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paylong
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Registration/Activation of all the softwares after transferring from a physical Windows XP machine to a Virtual Machine inside a MacBook?

Hi,

I am new to this field, and would like to transfer all my system (Windows XP Home Edition and all the applications/softwares installed within the system) in a physical machine (Acer 5670 Notebook) into a Virture Machine in a new MacBook (OS X).

(I know that will be problems using VMware Converter 3 on XP Home Edition, which was another question I posted on the VMWare Converter Forum.)

My questions are: (Either you use the VMware Converter to do the transfer, or start a new clean installation of Windows operation system)

How do you deal with the issues related to registration/activation of all the softwares after this kind of conversion?

How about the settings/options/favorites that you have set in individual programs before the conversion? Is there any way to keep them?

If you have multiple Virtual Machines, do you need to register/activate those softwares in individual Virtual Machine? (A lot of softwares only allow 1 or 2 registration...)

Best regards,

Paylong

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WoodyZ
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> 1. If I start a new clean installation (Windows XP first, then individual softwares/applications), can I export some kind of preference/settings from the original system and then somehow import them to the VM?

That all depends on the Operating System, the target applications and what migration tool you choose to use.

2. I heard that we can have multiple VMs (even with the same operation systems, such as XP) in the same Mac OS X/Fusion2 in the same physical MacBook. (For example, some VMs have many software/applications installed but some are clean with the minimal amount of software/applications.) In this kind of scenario, will those software/applications consider themselves as in the same hardware and thus don't require additional activation/registration, or do I need to repeat the whole process for each individual VM? How about if I want to copy the VM from a physical MacBook to another machine (for example, a Mac Pro)?

Licensing issues aside you can have as many Virtual Machines running of the same or different type as limited by your available resources like RAM and disk space.

As far as Licensing go you are required to have valid licenses, and or product keys, and or serial numbers and or product activations as required by the EULA of the products in question and if your thinking about building out a Virtual Machine and propagating it then you best be using Volume Licensing Media and hold requires number of licenses otherwise you will undoubtedly run into product activation issues in some cases and not only with some OSes but also some software packages as well.

Also you will have network connectivity issues if you try using an exact copy of an original Virtual Machine at the same time on the same subnet and the required changes necessary to avoid such conflicts can under certain circumstances trigger OS and or software product activation.

Does this answer your questions? Smiley Happy

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rosetulip
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I and a couple of friends also have this question.

Can anyone help us?

Rosetulip

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paylong
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Hi,

Can anyone help?

I tried to find the answers from others' previous posts, but cannot figure out the right solution.

Have a nice weekend.

Paylong

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admin
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How do you deal with the issues related to registration/activation of all the softwares after this kind of conversion?

You will have to reregister/activate all software that keys off the hardware. Virtual hardware just looks different than the physical hardware.

How about the settings/options/favorites that you have set in individual programs before the conversion? Is there any way to keep them?

If you use Converter, all your settings, etc. will remain intact. If you do a clean install, they will of course not be there.

If you have multiple Virtual Machines, do you need to register/activate those softwares in individual Virtual Machine? (A lot of softwares only allow 1 or 2 registration...)

Not really clear on what you're asking here. Separate virtual machines are, well, separate.

paylong
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Hi Etung,

Thanks a lot for the information. I appreciate your help.

Two more follow-up questions:

1. If I start a new clean installation (Windows XP first, then individual softwares/applications), can I export some kind of preference/settings from the original system and then somehow import them to the VM?

2. I heard that we can have multiple VMs (even with the same operation systems, such as XP) in the same Mac OS X/Fusion2 in the same physical MacBook. (For example, some VMs have many software/applications installed but some are clean with the minimal amount of software/applications.) In this kind of scenario, will those software/applications consider themselves as in the same hardware and thus don't require additional activation/registration, or do I need to repeat the whole process for each individual VM? How about if I want to copy the VM from a physical MacBook to another machine (for example, a Mac Pro)?

Thanks.

Paylong

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WoodyZ
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> 1. If I start a new clean installation (Windows XP first, then individual softwares/applications), can I export some kind of preference/settings from the original system and then somehow import them to the VM?

That all depends on the Operating System, the target applications and what migration tool you choose to use.

2. I heard that we can have multiple VMs (even with the same operation systems, such as XP) in the same Mac OS X/Fusion2 in the same physical MacBook. (For example, some VMs have many software/applications installed but some are clean with the minimal amount of software/applications.) In this kind of scenario, will those software/applications consider themselves as in the same hardware and thus don't require additional activation/registration, or do I need to repeat the whole process for each individual VM? How about if I want to copy the VM from a physical MacBook to another machine (for example, a Mac Pro)?

Licensing issues aside you can have as many Virtual Machines running of the same or different type as limited by your available resources like RAM and disk space.

As far as Licensing go you are required to have valid licenses, and or product keys, and or serial numbers and or product activations as required by the EULA of the products in question and if your thinking about building out a Virtual Machine and propagating it then you best be using Volume Licensing Media and hold requires number of licenses otherwise you will undoubtedly run into product activation issues in some cases and not only with some OSes but also some software packages as well.

Also you will have network connectivity issues if you try using an exact copy of an original Virtual Machine at the same time on the same subnet and the required changes necessary to avoid such conflicts can under certain circumstances trigger OS and or software product activation.

Does this answer your questions? Smiley Happy

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paylong
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Hi WoodyZ,

Very clear answers. And then I have one more question. _

(Sorry. Since I don't have Fusion yet, my questions are all from imagination without my real situations and outputs to present here.)

How about SnapShot?

Let's assume that in the beginning my VM just contains Windows XP and Office 2003, and I take a SnapShot (SnapShot 1). Then I install 5 more softwares and take a scond SnapShot (SnapShot2); and then I may have SnapShot3 and SnapShot4. Can I somehow run SnapShot 1 and SnapShot 4 at the same time on the same physical machine? Will I have problems about licensing/registration/activation?

Thanks.

Paylong

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admin
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Let's assume that in the beginning my VM just contains Windows XP and Office 2003, and I take a SnapShot (SnapShot 1). Then I install 5 more softwares and take a scond SnapShot (SnapShot2); and then I may have SnapShot3 and SnapShot4. Can I somehow run SnapShot 1 and SnapShot 4 at the same time on the same physical machine?

No. Think of a snapshot as a point in time for the virtual machine - you can't be at two different times at the same time.

You could sort of do this with Workstation by use of linked clones, but Fusion doesn't support this.

Will I have problems about licensing/registration/activation?

I don't want to guarantee anything (we're talking about unknown companies unknown software here, which can always do unexpected things), but I seriously doubt there will be problems.

paylong
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Thanks all for the help.

Paylong

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