Hey all,

 

So when I made the transition from ESXi to baremetal unRAID, I decided to ditch my Windows 7 VM on ESXi and start fresh with a new Windows 10 license on unRAID.  For whatever reason, I just couldn't get OVMF to work so I just went with SeaBIOS, but for my (headless) needs, it worked just fine.  Since the upgrade to 6.2, my VM performance seems pretty terrible.  Instead of troubleshooting (since I don't use my VM for all that much), I figured I can just ditch the existing VM and create a new one.

 

Here's where I need advice: assuming I can get OVMF working, what's the best method for reinstalling Windows 10 with my existing (OEM) license?  Create a system image via Windows, create a new Win 10 VM and restore via system image?  Just try installing again with my same license key?  Truth be told I'm not very familiar with MS since I transitioned to Mac years ago, so I really don't know how strict MS is with regard to OEM licensing and (re)activation.  I really just want to make sure that my VM is as optimized for 6.2 as possible.

 

Thanks for any insight you can offer!

Hey all,

 

So when I made the transition from ESXi to baremetal unRAID, I decided to ditch my Windows 7 VM on ESXi and start fresh with a new Windows 10 license on unRAID.  For whatever reason, I just couldn't get OVMF to work so I just went with SeaBIOS, but for my (headless) needs, it worked just fine.  Since the upgrade to 6.2, my VM performance seems pretty terrible.  Instead of troubleshooting (since I don't use my VM for all that much), I figured I can just ditch the existing VM and create a new one.

 

Here's where I need advice: assuming I can get OVMF working, what's the best method for reinstalling Windows 10 with my existing (OEM) license?  Create a system image via Windows, create a new Win 10 VM and restore via system image?  Just try installing again with my same license key?  Truth be told I'm not very familiar with MS since I transitioned to Mac years ago, so I really don't know how strict MS is with regard to OEM licensing and (re)activation.  I really just want to make sure that my VM is as optimized for 6.2 as possible.

 

Thanks for any insight you can offer!

 

Just reinstall and use the same key.  If after trying to activate you get an error, you will likely be prompted to contact Microsoft.  Explain the situation to them and that you're not using the OEM license on separate hardware, but instead, reinstalling it on the same hardware, but as a virtual machine.  They should give you another activation then.

Ok, thanks for the advice!  I didn't know if perhaps I could keep my current VM's unique identifier or something in order to help out the activation process, but a phone call isn't too difficult.

Ok, thanks for the advice!  I didn't know if perhaps I could keep my current VM's unique identifier or something in order to help out the activation process, but a phone call isn't too difficult.

 

Not yet.  It's a bit of a pain to even try.

Thanks again for your help, Jon!  Quick update--created a new Windows 10 VM, but kept the VM's network MAC.  It activated straight up without the need to phone in (no clue if keeping the MAC helped, but thought I'd mention it nonetheless).  Super easy!