Running Fusion VM on two different computers, way to get around reactivation?

[meddle2010]

I am a heavily mobile user and do most of my work on my Macbook but when I'm in the office I want to leverage my 27" iMac screen & desktop, so I made a make-shift docking station.  Plug the laptop into power Gb ethernet and close the lid. Mount the Macbook HD remotely and run the VM.   This works really well, I can then switch spaces between this screen and my iMac desktops.  The problem is with Windows reactivation.  When I do this, it keeps wanting to reactivate Windows.

Is there  a way to get around this?

Thanks

[WoodyZ]

Generally speaking, running the same copy of Windows from a Virtual Machine on more then one system is no different then from a Physical Machine as far as the EULA and WPA/WAT is concerned and as such what you're doing in all likelihood violates the EULA.  The reason I said "generally speaking" is because you didn't say what version of Windows or the type of License you have.

Anyway the answer to your question is depending on the version technically yes, however because implementing the necessary workaround could in all likelihood violate the EULA it may not be discussed here.

[meddle2010]

What type of license would I have to have?  I'll buy it.  Whatever makes this problem go away is the path I wish to take.

Thanks

[WoodyZ]

It is not just a matter of the type of license!  What version of Windows are you running now and what type license is it?

[ColoradoMarmot]

No, because the CPU is different in the two machines, so windows detects it as a reinstall.

[meddle2010]

I don't think the type of Windows is really relevant, is it?   We're talking what 90% of people are running - Windows 7, but the licensing model is about the same regardless of the version.  Because the CPU/hardware is different I was talking more of a type of license that could be reactivated multiple times.   Legally, if I had to buy two licenses because it is two pieces of hardware, that would be fine, I'd do it.  But how would you manage the activation counts?   I was just wondering what the best way to do this.  Surely in this day and age with virtualization and portability I'm not the only one moving workloads around. 

Thanks..

[ColoradoMarmot]

Moving images is usually done by the enterprise products, using enterprise licenses.  An enterprise license won't require hardware activation, but it will require an audit by MSFT.  There's no way to prevent reactivation of retail licenses, and the counts will get triggered.  It's not something Fusion can control.

[WoodyZ]

First of all Windows 7 does not have a 90% market share and the reason I asked "What version of Windows are you running now and what type license is it?" is because it makes a difference, otherwise I wouldn't have asked!  Anyway, Windows XP with VLK was the last that didn't phone home and while there was an easy workaround for using a Retail version in the use case scenario you have nonetheless the workaround for Windows 7 is not as easy.  AFAIC If I had a Windows 7 VM and needed to move it between two physical systems and had two licenses I'd employ the workaround and not feel the least bit guilty.  The issue though is the legitimacy of any given workaround is questionable since it could also be used to circumvent a single license and as such I'm not going to give the details other then to say it's out there on the Internet.

As an example when using Boot Camp and running Windows natively vs. running the Boot Camp partition as a Virtual Machine.  This requires a single license and dual WPA and then one particular function of VMware Tools enable this so there is not an ongoing WPA issue between the two environments in this use case scenario.   The primary difference though is that Windows is not being moved between physical machines and as such I assume VMware has Microsoft's blessing to implement a workaround that in essence circumvents ongoing WPA issues under the use case scenario.   So one could choose to examine and reverse engineer the technology and implement it accordingly and or employ other know methods.