Clone Vista into Virtual PC?

[Julian]

Can one legitimately (i.e within the terms of the EULA) clone the Vista
installation into Virtual PC (on the same PC as the licensed OS), if so how?
I have some applications I want to trial and I know (cos I tried it before)
that they don't sit well alongside the currently installed applications...
and I would rather like to minimise the uninstall - install - uninstall -
reinstall aggravation if at all possible.

TIA

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

Can one legitimately (i.e within the terms of the EULA) clone the Vista
installation into Virtual PC (on the same PC as the licensed OS), if so
how? I have some applications I want to trial and I know (cos I tried it
before) that they don't sit well alongside the currently installed
applications... and I would rather like to minimise the uninstall -
install - uninstall - reinstall aggravation if at all possible.

I make old OS installations into virtual machines all the time using Acronis
TrueImage Workstation (or Server) with the Universal Restore add-on. You
can also use it to move OS installations onto different hardware. I have
done this many time with XP and Server 2003, but now Vista. I have only
made Vista into virtual machines.

It is very useful to make OS installations into virtual machines so that you
can still refer to them, or extract little things like registry entries.
You can also consolidate old machines, like old servers, into one physical
machine.

If you go to the VirtualPC newsgroup, some other people use something
cheaper to do this, but I forget the name, but that tool does not seem to
reset the HAL (Hardware Extraction Layer) like Universal Restore does.

The new version of TrueImage is called Echo, which I have not upgraded to
yet. This is the info on the Universal Restore add-on:
http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATICW/universal-restore.html

ss.

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

Can one legitimately (i.e within the terms of the EULA) clone the Vista
installation into Virtual PC (on the same PC as the licensed OS), if so
how? I have some applications I want to trial and I know (cos I tried it
before) that they don't sit well alongside the currently installed
applications... and I would rather like to minimise the uninstall -
install - uninstall - reinstall aggravation if at all possible.

Oh, and as for licensing - I believe the Vista Ultimate license allows you
to install it as a virtual machine up to nine times, or something like that.
I am not sure how many times you can do it with Business, but as far as I
know, you are not supposed to use Home versions with it at all.

ss.

 

[John Smith]

if you find more info on this please post

also thanks for that acronis information... that one is a miracle program!
I have to try it at some point...

 

[Julian]

Thanks for the info...technologically yes, technically no with my current
OS... it's about time I bought Acronis anyway

Julian

For the benefit of anyone else perusing this thread...

The EULA says...

Basic/HP

4. USE WITH VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. You may not use the software
installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated)
hardware system

Ultimate

6. USE WITH VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. You may use the software installed
on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware
system on the licensed device. If you do so, you may not play or access
content or use applications protected by any Microsoft digital, information
or enterprise rights management technology or other Microsoft rights
management services or use BitLocker. We advise against playing or
accessing content or using applications protected by other digital,
information or enterprise rights management technology or other rights
management services or using full volume disk drive encryption.

[Of course determining whether an MS app or content is "protected by any
Microsoft digital, information or enterprise rights management technology or
other Microsoft rights management services" is why all PC users retain a
team of technology lawers...]

 

[MICHAEL]

Oh, and as for licensing - I believe the Vista Ultimate license allows you to install it as a
virtual machine up to nine times, or something like that. I am not sure how many times you
can do it with Business, but as far as I know, you are not supposed to use Home versions with
it at all.

Nine times? I don't think that's right, SS.
Maybe, that's the Enterprise version?

I remember some confusion about the EULA when it
came to this question.... I don't remember.

I'll have to some digging.


-Michael

 

[Charlie42]

versions with it at all.

Microsoft's own Virtual PC software will work on Home Basic and Premium,
it's just not supported by the company on Home editions.

Charlie42

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

Microsoft's own Virtual PC software will work on Home Basic and Premium,
it's just not supported by the company on Home editions.

It's not a matter of it not being supported. Home edition owners are not
licensed to use it, so technically it is illegal for them to use it.

ss.

 

[norm]

It's not a matter of it not being supported. Home edition owners are not
licensed to use it, so technically it is illegal for them to use it.

ss.

The eula states that one cannot "run" vista home premium within in a
virtual machine, not that one cannot run a virtual machine on it.
MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM
ADDITIONAL LICENSE TERMS. The following additional license terms apply
to Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium.
4. USE WITH VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. You may not use the software
installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise
emulated) hardware system.
As far as virtual pc goes, it is just a matter of the word "supported",
not the word "prohibited".

 

[DP]

I could be wrong, but I think the language I've seen on the virtual pc
newsgroup is that your copy of windows is licensed to run on ONE machine at
a time.
So legally you could not put it on a virtual machine at the same time,
because, even though virtual, it counts as a second machine.

 

[Val]

It's not a matter of it not being supported. Home edition owners are not
licensed to use it, so technically it is illegal for them to use it.

ss.

The eula states that one cannot "run" vista home premium within in a
virtual machine, not that one cannot run a virtual machine on it.
MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM
ADDITIONAL LICENSE TERMS. The following additional license terms apply
to Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium.
4. USE WITH VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. You may not use the software
installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise
emulated) hardware system.
As far as virtual pc goes, it is just a matter of the word "supported",
not the word "prohibited".

--
norm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Read that closely again - it does not say one cannot run VHP in a VM, just
that you cannot run the licenced copy on the real machine as a VM. If you
have a second VHP license, it can be installed to the VM.

Val

 

[norm]

The eula states that one cannot "run" vista home premium within in a
virtual machine, not that one cannot run a virtual machine on it.
MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM
ADDITIONAL LICENSE TERMS. The following additional license terms apply
to Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium.
4. USE WITH VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. You may not use the software
installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise
emulated) hardware system.
As far as virtual pc goes, it is just a matter of the word "supported",
not the word "prohibited".

Val wrote:
Read that closely again - it does not say one cannot run VHP in a VM,
just that you cannot run the licenced copy on the real machine as a VM.
If you have a second VHP license, it can be installed to the VM.

Yes, it looks that such is the case. It also looks that one can run
ultimate as a second instance in a vm. Thanks for the heads-up.