Yet again: Parallels D(3188)/Bootcamp(1.2) and WinXPSP2 activation

Yet another activation problem... Ive been reading forums at microsoft and here, but I can't seem to find any sollution.

My story:
Bought an iMac - installed BootCamp and then my newly purchased WinXP pro. No problem installing and activation Windows.
Then I bought Parallels Desktop to be able to virtualize my boot camp partition in OS X.
Got some small problem getting Parallels to identify the right partition to boot from, but a quick edit in the configurations file (added " ;disk0s3" right behind "boot camp") and I was up and running. Parallels booted win Xp, and sure enough I had to activate windows yet again - and that was no problem, after a call to MS activation phonenumber.

But now when I boot directly into Windows using Boot Camp (EI not using Parallels) I aparently have to activate yet again... This would be the third time for the same installation. Am I doing something wrong?

I understand that the hardware profile under the VM and when I boot directly is different due to the way parallels work.

So my question is: If I activate WinXP under bootcamp again, will I have to activate yet again under parallels (and do that every time I boot "the other way 'round)?

I can't find anything about this issue in any official Documentation...

Thanks in advance
/Jesper

 

What you experienced is typical.

Once activated you should not need to activate again.
However, nothing is permenant except death and taxes

Good news: You can activate an infinite number of times. While I was beta testing Parallels cersion 1970 thru final, I must have reactivated over 40 times.

ajm

 

Sounds like you have a VLK version of Windows.

 

vlk doesnt require activation. you should only need to activate windows once for bootcamp and once for parallels. the hardware profile that parallels loads should remain activated after you initially activate.

 

After the amount I've read about this in these forums, I have a radical suggestion.
Be big about it, get another OEM of XP and have done with it. What's your time worth?

 

What then happened

So my WindowsXp pro was activated in Parallels but not in Bootcamp.
I then booted bootcamp and went through the activation process again, called MS' activation number, talked to a nice lady, and typed the numbers into the activation guide...
Now Im activated both places - She told me it wasn't a violation of the license, since Windows Runs on the same computer from the same partition and even the same installation...

So I guess if you wan't to have as little trouble as possible when activating windows in a bootcamp/parallels enviroment I suggest doing the following:

Install Bootcamp on your mac,
Boot the computer to run the Windows-installer and install on the bootcamp partition.
When done installing DONT activate (yet anyway)!!!.. install bootcamp drivers...
reboot into OS X
Run Parallels - create the VM to run from the bootcamp partition.
start the VM and let windows start up.
Then Activate windows from within Parallels
the shutdown the Windows VM.
close the parallels-application
reboot the computer into windows..
start the activation guide - call MS' activation number, tell the nice lady or man about what you are doing and you will get an installation-ID to activate Windows...


And now Windows should be activated on both parallels and bootcamp.

 

Hello all,

Can anyone confirm the last post here works? I'm stuck in the infinate activation loop here and before deleting my bootcamp partition and re-installing windows it would be good to know if this actually works.

Thanks in advance...

Bloody anoying activating windowz all the time as I use both bootcamp for games and Paralles for some office duties.

Rob.