topic Re: Moving from an Intel Mac to Apple Silicon and Windows 11 licensing in VMware Fusion Discussions

Moving from an Intel Mac to Apple Silicon and Windows 11 licensing

camner — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 13:37:54 GMT

I understand that a Windows VM created on an Intel Mac will not work if copied to an Apple Silicon Mac. I have a few questions.

1. This means I must create a new Windows VM from scratch on the Apple Silicon Mac, yes?

2. What does this mean in terms of Windows licensing? My current VM started life as a (completely legal and licensed) Windows 7 install. That was then upgraded to Windows 10 back when one could do that for free. Then, just recently, I upgraded the OS on the VM to Windows 11, again for free. Do I need to buy a new Windows 11 license, or is there a way to use my current, but older license? (I don't know if it would be useful, but I still have copies of the VMs running older versions of Windows.)

Re: Moving from an Intel Mac to Apple Silicon and Windows 11 licensing

RDPetruska — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 13:42:08 GMT

@camner wrote:

I understand that a Windows VM created on an Intel Mac will not work if copied to an Apple Silicon Mac. I have a few questions.

1. This means I must create a new Windows VM from scratch on the Apple Silicon Mac, yes?

2. What does this mean in terms of Windows licensing? My current VM started life as a (completely legal and licensed) Windows 7 install. That was then upgraded to Windows 10 back when one could do that for free. Then, just recently, I upgraded the OS on the VM to Windows 11, again for free. Do I need to buy a new Windows 11 license, or is there a way to use my current, but older license? (I don't know if it would be useful, but I still have copies of the VMs running older versions of Windows.)

1. Yes, you must create a new VM from scratch - the CPU architecture is different and not compatible.

1a. You *should* be able to migrate or at least copy data from the older machine to the newer one. Might have to temporarily add the virtual hard disk of the old machine to the new one once you've built it, to then copy the files within Windows; then remove the old disk.

2. That is really a question for Microsoft. It's their licensing.

Re: Moving from an Intel Mac to Apple Silicon and Windows 11 licensing

Technogeezer — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 14:05:36 GMT

In general Windows 10 (and 11) retail licenses have been shown to activate Windows 11 ARM. I believe that your upgraded (digital) license should work. Just make sure that you follow Microsoft procedures to transfer a digital license to a new machine. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reactivating-windows-after-a-hardware-change-2c0e962a-f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665#ID0EBD=Windows_11

Re: Moving from an Intel Mac to Apple Silicon and Windows 11 licensing

camner — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 16:15:33 GMT

@Technogeezer

Thanks for the quick reply and helpful link.