Windows XP OEM licensing on a VM

[Berg0]

I read through licensing STICKY but I have some lingering questions. We have recently started purchasing more and more Mac Pro workstations, and have a few users who would like to use VMware fusion for a windows XP VM for certain work (sometimes we don't want t burn a server 2003 MSDN license for it). Has anyone ever spoken to a Microsoft rep about purchasing Windows XP Pro OEM COA/disk for this purpose? would a person really still have to buy "required hardware" if it's going in a virtual environment? Could a copy of VMware Server, fusion, or something like virtualbox count as hardware?

 

[SJConsultant]

Microsoft's hardware requirements are very specific and no "software" will count as your hardware purchase.

OEM XP in vm environments isn't a viable option for a couple reasons;

1. OEM licenses are "legally" tied to the first computer it is installed on, meaning, if you install the OEM license in a virtual computer, as per the EULA, that license is used and you are not supposed to transfer the license to any other machine (virtual or physical).

2. OEM licenses require activation which may cause more grief since VM hardware can change more frequently if your users have a tendenacy to change virtual hardware.

If you have access to MSDN for Server 2003, then you should also have access to XP which comes with a bundle of XP licenses for testing and development purposes. You may even have a volume license which would be more suitable because it won't prompt for activation.