I thought about that, but I'm also concerned that it would write something to the drive/EFI side of things which wouldn't be in the new, pure, file-based VM with Win7. Plus, being a file-based VM, it's hardware would look different there too.
Still, it looks like ScottB1 already tried what I was suggesting and that didn't work either, so MS is tying it not just to the hardware, but to something on the actual install. When you do a boot camp native upgrade to 10, then go back and do a boot camp VM upgrade to 10, the latter trashes something on the disk of the former (you did just wipe the drive after all!) and it didn't work.
Back to square one.
Still waiting to hear what imacken did as is evident by his comment above...
Just like ScottB1 asked, I too am wondering if it was an upgrade or a Retail Win10 license.
BTW, I (*FINALLY* figured it out and) changed my user name in case you were wondering.
Last edited: Aug 12, 2015