Windows 8 VM Licensing

[egomeister]

Background: I have an old Win 8 Pro laptop running some obsolete software that is starting to creak a bit now, so I thought it prudent to reduce my risk by cloning it as a virtual machine so I could use it within my main W11 machine.

Somehow, despite complete lack of knowledge, I have successful done this using Hyper-V and now have a functioning virtual install apart from showing as unlicenced.

I have tried purchasing a cheap win 8 key but I can't get this to activate - and I'm starting to doubt whether its the key thats the issue or some other fundamental problem. As I understand it the VM requires a retail key as there is no hardware to tie an OEM one to? The key I bought is listed was listed as retail.

Does anyone have any insight or tips to resolve this?

[Hedobot]

If i want to run an old laptop as a VM i just take an image of it and load it up in Hyper V

Must have a few of them running now.

No licensing to worry about

Just download the virtual disk converter from microsoft.. its called disk2vhd

Edited by Hedobot on Sunday 7th September 11:25

[Chimune]

Did you do a physical to virtual conversion or install win8 fresh in a new vm ?

[JoshSm]

If you have a valid license key then try the Massgrave tools to activate it. They have various options to cover offline and obsolete products.

[ARHarh]

Or just don't worry about it, windows will still work fine without some numbers, especially as it has not been supported for some years.

[egomeister]

Chimune said:

Did you do a physical to virtual conversion or install win8 fresh in a new vm ?

Physical to virtual, as there is software installed that is no longer supported (doesn't install on Win10+, and the activation method also no longer works for a fresh Win8 install)

Imagine was done with Macrium Reflect, converted to a vhd on new machine, then accessed via Hyper-V

[egomeister]

JoshSm said:

If you have a valid license key then try the Massgrave tools to activate it. They have various options to cover offline and obsolete products.

I think I have a valid key... As I understand it the OEM key on the orginal install won't carry over as it's tied to the phyical hardware. I picked up a cheap Win8 Pro retail key from one of the CD Key type sites but Win8 is rejecting it with the error that the activation key has exceeded the unlock limit

[egomeister]

ARHarh said:

Or just don't worry about it, windows will still work fine without some numbers, especially as it has not been supported for some years.

Fundamentally I have no issue with this providing it doesn't cause a problem in the future - the main aim of going VM is to reduce the risks of old hardware failing, so if I replace that with a software issue that would suck!

[ARHarh]

It wont cause an issue, after all who is going to care. But what software are you using that requires such an outdated OS? So many more things to worry about than being licensed, running win 8.

[JoshSm]

egomeister said:

JoshSm said:

If you have a valid license key then try the Massgrave tools to activate it. They have various options to cover offline and obsolete products.

I think I have a valid key... As I understand it the OEM key on the orginal install won't carry over as it's tied to the phyical hardware. I picked up a cheap Win8 Pro retail key from one of the CD Key type sites but Win8 is rejecting it with the error that the activation key has exceeded the unlock limit

I think either key will probably work with the Massgrave tools in that case.

Your bought key has either been overused or maybe sold more than once but it's still real. Try the laptop one first though.

[Chimune]

I think i may have some old win8 pro retail keys somewhere. Ill see what i can find

[ARHarh]

Have you searched to see if the Microsoft backend will still validate a new install? I idid a quick search and got conflicting views. So maybe worth some research.

[egomeister]

I haven't. Every search I have tried for any question to do Win 8 has been giving conflicting info hence asking the wise heads of PH! It feels like a lot of this kind of info is being lost from the internet

I fear however, that my problems may be self inflicted... While the laptop has a nice shiny Win 8 Pro sticker on it, I'm not convinced thats actually whats installed. I don't remember ever changing it, but its an old machine and I have slept many times since it was set up.

Would explain the activation issues though - I'll see if I get chance to dig further later tonight.