Re: who uses dual boot? [was: How to start using a free OS]
On 13/11/13 21:44, José Silva wrote:
> On 13/11/13 01:46, Scott Ferguson wrote:
>> On 13/11/13 11:59, José Silva wrote:
>>> On 13/11/13 00:26, Scott Ferguson wrote:
>>>> On 13/11/13 09:10, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
>>>>> On Tue, 2013-11-12 at 21:36 +0100, Alois Mahdal wrote:
>>>>>> 1.8GHz dual core and 4G RAM
>>>>>> attempting Win XP in VBox for even the most simple
>>>>>> tasks was a royal PITA.
>>>>>
>>>>> Then something is fishy.
>>>>>
>>>>>> (Also one reason to keep the Win in the dual-boot manner is that
>>>>>> I have a valid OEM license there, which I believe cannot be
>>>>>> migrated to VM.)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> That's incorrect - I've done (automated) many, many times successfully
>>>> with all versions of Windoof except the latest. Your biggest problems
>>>> will be support for external devices (USB/LP/Com/Firewire) and that's
>>>> determined by, correct settings, CPU support.
>>>>
>>> He probably has an OEM SLP license, married to a key in the original
>>> machine bios, which won't work in the VM because it obviously has a
>>> different bios that doesn't have the key.
>>
>> Please re-read my post.
>>
>
> You're absolutely right, I hadn't read your very detailed and lengthy
> post to the end. I'm sorry if I made you jump.
No apology necessary. I do the same thing frequently myself despite
trying not to. :)
>
>>
>>> I think there are ways of overcoming this, inserting the "key" in the VM
>>> bios, but I doubt it's legal.
Actually, I've never seen a key - just the name of the OEM.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> I know, I gave instructions to deal with that (for that reason).
>
> A couple of years ago I investigated this matter as an experiment and,
> although my memory is not as good as it used to be, I seem to remember
> that inserting the key (string) in the VM by setextradata(), inserts it
> in the DMI area which is only accepted by some machines to activate the
> license, as is the case of, if I remember well, hp and dell.
>
> But there are machines, I tested an asus, that are expecting the key
> string in the upper bios page, "0xf", that can't be reached by
> setextradata().
There are some tricks to that - I'd have to dig through my notes but I
vaguely recollect that happening with some EEEs I did a SOE for.
>
> So, in these cases, either you compile VB from source or you insert it
> by brute force. I did the later and it worked.
>
> It's easier in vmware player where you can replace the whole bios by
> config.
At the cost of having to use vmware.... :)
>
>> Are you a lawyer? Do you have reason why the qualified legal advice I
>> was given is incorrect? (read the bit about "unless you have a
>> developers license).
>>
>
> No, I'm not a lawyer, are you?
No. So if you act on my advice it won't serve as grounds for mitigation.
My indemnity insurance doesn't cover legal advice!
But we had one at the company I worked for where we moved a lot of
legacy XP machines into VMs and we consulted him *before* doing it (we
passed the subsequent software audits).
MS advised us to dispose of the machines (they believe you owe them a
license even after you remove the OS as the hardware came with Windoof
pre-installed even though we also had corporate *and* developer licenses
- they wanted us to use their emulator - which would require W7, we
weren't prepared to tell them we'd only be buying a handful of W7
licences and using Linux instead of thousands of W7 installs. But that
was more a negotiating tactic for license prices rather than an exercise
in deceit.
>
> Anyway, I said "I doubt" it. If I were a lawyer I would have said that I
> could investigate it,... for a price, of course. :)
>
>
>
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