Can Parallels 3.0 and Boot Camp share XP License??

J

jrlittlejr

Bit poster
OK... I apologize in advance if this in in the manual somewhere... I thought I've seen it before, but can't find it anywhere on this forum or the online documentation:

Can Boot Camp and Parallels 3.0 share a Single license for Windows XP Pro SP2?

I realize windows activation looks at various features of the machine it is installed on to prevent it from being installed on multiple machines. I've got a legal copy of XP Pro SP2. I don't want to install it in Boot Camp and then have that "use up my license" so I can't also run it in Parallels.

I've just purchased a MacBook and haven't installed Boot Camp or Parallels yet, but need them for some windows applications. I'm moving a licensed copy of XP Pro from my old windows machine, to my mac, so I know I'll need to "deactivate" that before I reactivate on the new machine. It is a full retail version of XP, so I should be able to move to new machine legally.

Thanks,
Jim
 
I believe the answer is no. But remeber this, when you call M$ for a new key, do NOT mention Mac or Parallels. Some of these foriegn tech folks get confused, just tell them it is a RE-install and you have it on only ONE machine. That is all they care about. Good luck.
 
Not sure if this answers your question. But I installed WinXP in bootcamp so I can run windows natively using my MBP's hardware and then I also use that same installed copy of windows in a VM session via Parallels that points to bootcamp. In this way I only have one copy of XP I have to maintain and any changes are reflected the same on each whether I am running natively via bootcamp or in a VM session via Parallels.

You must set you virtual MAC address in your parallels VM session configuration to match the real MAC address of your Apple's "en0" adapter. Otherwise everytime you switch between boot camp native or bootcamp VM, XP will report that your hardware has changed and ask you to reauthenicate you license.

When I moved my XP lic to my MBP orginally I did have to call MS and I just told them I was reinstalling on the same machine after replacing a failed HD... they were very helpful, no questions asked.

Hope this helps.

Tim
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twoods said:
Not sure if this answers your question. But I installed WinXP in bootcamp so I can run windows natively using my MBP's hardware and then I also use that same installed copy of windows in a VM session via Parallels that points to bootcamp. In this way I only have one copy of XP I have to maintain and any changes are reflected the same on each whether I am running natively via bootcamp or in a VM session via Parallels.

You must set you virtual MAC address in your parallels VM session configuration to match the real MAC address of your Apple's "en0" adapter. Otherwise everytime you switch between boot camp native or bootcamp VM, XP will report that your hardware has changed and ask you to reauthenicate you license.

When I moved my XP lic to my MBP orginally I did have to call MS and I just told them I was reinstalling on the same machine after replacing a failed HD... they were very helpful, no questions asked.

Hope this helps.

Tim
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Click to expand...
Hi Tim;
I had exactly the same thing happen to me. How do I set my virtual MAC address in my Parallels VM to match the real MAC address of my Apple's "en0" adaptor. I would greatly appreciate your instructions on this matter. Thank you.

Chilkateagle
 
Hi Chilkateagle,

1st determine your en0 mac address. Two ways to do this.

1) Open a console window and type "ifconfig en0" you will see something in the output that looks like; ether 00:16:cb:c9:da:54 (my example) or.....

2) You can open your "System Preferences" and select the "Network" icon. From there in the "show" drop down window select "Built-in Ethernet", click the "Ethernet" menu tab and you should see something like; Ethernet ID: 00:16:cb:c9:da:54

Armed with this info fire-up Parallels and after selecting your VM image (do not start it) go to the top Parallels menu bar and under "Edit" select "Virtual Machine". You should be looking at the "Configuation Editor" for your VM now. Select "Network Adapter 1" and then click on the "Advanced" tab top right. In the "MAC address" field replace the virtual mac address of the Realtek 8029(AS) with the real hardware mac address of your en0. i.e. 0016cbc9da54 omitting the colons.

That should do it.

Hope this helps!

Tim
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Thanks A Million Tim

TIM;

Thank you so much for your help. I followed your instructions and its like magic---I no longer get that stupid Windows XP activation window. I was down to my last activation when I saw your post--you are a blessing sir and I thank you again.

Hope you are enjoying your VM with Parallels. I like the program a lot; however, email replies and support from the Parallels team are greatly lacking and inadequate to say the least. Fortunately, there are people such as yourself on the forums that have been extremely helpful. Thanks again.

Chilkateagle
 
hmm, didnt work for me. I still get an activation warning saying I have 3 days left (which is odd because I installed XP last night in bootcamp)

tried copying the mac from en0 and en1 into parallels, neither seemed to get rid of the warning.
 
This is what i was looking for! I have couple of questions though:
- which networking are you using? Shared or Bridged?
- i use AirPort most of the time - should i still be using en0 (ethernet)?

Thanks.
 
Thanks a million for the info, it worked like a charm. Plus, I was about to bash my head against the desk if I had to contact Microsoft for another authorization code. I really feel like I can now go on with my life.

Thanks again!
 
Hello,

the point is that having to activate Boot Camp Windows twice (in native BC and in VM) is a known issue and unfortunately there is no known way to avoid it as hardware configuration under BC and VM really differs. But after two initial successful activations Windows shouldn't ask you for re-activation anymore unless you seriously change VM device settings.

It is great you've managed to solve the activation issue by yourself. Moreover, sometimes contacting MS is really necessary in this case. twoods, thanks for the solution provided!
 
John@Parallels said:
I suppose you need to check for MAC address in Windows XP and Network adapter for Parallels Desktop
Click to expand...

yup, did that. I immediately had to reactivate adobe cs products because i made the change to make them match, so that's a good sign i suppose. I guess we will see after a few days of operation...thx.

EDIT: it's just not working, this mac address fix. It did seem to help with Acrobat CS2, but Photoshop CS2 demands a repair activation whenever I go from BC to PD. Macdrive as well, but I don't really use that unless I am in BC, which is not very often.

And even if the fix did work, it's not a good one, as this changes the Ip of PD network adapter to something awful...so all my network presets get hosed on the lan. huh????
 
Last edited:
While listing to the podcast Security Now!, EPISODE:#144, DATE: May 15, 2008, TITLE: Listener Feedback Q&A #41, on page http://www.GRC.com/securitynow.htm, I learned of what may be at the root of the problelm you are having.

It seems that some Abobe and maybe other products are using using track zero for license compliance information.
A listner to the podcast reports "...Adobe Creative Suite 3 products, Acrobat 8 products, and many other <Adobe> products are affected..." and that "the next set of Adobe products will ship without using track zero for license compliance".

Maybe someone at Parallels can tell us how they handle track 0, and if applications storing data in the unused portions of track 0 would have problems.
 
mike-in-austin said:
While listing to the podcast Security Now!, EPISODE:#144, DATE: May 15, 2008, TITLE: Listener Feedback Q&A #41, on page http://www.GRC.com/securitynow.htm, I learned of what may be at the root of the problelm you are having.

It seems that some Abobe and maybe other products are using using track zero for license compliance information.
A listner to the podcast reports "...Adobe Creative Suite 3 products, Acrobat 8 products, and many other <Adobe> products are affected..." and that "the next set of Adobe products will ship without using track zero for license compliance".

Maybe someone at Parallels can tell us how they handle track 0, and if applications storing data in the unused portions of track 0 would have problems.
Click to expand...

thanks mike, that sounds very plausible to me. I have CS2 and CS3 suites for Adobe in windows, and you can tell the difference in the way they handle this, for example older macromedia-bought products have no problem, some versions of Acrobat work, but Photoshop CS2 and CS3 require repair activations when switching modes.

I think this has always been a problem, and shows up if you are restoring an image from a backup like winclone or acronis as well. But for virtualization, this needs to be fixed somehow.
 
Correct John, having the same MAC ID does nothing to help the Adobe repair activation problem, and causes other problems on the network. The prevailing theory is that Adobe uses something else to identify itself as being valid. Perhaps a boot record, but I have no idea really. Hoping this has all changed in CS4, which we will be upgrading to anyway. Thx,
coocoo
 
The Wiki entry containing detailed steps for setting up Windows File Sharing between your Mac and your Parallels Windows VM is a good way to do what you want.
Pay special attention to the part about USB drives, since that is also the technique you will use to get access to your Boot Camp partition.
Basically, after setting up Windows File Sharing, you create a Unix-style hard link (using Mac's Terminal app) somewhere in your home folder. When navigating your home folder from within the Parallels VM (using Window File Sharing), the hard link file will appear to be a folder, allowing you to access the drive that is linked via the hard link.
 
Worked for me!

Thanks for the info. . . It was driving me nuts. Another posting said that I could call Microsoft and ask for a "special" two computer activation. . . bogus.

The MAC address trick worked great.
 
Also worked

Thanks for this - this worked for me too.

An interesting side-effect :

- I use a MacBook with an additional larger screen monitor. Prior to making this change, the Parallels window (using coherence) only appeared on the MacBook screen (as the primary monitor). After making this change, the primary screen is now the larger screen monitor. This is good, but unexpected.
 
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