Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14393 for PC and Mobile  

I can categorically confirm the new Redstone version does allow digital licences to be transferred between vms at least

Easy to try if you have a spare key.

Create one vm with 14393 and activate with spare key.

Create second with 14393 and use activation trouble shooter to transfer digital licence.

Works fine.

I have no reason to believe it will not work the same with physical machines.

There is an interesting restriction ie you cannot transfer digital licences between a vm and a physical machine.

Of course, forum rules do not permit me to discuss what happened to licence on original vm but suffice it to say it was interesting ;-).

Also worth reading this thread if you dual boot with two digital licences.

Linking digital licences to MS Account. - Windows 10 Forums

simrick said:

In the license terms you agree to when installing W10:

cereberus said:

I can categorically confirm the new Redstone version does allow digital licences to be transferred between vms at least

Easy to try if you have a spare key.

Create one vm with 14393 and activate with spare key.

Create second with 14393 and use activation trouble shooter to transfer digital licence.

Works fine.

I have no reason to believe it will not work the same with physical machines.

There is an interesting restriction ie you cannot transfer digital licences between a vm and a physical machine.

Of course, forum rules do not permit me to discuss what happened to licence on original vm but suffice it to say it was interesting ;-).

Also worth reading this thread if you dual boot with two digital licences.

Linking digital licences to MS Account. - Windows 10 Forums

Ok, thanks for the confirmation, can't rep here, but it was in my thoughts, all doubt is now gone:)

Geeks, keep in mind that all virtual machines on same host have the same hardware signature.

Activating Windows on several virtual machines with same key or transferring activations on same host is exactly the same than installing same windows and using same key on dual boot on your host.

Kari said:

Geeks, keep in mind that all virtual machines on same host have the same hardware signature.

Activating Windows on several virtual machines with same key or transferring activations on same host is exactly the same than installing same windows and using same key on dual boot on your host.

I do not think it works exactly like that with digital licences as far as I can tell.

This post is based on VMWARE installs.

If you create a vm and activate it with a valid 7/8 product key, you get a digital licence for that vm, tied to that VMs "virtual mobo" id.

I am pretty sure the "virtual mobo" id is not the same as the hardware signature, but as nobody knows how mobo ids work, no way to prove it other than observation of what happens as follows:-

When you create a second vm, and install windows 10 without a key, it does not activate - thus the "virtual mobo" id must be different.

Additionally, if you copy a vm, stating it has moved, the installed windows 10 remains activated ie the "virtual mobo" id is unchanged.

If you copy a vm saying it has been copied, the installed windows 10 becomes unactivated ie the "virtual mobo" id must have changed.

So a second VM is not like a dual boot - it is like a totally different machine.

If you create a dual boot option in original VM, it does activate automatically (ignoring EULA issues) as the "virtual mobo" id is the same.
This is identical to dual booting on host and I know this works (you may recall some posts on this).

The key (pardon the pun) question is if the VM is transferred to another PC stating it has been moved (not copied), does the "virtual mobo" id change? Unfortunately, I only have one pc capable of virtualisation to test it, but I am guessing it would work ok. If not, the new activation troubleshooter should work anyway.

You have good points there. This Windows 10 activation stuff is almost as difficult to understand than women!

Kari said:

You have good points there. This Windows 10 activation stuff is almost as difficult to understand than women!

She's watching you!

Kari said:

You have good points there. This Windows 10 activation stuff is almost as difficult to understand than women

I am expecting a regular lady poster to bite your head off for that!

f14tomcat said:

She's watching you!

In my books she is a good guy!

cereberus said:

I am expecting a regular lady poster to bite your head off for that!

I was mostly referring to my ex-wives 1 through 4...

Kari said:

I had saved one Windows 7 Professional N product key to test how well Digital Entitlement works in case of rolling back to Windows 7 after upgrade, then upgrading again after the free offer is gone.

Upgrading that machine as we speak, will then roll back to 7 before tomorrow night and try to go back to 10 sometime next week. Not a big deal if I lose the key but it should work.

If it works I intend to test if it works continuously, upgrading and rolling back as long as I can. I am doing it on a Hyper-V vm, it will be easy to roll back and upgrade daily.

I have now upgraded to 10 twice, rolled back to 7 twice, no issues. Both 7 and 10 activations remain every time. After last roll back to 7 I booted with W10 install media, wiped the HDD empty and clean installed 10 skipping the product key. That was automatically digitally activated.

I will continue playing with this after the free upgrade offer has been ended, to see if that changes anything.