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Licensing of O/S (Windows 7 & XP) for use as <local> virtual machines ?

Answered Licensing of O/S (Windows 7 & XP) for use as <local> virtual machines ?

  • Sunday, April 29, 2012 2:52 PM
     
     
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    Hi,

    First of all, sorry - this isn't directly related to Virtual PC or XP mode but I wasn't sure where else to post this. Moderators, please feel free to move it somewhere more suitable if you wish.... thanks.

    I have 3 laptop based applications which will only ever be used one at a time by the users but which will not co-exist happily together if installed within the same O/S. Attempting to install all three applications has been tried and it causes all sorts of problems, so I need to keep everything isolated to avoid having a situation where each field user has to be issued with multiple devices.

    An option I'm considering is to have a Windows 7 Professional host, run VMWare Player 4 as a hypervisor, and then have 2 Windows 7 Pro VM's and one XP SP3 VM, one for each of the applications.

    I want to stress that only one VM would ever be in use at any one time - each application is mutually exclusive in it's outside connectivity requirements and running two or more VM's concurrently would be a futile exercise.

    I'm wondering how this needs to be licensed ? Clearly there's a license required for the host, and a license required for at least one of the Windows 7 vm's, but if there is only ever one VM at a time running, is there a requirement for more than two Windows 7 licenses, and how about the XP vm ?

    The laptops all have an existing Windows 7 Pro OEM license. All software will be local to the device's VM's rather than being served from elsewhere.

    Any advice gladly appreciated. Thanks :-)

    Robin

     

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  • Sunday, April 29, 2012 6:22 PM
     
     
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    You cannot mirror an operating system from one PC to another, unless you have a multiple licence, and even then each machine is unique, and has to comply with the volume licence.

    And as to windows7? Why would you run a virtual window7 on a windows7 machine?

     
  • Sunday, April 29, 2012 6:52 PM
     
     
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    Hi larsel and thanks for your reply.

    With regard to 'why', it's so that the host is not comprimised by a failed update (usually over a 3G connection) to an application that's been installed on the host O/S.

    If the host O/S breaks then potentially all of the VM's become unavailable and a field swap out is then necessary.

    The whole premise here is to seperate troublesome applications into their own VM. Though I appreciate that this may appear to be overkill with regard to O/S instances, this is still less costly than giving a user multiple rugged laptops which have to be securely & safely stored and also charged whilst not in use.

    Robin

     
  • Monday, April 30, 2012 12:15 AM
     
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    It makes no difference whether or not " only one VM would ever be in use at any one time - ".  The licenses refer to installation, not running.  A client Windows license can only be installed on one machine at any one time.  As the Windows 7 EULA states,

    "One Copy per Computer. You may install one copy of the software on one computer. That computer is the “licensed computer.”

    An OEM license can only be installed in a virtual machine as an alternative to installation on the host it shipped with.  The OEM license on the host must be completely replaced (not just upgraded) before it is available for reuse in a vm.

    Licensing would not be valid in the scenario you propose.

    Colin Barnhorst Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on DIY with 6GB ram.

    • Marked As Answer by Wobbin_c Monday, April 30, 2012 6:48 AM
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  • Monday, April 30, 2012 6:50 AM
     
     
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    Ok, thanks for the confirmation.

    Cheers

    Robin