how to activate PC created by Transporter from Virtual PC vhd?

I used to use Virtual PC to run an XP machine on my G5. Now I have an Intel Mac which won't run Virtual PC so I bought Parallels and converted the old VPC machine into a Parallels one using Transporter. Works like a charm. But, it's asking me to "authorize" (or activate or whatever) the XP version in 3 days. Can I use my original activation code from the VPC package (given that that virtual machine is now dead and won't be run again)? or is there a different solution? I've searched on-line and there are some instructions for creating a new Parallels virtual machine from scratch using some steps on a real PC and a Virtual PC XP disk. I don't have a PC, and I'm using an existing virtual XP machine, not making a brand new one. Do I have any options other than buying another XP disk?

Mike

 

Not an expert for sure, but your old code should work fine. If you have a problem, tell MSoft that you are re-installing on a new cpu, and they should be fine with it.

 

If your old XP license was a "Full" version, you should be able to call Microsoft and have them activate it. If your old copy was an OEM version, it may not be portable to new HW.

Also, it couldn't hurt to use your old activation code and try it...but you'll probably end up having to call Microsoft.

 

I just did the activation online. I didn't have to enter a code or anything. The whole exercise seemed kind of pointless, but it worked. In fact, I've done this with two VMs using the same copy of XP, and it didn't raise any issues.

This presupposes, of course, that you can get networking to work.

 

thanks!! You were absolutely right - I didn't have to enter anything at all, and it works perfectly.

 

You're welcome.

I think it might be worthwhile to post a sticky message about this. A lot of people are running into this, and it's causing a lot of consternation. I think a lot of people assume that Microsoft wouldn't approve of this use of their software, and maybe they wouldn't, but as we've seen, software activation is a non-issue.

How do we get something stickied here?