Hi folks

one of the advantages of using KVM/QEMU's paravirtualisation drivers is that apart from the CPU Windows thinks it's running on an identical machine irrespective of the actual hardware so won't ask you to re-activate again (Office also doesn't ask for activation either).

(Of course if you pass thru a load of real devices then that's another story).

What you have to do is ensure that the Windows was installed on a virtio HDD and the NIC, video, etc all uses the virtio drivers.

Do though respect the EULA --ONLY ONE copy of Windows allowed for that particular license so only run it on ONE machine and close down if running on another.

I do find this useful though when testing different Windows builds without always having to bother about re-activating stuff because I'm moving them between computers often with quite different Host hardware.

Ms please alter your licensing so it's easier for people to do decent testing in home / small business computer lab setups.

Cheers
jimbo