Windows 10: V2P Tutorial needed!!

Hello,

Have a few "retail" Win-7 licenses that I need to upgrade to Win-10 before Microsoft yanks free upgrade.

Was looking at creating VMs with Win-7, upgrading these VMs to Win-10 and then use V2P to move these VMs to physical boxes.

Wondering if this is possible and if yes, then how to best start the process.

Would like to avoid having to associate all the VMs to my Win-10 account for a hardware change method that I've seen on this forum.

Was hoping that since these VMs do not have any applications etc. it might be easier to move them to physical units but did not see any step wise tutorial on the web. VMWare does have a documentation but was wondering if anyone has followed that and had any issues that I should keep in mind.

Thanks for your assistance.

:)

 

Nokia x6 tutorials needed .

To transfer themes, programmes, apps, video or photo's to your X6, connect your phone in mass storage mode to computer and open E, right click and create a new folder (as many as you like) name them Themes, music etc, then drag and drop what you want onto
the phone, themes into themes folder, music into music folder, apps into apps folder etc. Safely disconnect the phone, check in messaging> Options> Settings> Other that memory in use is E Mass memory ( it reverts to C after being connected in mass memory mode)

Now go into Office in applications, open File manager, select E mass memory and the folders you created will be there containing whatever you dropped into them, tap on a theme, phone will ask if you want to open it say yes and theme will install (same for
any application you put on). Ignore any warnings and once installation complete, go to settings, themes, general, find the new theme, tap it and it will be applied to the phone.

If you have a problem with installation, go to application manager, installation sett, and select All for Software installation and off for Online certificate check.

Good Luck

 

Nokia x6 tutorials needed .

Select Menu > Settings and Personal > Themes

 

I think you can do this using Sysprep.
Upgrading now is not necessary - your W7 keys will activate the W10 installs, as long as they are the same (Home/Pro).
Have a read here:
Windows 10 Image - Customize in Audit Mode with Sysprep - Windows 10 Forums
I'm not exactly sure of the steps, so questions should be asked in that thread, after reading and watching the videos.
Hope that helps.

 

I thought that the free upgrade expires on July 29, 2016 and after that date, even W7 Keys will need to pay for Win-10 upgrade.

 

In this specific case the sysprep process, preparing install image on vm will not work.

Deploying a prepared Windows 10 image to a PC which now has Windows 7 installed does not apply for a digital entitlement. The PC must first be upgraded from 7 to 10 using normal upgrade methods.

As I have understood the OP wants to use the free upgrade offer. No V2P (Virtual to Physical) solution will work for the this.

Upgrade now before 29th of this month, you can clean install using your Windows 7 key. Upgrade thereafter, you need to pay for Windows 10 license.

 

So, my plan to
1 - create VMs with Win-7,
2 - make backup of this template,
3 - activate Win-7
4- upgrade to Win-10
5-make a backup of this Win-10 VM
6-repeat steps to make multiple VMs

Then as needed, convert these VMs to physical machines cannot be done?

Thanks,

 

That changes the whole thing.

If your Windows 7 licenses are OEM, you can forget it. The OEM license would be tied to the hardware it is first installed and activated, in your case emulated virtual machine hardware. Totally impossible to transfer it to physical machine.

However, in case your licenses are Retail, you don't even need to install Windows 10. Install Windows 10 on a vm using Windows 7 product key (it will be accepted until 29th) and that's it. Create a system image (I recommend using Macrium) and restore the image on a physical computer when time comes.

To be sure Windows discards the vm hardware drivers and installs those correct to the physical hardware, I would do one extra step. My workflow would be like this:1.) Clean install Windows 10 to a vm using Windows 7 product key

2.) When finally on desktop, run Sysprep to generalize the image (from elevated Command Prompt):
Code: %windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe /shutdown[/quote]
3.) When vm shuts down after successful Sysprep, boot it with Macrium Rescue boot disk and create the image. Image is now generalized, in other words all hardware related information and drivers have been removed and when restored to another (physical) machine Windows will run the First Run procedure installing correct drivers
You will most probably need to use phone activation when image is restored to a physical machine, Windows activation telling you "This product key is used on another computer". Automated activation call asks you on how many computers this key is used, you answer one and follow the instructions to activate, to transfer the license.

Notice that when a Windows 7 product key is used to activate Windows 10, you cannot reuse it in Windows 7 on another machine.

 

Licenses are Retail. Assuming you meant that I don't even need to install Win-7, just install Win-10 and activate with Win-7 key. I think I might need to use the generic key the first time while installing win-10 and then enter win-7 key to activate or has this changed now?

3.) When vm shuts down after successful Sysprep, boot it with Macrium Rescue boot disk and create the image. Image is now generalized, in other words all hardware related information and drivers have been removed and when restored to another (physical) machine Windows will run the First Run procedure installing correct drivers[/quote]
Ok, need to grab one of your tutorials to image using Macrium. Is there one that you think is more suited for my situation?

Of course, cannot expect same key to be active on more than 1 pc at the same time. Phone activation is not an issue.

Thanks for your assistance in this.

 

You don't need any key to install. When installation asks for the key, select I don't have a product key and install normally. The do as told in this tip in one of our tutorials, the part relevant to you highlighted



Tip Starting in Windows 10 Insider Preview build 10565 and TH2 Build 10568:

Device activation improvements: Microsoft has received a lot of feedback from Insiders on making it easier to Change Product Key.

[/b]If you haven’t clean installation, you’ll need to enter a qualifying product key for Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 or buy a license in order to activate Windows 10.

Couldn't be simpler. Sysprep as I told in my previous post to make sure image is generalized, hardware independent. Shut down vm (using the example sysprep command I gave it shuts down automatically).

In vm settings change boot media to Macrium boot ISO / USB / DVD, or boot media from any other third party imaging software. Boot vm, make image, copy image to safe place. Another good choice for making images is EaseUS ToDo Free, for that I have made a few videos: Solved Windows 10 instructional videos by Ten Forums members - Page 98 - Windows 10 Forums

When time comes to install / restore the image on a physical PC, boot it up with imaging boot media and restore the image.

Two things to think when creating virtual machines for this purpose:

• If you create a legacy BIOS / MBR vm, the image will be legacy BIOS and can only be restored to legacy BIOS hardware. The same with UEFI /GPT
• An image created from a 40 GB virtual hard disk can be restored to a 1 TB SSD or HDD, and the physical partition then expanded, but an image created from a 512 GB virtual hard disk cannot be restored to a 256 GB physical disk. In other words, make the vm's vhd a bit smaller than the smallest possible physical disk you can think of ever restoring it to.

 

Hi there

Simple if you have Macrium assuming VMWARE VM's. You'll need the bootable ISO (to create image from within the VM) and a bootable USB / CD copy to restore the image to your target HDD.

Macrium (pro) allows restore to different hardware. Acronis might do the same - if it does steps are similar.


1) UNINSTALL VMWARE tools from the VM

2) Boot Macrium ISO from within the VM - you can attach external HDD for target image.

3) image it with Macrium to external HDD.

4) boot macrium from external USB drive / CD

5) restore image created in step 3 to physical HDD with different hardware option
You might miss a couple of drivers but windows will find in Windows update.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Thank you for your continued assistance. I guess I now have more questions than before

Ok, will do that. Install Win-10 on a VM and use Win-7 Key to activate. Will select 'Do not have key' initially while installing.

So, after running command, VM shuts down and I use macrium boot usb/iso to boot from OR will system re-start and I need to take some steps to use macrium boot/iso?

I have free Macrium Reflect but never used to create boot iso/usb/dvd. Will search on this forum to do that.


Can I create a macrium boot iso/usb from macrium reflect running on a Win-7 PC or do I need to create this boot dvd/iso from a Win-10 PC?

Exellent points. Since these VMs will be transferred to newer models of physical machines, I'd assume that I need to create VMs with UEFI/GPT.


In VMWare Workstation, do I get to choose what type of VM I'm creating? Or do I need to create these VMs on a Win-10 host with UEFI/GPT?


I'll keep the size to a minimum since these VMs would only have windows installed, nothing else.

 

Hi there

your reply is a bit confusing

I assume if you want a V2P you already have a VIRTUAL MACHINE image in some working format.

In this case if you don't have the vmware format simply download the vmware converter tools and convert to vmware format -- vmware player is FREE.

(The converter is also Free).

Download VMware vCenter Converter Standalone for P2V Conversion

Don't be put off by the fact it says P2V --it also works for V2V (Virtual to Virtual) -- after all there's nothing to stop you saying your "Physical machine" is actually a VM in a different format such as VBOX !!.

Then boot the VM, run macrium to image the VM FROM WITHIN THE VM and then restore FROM A STAND ALONE bootable system to your target HDD -- and re-boot the physical machine.

Not sure what the problem is --method works 100% on any Virtual machine I've tried to convert and run on a physical machine. Activation is another issue --you will need licence keys or W7/W8/W8.1 keys to activate the W10 system.

If boot fails ist time round simply run the windows installer (created from Windows media creator) and run repair system --normally not needed.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Funny I was about to state that for your first response.

I'm not sure if you looked at the original post. Could you please look at that and let me know what steps would I need to take. I do not have a VM already.

Thanks for your assistance.

 

If using the sysprep command exactly as I told, system will shutdown when ready. When done, change the boot device in vm settings to Macrium Rescue ISO and boot vm from that.

You can use Macrium in Windows 7 to create boot media.

Run Macrium, select Create Rescue Media from Other Tasks menu:




Change PE Version to Windows PE 10.0:







Accept defaults clicking Next and again Next in next dialog.

I always run it twice, once creating an ISO which I use to boot virtual machines with, once to create a USB rescue media to boot physical computers with:




Click Finish to create boot device (Macrium Rescue ISO and / or CD or USB drive).

I do not know VMware, being a huge Hyper-V fan that's what I use. As two hypervisors cannot work on same Windows setup, using Hyper-V I cannot even test VMware to see if I could advice in using it.

In Hyper-V the selection is made in New Virtual Machine Wizard. Generation 1 (highlighted green in screenshot) for BIOS / MBR system, Generation 2 (yellow) for UEFI / GPT system:

When creating vm keep the VHD size smaller than smallest physical HDD / SSD on physical machines you will deploy the image to.