What Password does a Win 11 VM need to run on a different host?

[NoelC1]

I created a Win 11 VM on a workstation, and the workstation was subsequently suddenly burned out by a lightning strike. I keep good backups, so I was able to restore all the files to another workstation.

Trouble is, the Win 11 machine puts this up now, and I have no idea what password it wants.

I didn't create any password as far as I know during any part of the creation of the VM as far as I can remember, and it doesn't take the one I would have set if I had done so.  The password to the local Administrators-group account that I had created doesn't work.

I used the software TPM emulator to set Windows 11 up originally. Is there some known password it wants in this case?  Can I force it to something?

I would think a key use for virtualizing Windows 11 - even when set up with TPM capability - would be to be able to run on different host systems.  Am I missing something here?

Thanks for any wisdom and experience you might have to share.

-Noel

[NoelC1]

P.S., Host OS is Win 10 v21H2, latest update.

-Noel

[Kinnison]

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[NoelC1]

Thanks.  I feared as much.

> If you want to copy your VM to another host and run it there then you are out of luck

I would say that while I am complicit in choosing the managedvm.autoAddVTPM = "software", that the side effects should have been stated clearly. 

It's not as though there was another way - on a modern computer system with sufficient hardware including TPM - to install Windows 11 in VMware Workstation at the time.  Is there a way now?

-Noel

[Kinnison]

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