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I bought a new laptop (ASUS G51VXRX05). This laptop came with Windows Vista. It also came with a free upgrade to Windows 7 Home Edition.

I bought the full version of Winodows 7 Ultimate with the intention of eventually using it on VirtualBox for development; But wanting to try it out, I installed it on my new laptop.

Since then the Windows 7 upgrade has come in, I have a bunch of stuff setup on the laptop, and I don't really wish to tear all of that down at this point.

Is there any way that I can keep the license for Windows 7 Ultimate on my main laptop, and use the Windows 7 Home Edition upgrade license/Windows Vista Home version that came with my laptop on an installation on a virtual machine?

Can I call Microsoft and ask them to iron out this situation for me? I mean I do have two licenses after all...I just don't know how to use them...****weeps openly****

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  • Licensing is a nightmare! But hey if that's the way they wanna do business, that's what I gotta do...
    – leeand00
    Commented Feb 27, 2010 at 14:43
  • the free upgrade is certainly an OEM licence, so you can't legaly move it on another computer (virtual or not)...
    – fluxtendu
    Commented Feb 27, 2010 at 15:15

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I've recently done something similar, and the version installed with the key that came with the laptop passes WGA certification in the VM. I did need to borrow disks to do the install, as the laptop did not come with them. Mine was a Win 7 Home Premium rather than a Vista/upgrade, but I would expect you should be OK. Worst case, call MS if it does not pass WGA.

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  • Will it even let me install it? see fluxtendu above...
    – leeand00
    Commented Feb 27, 2010 at 15:20
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    My copy was also OEM, but as I said, not an upgrade. You may want to try what I did, which is try the licence key with a real Windows 7 install disk. Also, I am running it in VirtualBox, which I didn't mention in my post. It doesn't hurt to try it. The only thing that may get in your way is if you've already 'registered' your copy with MS. In that case, you may need to call them up to 'transfer' the licence. As it's running on the same machine it was sold with, I think it passes all of their OEM licensing rules.
    – Nerdfest
    Commented Feb 27, 2010 at 17:25
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I think you actually will need to do it the other way, with 7 ultimate in the VM. You should check how the EULA reads for windows. I have actually had more luck with VMware player as of late than with virtualbox. Also, there is the free vCenter converter (http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/) that will create a virtual machine image of a physical system. The only nightmare with that is the licensing stuff, and will likely have to contact Microsoft to activate the install on the image.

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