# vista activation on parallels



## yzman (Jun 3, 2003)

hi guys

not sure if this should be here or there is a better place but my question is as follows:

i got an imac recently, and bought parallels and vista with it.
everything was setup fine on it and it works great.

i just got the new macbook pro, and was wondering if i copy the parallels virtual machine completely onto the laptop if it will still work perfectly like it should in terms of licensing...

I guess what i am asking is I assume it should be fine, and i am fine with doing this with one license because i will never use both computers at the same time, but my question is if that is possible then from microsoft's point of view you would be able to just activate one virtual machine and then copy it many many times...

any idea?


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## namenotfound (Apr 30, 2005)

If the Macbook pro has different hardware (and I'm sure it does, being a notebook and all), Vista may have a problem. It checks with the hardware when doing the license thing.


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## yzman (Jun 3, 2003)

thanks... makes sense... but since i already activated, are you saying it would detect the new hardware and realize it should attempt to activate again?

also if that is the only variable then would it mean as long as the hadware is the same you can duplicate as many virtual machines as you want with one license?


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## namenotfound (Apr 30, 2005)

yzman said:


> thanks... makes sense... but since i already activated, are you saying it would detect the new hardware and realize it should attempt to activate again?
> 
> also if that is the only variable then would it mean as long as the hadware is the same you can duplicate as many virtual machines as you want with one license?


To the first question: Yeah it will ask for the activation key on the new computer.
To the second question: maybe, but I honestly have no idea if it would work.

No matter what computer you install it on, it will always ask for the activation key. What happens is after you type it in, it checks online to see if the previous key you entered, in combination with the hardware you entered it on, is the same. If it is, it accepts the key (this is so you can re-install the software on the same computer after a crash)

There are some versions of Windows, like the "Student and Teacher edition" of Windows XP, that allows you to install it on multiple computers. This is because in those versions, you enter the key and that's it, it doesn't check online for verification. This is also how older obsolete versions (like Windows 98) worked.


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