Fresh Install of Existing Windows 10 VM?

[I Need a Drink]

I recently did the trial of Parallels 14 and installed a fresh copy of Win 10 to try it out. I used to use Parallels, but had switched to VirtualBox a few years ago because of the cost. However, I always found VB to be slower and clunkier than Parallels. Anyway, when using the trial it was so much smoother and faster than VirtualBox. I decided to order a copy of Parallels 13 from Amazon, since it was $25 cheaper than 14 and qualifies for a free upgrade to 14 anyway.

What I'd prefer to do is to install a fresh copy of Windows 10, rather than use a VM that has been changed over from VB to Parallels. On my Windows PC, I can simply download a copy of Windows and do a fresh install and it will activate automatically based on my hardware profile. I was thinking that I would import the VM to Parallels, call Microsoft if it dosen't activate properly and get them to activate the VM and then I wanted to start over fresh. Can I reinstall Windows in a VM, just like a PC and have it activate?

 

[campyguy]

If a fresh install is the way you want to go, keep in mind that you can DL Windows 10 from within Parallels Desktop. The Installation Assistant's process works pretty smoothly and whether you're buying a new license or have your own Product Key - the Win10 image file is DLed directly from MS.

 

[I Need a Drink]

What I would prefer to do is not import my VirtualBox installation at all and then install a fresh copy of Win 10 Pro in Parallels. Doing that, I don't know if Microsoft would active my existing copy in Parallels. They will probably activate the VM if I import it and call, because some internal numbers would likely match. I have reinstalled Windows 10 on a number of PCs over the past few years and because of the way Windows stores the hardware info, they automatically activate without any problem. I don't know if a VM would behave the same way if I import and call MS to activate and then immediately format the virtual hdd and install a fresh copy to the same vdd with the same hardware settings. I hope that made sense.

One other option that I thought of was to add my MS account to my existing Windows installation in VirtualBox and then install a fresh copy in Parallels and use the activation troubleshooter and log in on the new VM and claim that I made hardware changes to see if it will activate. It's not like that isn't basically true anyway. I'm just changing "virtual" hardware rather than physical and it's still on the same Mac. That might work as well.

 

[campyguy]

I'll offer a reiteration of my OP. The option to DL and install Win10 in PD is a "clean" install. What you'll need to do is, in Windows 10, is designate not importing settings from any other installations. For instance, I still use a Win10 ROM-based installation of Windows Phone (Lumia 640) - I had to set up both my PD Win10 Pro VM and my Lumia installation to "not" coordinate settings and layouts upon installation.

Windows 10 permits one to either sync per-app or per OS-workspace settings. I have a personal set of app/OS settings that I sync with a PD VM and my Lumia 640, but that's the way I want it. I also set up "clean" VMs - I've got 50-odd employees - that are exactly the same as a clean Win10 install on a PC, and I've been doing this for WinXP, Win7, Win8/8.1, and Win10 (all 64-bit "Professional" versions FWIW but this shouldn't matter). With Win10, I make sure that any existing installations (IOW, if a previous username is used) are set up to *not* sync workspace/app settings (set up in the relevant MS account), and I get a clean installation with either a VM or a PC installation. I've followed this path since PD 6 and WinXP through to PD 14 and Win10 and on Windows boxes - my goal is to have a clean installation on any new VM or Windows box, I really, hate dealing with the Registry FWIW...