Windows 10: Can I use the same non-OEM licence in dual boot environment? W10 & Linux + VM?

Hello.


I have one PC with dual boot systems. One is licensed Windows 10 Pro, and second one is Ubuntu.


What I want to do is use my Windows 10 retail licence key in VM while running Linux.


I don't see any way this would break the EULA / ToS since I am the only user who uses it and its running on the same machine once at a time no 2 copies with same licence key are running in parallel.


From less official sources I know that it would be fine if the key would be deactivated every time on previously used host either VM or bare metal machine, but I've also heard of that when you do it too many times the key will be disabled and I would need to contact with Microsoft authority by using phone line to resolve that.

:)

 

Transfer OEM licence to VM on same laptop

Hello,

I purchased a laptop sometime ago with a Win 7 OEM licence and subsequently upgraded to Windows 10. All was good. About 1 year ago I added a Linux dual boot. I've found that I prefer working in Linux with the exception of one or two programs that are
Windows only. It's a bit of a pain to have to reboot to these Win 10 for these periodic needs, so my question is....

Can I uninstall Window 10 from my laptop and reinstall it (same laptop) into my Virtual machine (under my Linux OS)?

Thanks a million.

Cheers.

Bill McCollam

 

add linux dual boot to w10 system

First check to see if Windows supports dual-boot when one of the systems is not Windows. As best as I know it is not possible and I have tried to get the answer myself but that was a few years ago. As best as I know the only option is to use a Linux utility
to do the multi-booting.

If you did configure dual boot then how did you do that? If you are using a Linux/Ubuntu utility then you need to ask in a Linux/Ubuntu forum.

The suggestion to hold down the shift key while doing a shutdown might help but another option is to go into your system's BIOS while booting. The procedure varies depending on the BIOS but if you can get into the BIOS configuration then you can choose where
to boot from. Sometimes it can be a one-time choice but there should be a way to set the boot device priority so that it boots from whichever device/partition you select. That is
not a permanent solution but it will allow you a
slightly inconvenient way to switch where to boot from.

Also note that it is standard for a boot utility to boot whatever partition is marked active. There are Windows and Linux utilities to select which partition will be the boot partition.

 

Dual boot with linux: only linux boot

Hi Xelany

My name is Andre Da Costa; an Independent Consultant, Windows Insider MVP and Windows & Devices for IT MVP. I'm here to help you with your problem.

You should try repairing your Windows 10 installation using the following steps:

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/fix-windows-10...

If that restores Windows 10, use EasyBCD to add an entry for Linux mint:

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/dual-boot-wind...

Information in the above link is sourced from a trusted Microsoft MVP blog.