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I have virtualised a windows machine using "Disk2VHD" from microsoft sysinternals. I then used Windows virtual machine to create a VM from the .VHD file. I ensured the "Prepare for use in VM" box was checked.

Upon boot I get a "Windows not genuine" error, and the VM will restart.

I've mounted the VHD in diskmgmt, and can access all the information on the disk.

The system i've virtualised is a geniune OEM windows XP Machine. with a 60GB HDD.

Is this a problem of Hardware mis-match?

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  • Besides the fact that you shouldn't be using XP in 2018, the OEM license is valid only for the hardware it was sold with. Using the OS in a VM requires another license (and you can't obtain one now for XP anyway).
    – user931000
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 15:36

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Yes. OEM licenses are tied to the hardware (the CPU&motherboard) that they were sold on. "License lives and dies with the computer it was originally installed on" to quote a forum post.

(Retail licenses also require hardware check, but may be reactivated on a different system a few times. VLK licenses in WinXP aren't bound to the system at all.)

If you have a Retail or VLK key, it might be possible to change the license key on an existing system using this script from MS Support or this "key update tool" (both from Microsoft), although the article doesn't say whether it'll allow changing between different licensing channels.

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