You're right, it's licensed per machine. Using the same key on different machines is not legal. I stand corrected, thank you.
So if you use the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) to sysprep an image for installation, you could leave the entry for the serial empty and you will get prompted to enter a valid serial at first boot time. BTW: Using the ADK together with versions of windows that are already OEM might not be legal as well depending on the country. In germany it is legal to transfer OEM licenses to other machines. So making an sysprep of a windows OEM version (with or without including a serial) is legal to my understanding. That means you're allowed to install the same image on different machines and when prompted for the serial at first boot time, you enter a valid (and different) serial on every machine. To my information this is *not* legal in the US because you're not allowed to use the ADK on OEM versions of windows. Even if you have the right amount of licenses. You would need retail licenses. And these would be more expensive than a volume license so it wouldn’t make much sense anymore. Of course everything meantioned above does not give you the right to use the same key on different machines like I implied in my earlier statement. sven From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau Sent: Friday, November 14, 2014 1:23 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: softimage 2015 and Vista Sorry Sven, but how could you not think that this is illegal? You need a windows license per machine and your tip recommends installing the same license on multiple machine and ignoring the DRM harness that's there to remind dummies that something's wrong. The DRM mechanism is not the license, and a hole in it doesn't give a license to use the software. It's the fact that you paid for something is what gives you a license to run the software. That's what creates the legal contract. On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 9:39 AM, Sven Constable <[email protected]> wrote: If its for a render farm you can install windows7 on as many machines you like. You just need a working serial, eg. from one of the workstations where you already bought a legal copy of windows for. It's a bit shady but not illegal I think. You just don't activate it and it will not stop working. After the grace period certain things stop working like windows aero and the desktop background turns black and things like that to prevent users to actually work with it conveniently. And it's not possible to receive windows updates after that 30 days. But usually no one logs in on render nodes (except remotely once in a while). Usually these machines have no internet connection either. Making a sysprepped image of windows7 however is a bit more hassle than it was with XP64 but it's possible to include everything in a sysprepped image like windows key, language setting, timezone, workgroup etc. Even the annoying thing that windows7 forces you to create an additional user at first boot time can be skipped. So after you deployed the image on the render nodes you only have to set the machine name once. Some infos here: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/happens-windows-not-activated-34196.html http://brianleejackson.com/sysprep-a-windows-7-machine-start-to-finish-v2/ sven
