Windows 7 Good News for Office 2007 Users No re-activation request on W7

[jimbo45]

Hi guys
When doing an UPGRADE from VISTA X-64 to W7 X-64 the 2007 Office activation doesn't request re-activation (currently) so the OFFICE part of activation still thinks (presumably) that the hardware hasn't changed significantly.

This might not mean much to most users but if you want to create a number of Virtual Machines then you would normally run out of activations quite quickly.

I created my Base VM by booting Acronis Universal Restore from the Virtual machine I was creating (from a "Physical Image" and told the Acronis Universal Restore program to sort the changed hardware out (essentially doing a P2V - Physical to Virtual ) conversion.

Worked a treat -- The initial boot gives zillions of "New hardware found" messages but eventuallty it boots fine..

In the Unlikely event it BSOD's then just boot again (the Virtual machine) using the W7 install disk (not the image backup) and select repair system.

Now you can "clone" this VM as many times as you like without having to re-activate Office 2007.

Strangely enough Photoshop CS4 also didn't require re-activation either -- but I wasn't so interested in running Photoshop on a VM -- Office however is another matter.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[davehc]

The activation process is so quick, and a once only operation, so I have never looked on it as a hindrance.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi Davehc

It's not the actual activation process I was concerned about -- that's quick and even if you have to phone it doesn't take long .

It's THE NUMBER of activations that potentially could cause a problem -- If I want to try out say 15 different Virtual Machine configurations I'd be in real trouble if I had to re-activate Office / Windows again on each configuration.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[davehc]

Ok, Jimbo. Sorry, I only read the first sentence.
If I follow you correctly, you are using an Acronis image after the first upgrade?.
Of course, if you have ghost image of an activated product, you can reinstate it as many times as you like, complete with the activation. This applies to the main OS also.
But maybe you are on another track here?

 

[jimbo45]

Hi Davehc
Acronis is also like Ghost (actually a lot better) -- You don't have to re-activate a "restored activated image" again unless the configuration (in Microsoft's terms) has "Significantly changed".

Changing the OS normally counts as "a significant upgrade" as well as changing the motherboard or memory significantly so restoring a physical image to "Virtual hardware" (P2V conversion) using acronis Universal restore feature I was actually quite surprised it didn't want re-activation.

Incidentally I also changed a Motherboard from a Gigabyte GA GM31M-s2L with Core Duo processor E4500 to an ASUS P5QL-CM with a Quad processor Q9400 (both with 8GB RAM) -- guess what -- No re-activation prompt either - so it appears that the what triggers activation is "somewhat random". All my copies of Windows are Legal Licensed RETAIL copies -- no torrents, activation hacks or "Corporate group licensed" copies. I do have 2 copies of an Enterprise version of VISTA Business but I'm not using these during my testing of W7.

I changed the motherboard since the Bios wouldn't support enabling the Intel Virtualisation hardware even though both the Q9400 and the E4400 processors support it.

(If I can source a cheap motherboard with a Bios that supports Inten virtualisation I'll build another computer using the E4500 -- it's an OK processor as well and I've got "Enouggh hardware" bits lying around as well -- .

I do think however Microsoft need to cater for people using Virtual Machines -- when you get on to their "inevitable overseas call centres" the people at the other end don't have a CLUE about Virtual machines.

Cheers

jimbo

 

[davehc]

Thankyou for the INfo
I am a Technet + subscription member and Full partner.
All my MS software, although downloads, can be installed as many times as I wish, and activated. As Technet + software is planned for testing, my guess is they do not emphasise activation difficulties. - I might misunderstand your "All my copies of Windows are Legal Licensed RETAIL copies" There is no such beast in Windows 7. -Or perhaps you meant Office?
I am an Acronis user, I used the term "ghost" in its broader sense.
"Changing the OS normally counts as "a significant upgrade" " Don't know how you would restore an Acronis image if you were changing the OS.
fwiw. I don't use Virtual software for testing, as it leads, sometimes to false readings when making compaisons. If I leaned towards it, I would not feel the need to operate more than one such.