[plug] [OTish] Qemu and XP activation

[Brad Campbell]

Chris Caston wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> As most of us would know Qemu is a very fast x86 emulator. I have been
> playing around using it to install and run Windows on a .img file inside
> my home directory.
> 
> I notice the Qemu has a set BIOS (taken from the BOCHS project) and
> emulates a specific set of hardware.
> 
> Now what would happen if someone activated Windows XP (online with MS)
> on this setup? Would it assume the VM hardware was the machines hardware
> and future attempts to activate Windows XP in other instances on Qemu
> (running on different machines) using the same serial number would
> recognise the hardware and assume it was the same machine?
> 
> Not that I would try to get around activation using this. The question
> is purely out of interest.

Probably. Because my company has about 4000 2k/xp desktops worldwide, our SOE includes the corp 
edition of XP that does not need activating. Works a treat under qemu, bar some peculiarities if you 
try and arc up the 16 bit VM (like to install Office97).

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