Windows 10: Questions about wanting to run Win7 WMC in VM under Win10

I currently have two Win7 desktop machines, both of which are Windows Media Center (WMC) enabled. They both have Ceton InfiniTV TV-tuner cards (which are cablecard-enabled for receiving copy-protected content from my cable company) and Hauppauge OTA/ATSC TV-tuner cards (for copy-freely broadcast network channels OTA/ATSC with roof antenna). Each machine is supported by four extenders (Linksys DMA2100) around my house and ethernet cable-connected to the HTPC, each extender having an associated HDTV connected via HDMI cable. There is also an external monitor connected to the HTPC via DVI cable, which satisfes HTPC and DRM requirements. So cable-provided premium and copy-protected content can be viewed live, recorded and played back directly on the monitor attached to the HTPC, and also distributed to each extender and for presentation on the attached HDTV.

Everything has been working perfectly for me in Win7 since 2010. One HTPC has a 2-tuner Hauppauge, and a 4-tuner Ceton, and the second HTPC has a 4-tuner Hauppauge, and a 6-tuner Ceton. Driver software for both TV tuner cards is provided from the manufacturer and has been operating stably forever.

I can continue to run these machines as long as they live, even when MS puts Win7 out to pasture in January 2020. But I am considering the idea of migrating this Win7 setup (including the two TV tuner cards from one of the HTPC's) over to a new Win10 desktop machine I have still in its carton. I am considering replacing one of my two Win7 HTPC machines with this Win10 machine, and running WMC under Win7 in a VM.

I have done some preliminary research and have read some reports about achieving varying degrees of success for such a project. Again, this isn't urgent and there's no rush. And I could just continue to run my secondary Win7 HTPC (which is not actually recording anything new, but is still in use "viewing down" my remaining library backlog of old copy-protected recordings which can only be viewed on this very Win7 HTPC). But I thought it would be interesting to see if I could actually get both TV tuner cards and their Win7 drivers properly operating under WMC in a Win7 VM.

I'm not interested in running a "hack" of WMC for Win10. I want to run legitimate Win7 WMC, in a VM on Win10, running 100% reliably and identically as how it operates right now on a genuine Win7 machine.

Anybody here have any experience trying this?

Note that I am a very experienced WMC user, and utilize 3rd-party EPG123 (and an annual subscription to Schedules Direct (SD) for underlying Guide data) as a replacement for MS's terrible Rovi EPG technology (which replaced ZAP2it several years ago as the WMC electronic Guide mechanism when the 10-year contract expired).

So I'm not concerned about MS's abandoning its Electronic Guide Data nightly updates in January 2020, which is of course crucial and vital for WMC to continue to operate. EPG123 and SD is light-years better than Rovi and the basic WMC Guide interface. I'm only concerned that the two TV tuner cards and their Win7 drivers may present challenges to get running in a Win7 VM.

I've also seen reports of issues with DRM, and getting PlayReady installed and running, which allows copy-protected content to be handled by WMC on machines that must meet certain hardware requirements, as confirmed through running Digital Cable Advisor (DCA). But there is a standard workaround to manually "force" the Registry entries equivalent to having "passed" the DCA test, allowing PlayReady to then be installed and usable. Use of this "workaround" is already commonly used as the DCA tests fail more and more frequently on new Win7 installs as support for WMC within MS has been decommitted, and there's no such thing anymore as a "support ticket".

And then there is concern about being able to view copy-protected content on the locally attached monitor (still connected with DVI cable), in terms of satisfying HDCP requirements through the VM interface. I don't think there will be a problem viewing copy-protected content through the extenders and their attached HDTV's, as that is just coming through the standard RDP session connections that extenders operate through to the HTPC. That should be unimpacted when operating through VM, but I guess I'll find out.

Bottom line: I'd like to succeed here, if possible. But if not, I can accept it and not be impacted. But if I could actually continue to run WMC in a Win7 VM, but be operating on Win10 and a hardware setup newer than Skylake, I think that would be great.

Thoughts?

:)

 

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I'm just wondering if the product key I purchased years ago for Win7 will still be valid if I reserve Win10 and install it?

Say for example I want to have Win7 on my main studio PC (as I know all my DAWs and VST plugins work on there perfectly), but also run Win10 on my other machine, would that be possible from the same key? Or would I void the Win7 key as soon as I reserve
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I rely on Win7 for work, so the last thing I want is to void my key for it.

I often reformat my system and I'd hate to do so then find out my Win7 key no longer works...

Thanks in advance!