MS Virtual PC......WinXP licensing issues....

I have just installed MS Virtual PC on my Windows XP Home pc. I only have one copy of Windows XP Home, and I installed it on the vm. (testing a XP Slipstreamed .iso). Can I use the same licence on the virtual machine? Windows says I must activate within 30 days. What do I do? (Should I activate Windows on the virtual machine also? Please advise.

How do you secure the Virtual Machine? Do I have to install a firewall also on it? I have installed an antivirus and mbam and have set the Windows firewall on. Can malware on the virtual machine infect the host operating system? How do I set it up so that malware does not jump to the host system?

Thanks

According to Microsoft each VM is a seperate machine - and needs its own licence.

According to Microsoft each VM is a seperate machine - and needs its own licence.

Thanks, Chris. I just wanted something to infect and practise my removal skills on. I guess I will lay off the VM's until I can afford another licence.

I'm totally new to Virtual Machines so I have couple of questions about activation etc.
So just expanding on this a little. If I was to create a VM then activate a copy of Windows, do what ever I want to do with VM then remove it. I then create a new VM, load Windows with the same disc. Does that mean the product key is no longer valid?
I'm just wondering how the teachers get around this especially with live practice logs. Do you just not activate windows & do what you want to do within the 30 days & then remove it?
Don't get me wrong, I DO NOT want to do anything illegal here. Just need some clarification.
Thanks
John

By the way, will be using MS VPC'07, Host OS Vista Home Premium ( yes I know it's not supported), guest OS will probably be XP Pro

What I do is install windows for the 30 free days, usually only takes me a few days to test the malware/etc. Then after 30 days, I just delete the VM and remake it.

Thanks Mike

That's what I was considering doing, otherwise it would seem to be a very expensive exercise

Any other thoughts on the subject?

Well I think if you buy a licence, use it, reformat, the key will still work.

Think of how many people reformat their computers; they don't need to buy new licenses.

"ChrisRLG" wrote:According to Microsoft each VM is a seperate machine - and needs its own licence.

Yeh I did think about that but Chris's quote above makes me think that might not be possible. I mean when reformatting your loading the OS onto the same machine whereas creating a new VM is totally new machine, is it not?

Yes,

If you have 2 "computers" a normal one and a VM, then you need to buy 2 licences; one for each.

What Chris means is that a VM counts as it's own computer.

What you do to to keep from having to keep reactivating is to make your virtual machine in a good state, activate it and then save it. For MS Virtual PC, you make a copy of the virtual drive and save it somewhere safe. Then you can do what you need to and when the time comes to start over, delete the virtual drive you used and make another copy of the one you saved. It's the same computer and installation, so no need to reactivate. For VMWare, make a good clean snapshot at the beginning and make a branch off of that for newer updated clean snapshots. You'll need lots of HD space, since that's what virtual machines love to eat up.