OEM Vista now "not a genuine copy"?

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xpd2012

Bit poster
Windows Vista is running just fine on my Mac, but recently, upon start up, I receive a message prompting me to activate my copy. This windows is an OEM installation migrated over from an HP. There's a message in the lower right corner of the window advising that "This copy of Windows is not genuine." HP support directed me to a Microsoft link that upon downloading, advised that the update did not apply to this copy. MS support forums advised that no OEM would ever be a valid license on another machine because it's tied to the BIOS of the original machine.
OK, I'm not interested in fighting about this. I just want a valid Windows program and get on with it. I did buy a retail version and have an activation code. How do I go about installing it without messing up the stuff that's already on my VM? Or do I even need to? Windows seems to be functioning just fine as a non-genuine copy. Will I have problems somewhere down the road?
Thanks for any advice.
 
I think that a non-activated copy of Windows will stop working after a while, I believe that's 2 hours or so. It'll just shut down.
Indeed an OEM copy of whatever software is tied to the machine it was sold with. Whether that's a Good Idea is certainly a matter of debate but that's what we currently have to live with.
Unfortunately I don't know whether you can install do a fresh Windows 7 install over an existing copy. Frankly I doubt it. However, Parallels gives you the option to download a copy of Acronis True Image which will allow you to more or less clone your Windows install and port it to another drive (if I understood it right). I've never used that software but have read that people use it for migrating their software between Windows installs. Maybe it's an idea you might want to pursue.
 
Thanks, Shaddam IV. I have a retail copy of Vista actually. Most of us now buy computers with the OS installed so I would think this would be a common problem with running Parallels. Frankly, if I had it to do over again, I'd just run the one or two Windows programs I need on a laptop. This process has been a huge time suck and a pain in the...
 
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