before doing the clean install.

[CMcGill]

Thanks for the tip! But can you explain what the problem is? I would always make sure the VMs are shut down & not suspended, but what's the problem with Time Machine? I'm happy to take copies with Finder (I assume you mean copy & paste or just drag & drop the VMs to an external drive) but why? Time Machine would pick up the VM's files like any other. Wouldn't it?

Thanks!

[ColoradoMarmot]

The problem is that a VM isn't a single file - it's a collection, and they are constantly changing.  So your backup may have files from different times, resulting in a corrupt VM.  This is even worse if your virtual disk is split into 2GB chunks, and when pruning starts, it gets even worse.  Plus, you're wasting backup space - the entire virtual disk changes every single hour, so you're backing up 10-40GB you don't need to.