I've never used VirtualBox before. I'm expecting that installing a Windows 10 instance will require a license key, correct? If so, can my current Windows 7 license key be used? If I use it there, and I ultimately decide to upgrade my Windows 7 installation to Windows 10, will that cause any problems? Will I need another license key?
Thanks.
That depends. Yes, you need a license for Windows 10 to run it in a virtual machine. In order to activate Windows 10 using a Windows 7 product key, the Windows 7 product must not be blocked from online activation. If the Windows 7 product key is blocked from online activation, then you need to install Windows 7 and activate it over the phone. Once you have activated Windows 7, then you can upgrade that to Windows 10 to gain a digital license for Windows 10 for that particular VM.
It's no different then doing the same thing on a physical computer.
I probably should have provided more detailed info.
I am running Windows 7 Pro. I tried upgrading to Windows 10 but ran into some issues and ultimately reverted back to 7. During that time, the Windows 7 license was used to upgrade to Windows 10.
Instead of upgrading back to 10 again, I've decided that VirtualBox + Win 10 should meet my needs for now.
Can I use my same Windows 7 Pro license that I had previously used to upgrade it to Win 10, for a VirtualBox Win10 instance given the Win10 upgrade didn't work out and I reverted?
If I do that, and later want to scrap the virtual Win10 and upgrade my Win7 desktop to Win10 again, will I need a new license to do so?
Thanks.
Mike
Anytime you run a separate installation of Windows, it requires it's own license. Assuming you have one license for Windows 7 Pro and that license is being used on the physical computer, you would need a completely separate license to run Windows 10 in VM. You cannot use the same Windows 7 license on both the host computer and a VM. One installation of Windows per license, regardless of if it is on physical computer or in VM.
Here is a quote from the Windows 10 End User License Agreement:
(iv) Use in a virtualized environment. This license allows you to install only one instance of the software for use on one device, whether that device is physical or virtual. If you want to use the software on more than one virtual device, you must obtain a separate license for each instance.
Got it. Thanks for the clarification.
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To tack on another dumb question ...
Specifically, I need Win10 to run the latest Turbotax software. So, my entire reason for the virtual Win10 will be exclusively for running Turbotax to complete my taxes.
This should work fine, right? Running Turbotax on a virtual Win10 is no different than running it on a physical Win10, right?
There should be no issues with running TurboTax in a VM. Be aware of where you save files, though. If you save files on the virtual drive, those files will be lost if you delete the virtual drive.
Yup - totally understood. I will set up bidirectional copy/paste so I can copy the files off of the virtual environment.
And one last question for the moment ... given it is a virtual environment, I can continue to work in my physical Win7 environment while whatever things are going on inside the virtual environment ... and any "restarts" needed inside the virtual environment are entirely virtual restarts and thus no physical restarts will be required ... is this a correct understanding?
Thanks.
in the VirtualBox walkthrough over here -
Install Windows 10 Virtual Machine in VirtualBox
It suggests to choose VHD / Virtual Hard Disk as disk file type. I've seen others recommend to use VDI / VirtualBox Disk Image - any major differences?
Also - fixed size vs dynamic - does fixed provide better performance? It sounds like fixed makes sense if I know I am using this for limited use. Any downside to using dynamic?
On Hyper-V virtual machines I've always used VHD dynamic virtual disk files.
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