Windows 7, Bootcamp and VMWare Fusion 3

[jb60606]

I bootcamped Windows 7 Professional on my Mac Pro, on a separate hard drive.

I installed VMWare Fusion 3 on Snow Leopard to access the bootcamped Windows 7 and now it prompts me, daily, to activate Windows. It says I have 14 days left.

If I boot into Windows, it says it is already activated. If I try to activate it in Fusion, using the same key, as expected it tells me that the key is already in use.

1.) Does anyone know a way around this? If I lose access to 7 in Fusion, I'm screwed, as I need access to both OS simultaneously.
2.) Do you think this has to do with the fact that I installed Windows 7 on a separate hard drive (**explanation below)?

I noticed that if you install Windows/Bootcamp on a separate drive, VMWare Fusion loses track of it after you reboot the physical machine. If you keep rebooting it, it'll eventually find the bootcamp drive/partition again.

 

[Quad5Ny]

I bootcamped Windows 7 Professional on my Mac Pro, on a separate hard drive.

I installed VMWare Fusion 3 on Snow Leopard to access the bootcamped Windows 7 and now it prompts me, daily, to activate Windows. It says I have 14 days left.

If I boot into Windows, it says it is already activated. If I try to activate it in Fusion, using the same key, as expected it tells me that the key is already in use.

1.) Does anyone know a way around this? If I lose access to 7 in Fusion, I'm screwed, as I need access to both OS simultaneously.
2.) Do you think this has to do with the fact that I installed Windows 7 on a separate hard drive (**explanation below)?

I noticed that if you install Windows/Bootcamp on a separate drive, VMWare Fusion loses track of it after you reboot the physical machine. If you keep rebooting it, it'll eventually find the bootcamp drive/partition again.

Use the option to call and activate by phone, and activate while inside VMWare Fusion. Its a very quick process. Just make sure when asked you say its only installed on 1 PC, don't mention Boot Camp/Mac/Fusion.

After that's done, VMWare should save your activation and properly switch between its activation and Boot Camps(hopefully).

 

[robanga]

I am having the same issue with a Windows 7 copy and Fusion 3.0.

Why not tell the activation person that it is one machine with a partition and a VM? Does Microsoft expect you to license two copies in this scenario?

 

[jb60606]

Thanks Quad5Ny. That worked!

Robanga, activate over the phone like Quad recommended. It's a pretty painless automated service.

 

[panzer06]

I am having the same issue with a Windows 7 copy and Fusion 3.0.

Why not tell the activation person that it is one machine with a partition and a VM? Does Microsoft expect you to license two copies in this scenario?

Yes, ordinarily you are supposed to have a license for each physical and virtual version of windows. However I don't think ms really anticipated both physical and virtual sharing the same physical space.

Cheers,

 

[lawjef]

And vice versa?

I am trying to do the opposite i.e. I have Win7 running on VMWare and want to use Win7 on Bootcamp. Does anyone know how I deal with that registration issue? I can't seem to access the installed version of Win7 on my VMWare partition during the Bootcamp installation process. Thanks.

I'm hoping that Bootcamp might run faster than VMWare 3.0 because I don't need to access my Mac programs while running my PC applications. Might be a fool's errand.

 

[ayeying]

I am trying to do the opposite i.e. I have Win7 running on VMWare and want to use Win7 on Bootcamp. Does anyone know how I deal with that registration issue? I can't seem to access the installed version of Win7 on my VMWare partition during the Bootcamp installation process. Thanks.

I'm hoping that Bootcamp might run faster than VMWare 3.0 because I don't need to access my Mac programs while running my PC applications. Might be a fool's errand.

Why not have one install of Windows 7 on Boot Camp and link VMWare Fusion to use it whenever you're in the Mac side?

Boot Camp is "Dual Booting". VMWare Fusion is a virtual machine. No matter what, Boot Camp will be faster but the downside is it requires a restart.

 

[lawjef]

Why not have one install of Windows 7 on Boot Camp and link VMWare Fusion to use it whenever you're in the Mac side?

Boot Camp is "Dual Booting". VMWare Fusion is a virtual machine. No matter what, Boot Camp will be faster but the downside is it requires a restart.

Thanks, Ayeying - I have already installed Win7 on my VMWare partition. The problem now is that I cannot access that VMWare installation of Win7 when trying to install Bootcamp. I cannot reinstall the same Win7 licence a second time on the same computer (as far as I can tell). Agree with you on Dual Booting and don't mind the restart.

 

[balamw]

I cannot reinstall the same Win7 licence a second time on the same computer (as far as I can tell).

More details!

Which W7 edition and version (OEM, retail, retail upgrade, 32/64 bit).

What is stopping you from reinstalling? Error? Activation?

B

 

[jb60606]

nm

 

[balamw]

Correct me if I'm wrong folks, but VMware can turn a (bootcamped)physical installation of an OS into a virtual machine. It can't turn a virtual machine into a physical installation.

Almost.

Both VMWare and Parallels can either boot from (i.e. share with Boot Camp) or import existing Boot Camp partitions to a new VM (this is called P2V physical to virtual conversion).

Going from a virtual only install to a physical install (i.e. V2P) is not directly enabled or supported, but there are guides and third party tools to at least try it. http://www.vmware.com/support/v2p/

B

 

[jb60606]

Almost.

Both VMWare and Parallels can either boot from (i.e. share with Boot Camp) or import existing Boot Camp partitions to a new VM (this is called P2V physical to virtual conversion).

Going from a virtual only install to a physical install (i.e. V2P) is not directly enabled or supported, but there are guides and third party tools to at least try it. http://www.vmware.com/support/v2p/

B

I see. Thanks for the info. I'll remove my last post