Previously my Windows 10 guest-VM was activated with a digital license with Virtualbox 6.1.14. I removed Windows 10 guest-VM, exited Virtualbox and uninstalled Virtualbox 6.1.14. I rebooted my computer and installed Virtualbox 6.1.16. I reinstalled Windows 10 as a guest-VM. After the successful installation of Windows 10 guest-VM, I entered the generic key for activating it with a digital license. Microsoft reported that I do not have a valid digital license or product key. Thank you for your help in this matter.
Each Windows installation in virtualbox has different HWID, if you want it same every time then use vmware.
Considering it is not the same Hardware ID that is why it is not working. I think UUID from the Hard Drive mut be different from the the 1st VM and the new one.
In my tests, it was enough, with identical configuration, to assign the same MAC address as the previous VM had, for the first network adaptor.
This was what I did per your recommendation: Firstly, I removed Windows 10 guest-VM and uninstalled Virtualbox 6.1.16. I rebooted my host OS. Secondly, I re-installed Virtualbox 6.1.14 and Windows 10 guest-VM. I jotted down the MAC address of the first network adapter, 0800271C40A2. I activated Microsoft Windows with a valid product key. Thirdly, I removed Windows 10 guest-VM and uninstalled Virtualbox 6.1.14. I rebooted my host OS. Fourthly, I re-installed Virtualbox 6.1.16 and Windows 10 guest-VM. I changed the MAC address of the first network adapter of the current Virtualbox to 0800271C40A2. I rebooted my host OS. Upon launching the Windows 10 guest-VM, I verified that the first network adapter has been changed. I tried to activated Microsoft Windows with a digital license. The activation failed.
Can we just copy the UUID of the hard drive on which the activated Windows 10 guest-VM resides and then paste it into a new guest-VM? Will it work?
I never tried as I never used VirtualBox so do the test and give feedback. Also there are many infos on the net for your question Thx
I was under the assumption that you did not kill the VM receipe (the .vbox file) completely. If you did, all UIDs lost. You can format the VM hard disk as much as desired, but never delete the complete VM and dard disk container (.vdi), as VBox will assign new, random UIDs to freshly created VMs and VDI hard disks.
(1) Will upgrading the version of Virtualbox assign new, random UIDs to existing VMs and VDI hard disks? For example, I uninstall version 6.1.14, reboot my machine and install 6.1.16. (2) Can I take a snapshot or a clone of my guest-VM and use it for a later version of Virtualbox? Will I need to re-activate Windows after I have imported the snapshot/clone into a new version of Virtualbox? (3) What about the following alternative: I sign into my Windows OS that is on the guest-VM with my Microsoft account? Even if I delete/remove all the files such as .vbox and .vdi files, the Windows OS on the guest-VM will be activated as long as I sign into it with my Microsoft account?
(1) No, that will not happen. VM files are not touched on VirtualBox updates. Just do not have VMs in the "Saved" state, especially on major upgrades, these savestates will usually fail to restore after. (2) For a simple update of VBox on the machine, nothing special needs to be done. Going back to older versions might break stuff. You can export a whole VM as OVF, and re-import it later. The UIDs and MAC should be preserved, but I have never used Export and am not completely sure. Snapshots are only a defined state of a VM in time. They are tied to the VM and cannot be used independently. Careful when cloning a VM in VBox, this will set all UIDs to different values (also the MAC on request). The reason is that all UIDs must e unique and the clone cannot use the same. The simplest method is just making a copy of your complete VM directory. While it cannot be re-added to the same VBox (unless you delete the old VM first), it is possible on a different machine. Making a copy preserves all UIDs and the MAC. (3) If the HwID is tied to the MS account, you should be able to recover it using the licensing troubleshooter. This will tie it to the new system.
Thanks for taking the time to reply to my questions. Did you mean this? Please see attached screenshot. What did you mean by "major upgrades"? Is moving from 6.1.14 to 6.1.16 considered a major upgrade? You meant that I can't import a snapshot into another computer, is that right? I installed VirtualBox 6.1.16 with the default settings. By "complete VM directory", did you mean C:\Users\[username]\VirtualBox VMs\[name of the VM chosen during installation] Granted that each VM has a different set of virtual HwID and does require Windows to be activated on each VM, am I correct to say that one day I will exhaust the number of activations per retail product key even if the HwID is tied to my MS account?
Yes, saved states just freeze the VM for easy and fast resuming later. However, as all states and configurations of all virtual hardware devices are stored in that saved state, the provided virtual hardware must still be the same when resuming. Upon updates, especially major, the provided hardware is bound to change slightly, and then, the stored hardware configurations in the saved state become invalid. Resuming fails. Right click - "Discard saved state" will fix this. No, Major is moving from 6.0 to 6.1, or even from 5.x to 6.x. Changes of the last number of the version are minor. A snapshot alone just holds the changes to the parent snapshot (if any) or the original configuration. It cannot be used alone due to these dependencies. However, you can clone a VM at the time of a specific snapshot - the cloning process will create a complete VM container from the snapshot chain. Yes. With default settings, the VM directory will hold everything needed, including the virtual hard disk and all snapshots. Note that re-adding VMs with snapshots present can be tricky, you should therefore avoid snapshots. Every Retail key from Microsoft provides exactly one activation. The same is true for the HwID, only one activation with the HwID possible. No idea if entering the same Retail key will work for generating many HwIDs, probably not infinitely. Legally, one Retail key = one HwID. Don't confuse with provided re-activations for the key, as that is under special conditions (prior machine no longer active for some months and will become unactivated, re-activation may require calling MS). HwID can be transferred as well, but still only one machine at any time only. There is only one type of key providing multiple concurrent online activations - Volume MAK (Multiple Activation Key).
Perhaps activating using HWID would work for you? Do a Google search for: massgravel Microsoft-Activation-Scripts
I remember you telling me that clones will be assigned new UIDs when imported into a fresh install of VirtualBox, is that right? What did you mean by "re-adding VMs with snapshots present"? Did you mean re-adding them to the VirtualBox on the same computer or to a VirtualBox on a different computer? If that's the case, I think it's best not to activate Windows in a guest-VM. I could use the "rearm" method to reset the timer so that I could continue using Windows for another 30 days, yes or no? Another reason for not activating Windows is I use a Windows guest-VM to test software and if the latter contains viruses/malware/trojans, I'd just delete/remove the VM. This is what people do under normal circumstances, am I right, when they discover that the software they are testing in a VM contains viruses and malware?
I have read it on the internet but not really clear about what massgravel's scripts do. His method is like modding the BIOS, right?
No, it adds a temp regkey, it runs gatherosstate.exe, generates a genuineticket.xml, applies it and inserts a key, removes the temp regkey and it activates windows.