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Windows 7 Ultimate edition on my corporate laptop no longer genuine after P2V migration...

I tried slui utility but it did not help. It asks me to either enter / buy a new key or contact Dell representatives.

I have a Windows 7 Ultimate. I am afraid the Win could be bound to the hardware (Dell Latitude E6420).

After P2V conversion there is a label on my desktop in the bottom right corner saying:

This copy of Windows is not genuine

Any ideas if a change to the VM / its configuration could help (I am using VMWare Player 5.0.2 build-1031769 on Fedora 19 x64 Linux)?

Something to do inside the VM in Win to solve the problem?

EDIT: here is the problem:

Error Code: 0xC004F057 Error Text: The Software Licensing Service reported that the computer BIOS is missing a required license.

(found out thanks to MS Toolkit/EZActivator)

EDIT2: SOLUTION: the problem was solved by using an external SLIC 2.1 enabled Dell BIOS ROM with the VMWare Player used to run my Win 7 box. I found out that my Win is OEM with the distribution channel set to OEM_SLP.

In the beginning I hoped to use the original Dell A16 BIOS from the physical machine dumped to disk but it seems that the VMWare (Player v5) has no support for Ami Optio type BIOSes. So I had to get another Dell BIOS file.

Solution steps: 1) download VMWare Mega BIOS Pack v2 2) choose a Dell SLIC 2.1 enabled BIOS rom 3) copy the file into the vm machine folder 4) add this line to the machine.VMX configuration file: bios440.filename = "<BIOS filename>" 5) problem solved

The Windows 7 detects the Dell SLIC BIOS and activates itself again.

PS yes, probably I am violating the terms of the Micro$oft OEM license and I don't give a s... It is definitely not my choice to use the MS-produced crap.

user2433984
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    By converting your physical machine to a virtual machine you made a hardware change (in the virtual instance of Windows) significant enough to trigger activation. If your laptop came from Dell with Windows 7 pre-installed then that license is tied to the laptop and is not transferable. You'll need to either purchase a new license for the virtual instance or you need to destroy the virtual instance. – joeqwerty Aug 20 '13 at 13:32
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    I would run sysprep on the physical before performing P2V if you're going to keep running the P while you run the V. – MDMoore313 Aug 20 '13 at 13:37
  • I remember our admin always installs the system on laptops, the laptops come completely blank - it's definitely a corporate licence for both Win and Office. Nonetheless, I think that our corporate Win7 installation media are per laptop class - perhaps it uses the SLP activation – user2433984 Aug 20 '13 at 19:05
  • off-topic? I though it's about p2v migration vmware and win-7 with impacts on system administration... anyway, I will edit the post and add a correct solution to the problem – user2433984 Aug 28 '13 at 18:07

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First of all you should determine which licensing type your'e using. If you have OEM version of your Win7 then yes, it is bound to hardware and it is illegal to use it elswhere. If you have a "box" version you can use it in vm, but it's still can only be installed on one machine (physical or virtual). If you have a real corporate licensing type (Opel License, for example), you should contact you system administrator for help.

OEM and box versions mean you should have a sticker (type of license stated there) with a cd-key and if you have box version, try activating your copy over internet. If it fails - call to local microsot call-center.

strange walker
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  • Anyway, this is the problem: Error Code: 0xC004F057 Error Text: The Software Licensing Service reported that the computer BIOS is missing a required license. The above output comes from the MS Toolkit/EZActivator. – user2433984 Aug 20 '13 at 19:06
  • If the problem is really the default BIOS provided by VMWare then the fix should be relatively simple. I will try to use an original Dell BIOS with the VMWare (see the topic at (https://communities.vmware.com/thread/28149) ) so the next two steps are: 1) digging the original DELL L6420 BIOS from a firmware update and 2) making the BIOS file work with VMWare player (.vmx file needs a modification) – user2433984 Aug 20 '13 at 19:08
  • Just to make it clear: most likely you are violating microsoft license agreement and consequences can be very bad both for you and your company. I strongly advise contacting your system administrator and solving this issue with him – strange walker Aug 20 '13 at 19:23
  • you are right, strange walker, better safe than sorry, I will write an email to the admin. – user2433984 Aug 20 '13 at 19:36