Clean install of Windows 10 Pro in VMware Workstation 16 to keep acti?

Rahulji said:

Hello,
I installed W10 Pro in Workstation Pro 16 year ago, then upgraded guest machine to Win 10 Pro (client edition) 20H1 and later to 20H2. I want to install incomming 21H1 also but make a totally clean / fresh installation.

Serial I used to install and activate my guest OS (Win 10 Pro) was from my work. It is possible somehow deactivate activated Win 10 Pro in guest virtual machine and use the this same serial in a new installation?

Welcome to Ten Forums.

A VM is like any other machine, it's activation is by a digital licence stored on the Microsoft activation servers and linked to the unique hardware ID of the machine. Virtual or physical makes no difference - all machines have their own unique ID. The hard drive (virtual or physical) plays no part in this ID, so you are free to replace it with a new one.

Never, ever delete a VM that you have activated. That is like destroying a physical machine, you'll never be able to use its digital licence again.

If you do a clean install to the same VM and skip entering a key, then it will activate from the machine's existing digital licence. A VM has one distinct advantage over a physical machine, in that you can save it's ID and apply it to a new VM. See this post....

If you want to be able to keep your activation status on a newly installed VM, this is super easy to do in VMware...

Question about licence/activation on a VM - post #14