Win 7 Pro Dual Boot/Virtualization question

[Grinja]

Hi all,
I essentially need a second instance of the OS on which I can install various applications for testing purposes and I don't want to mess with my primary install.

Is it legal to dual boot or run a virtual machine with the same license of the OS?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
G

 

[Nothinman]

Do you need it to be a clone of your current install or can a new install work fine? If the latter, you can install Win7 without a key and use it in demo mode for your testing.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I think that the Windows Ultimate license explicitly allows you to do that. Other lesser versions may not.

 

[Grinja]

I think that the Windows Ultimate license explicitly allows you to do that. Other lesser versions may not.

Will have a look at that. Thanks!

 

[buckjrdley]

Technically, the Microsoft license only allows you to install the software on one machine. They consider a separate partition to be another machine...

You can find the pdf version of the license here:
http://www.microsoft.com/About/Legal/EN/US/IntellectualProperty/UseTerms/Default.aspx

 

[Nothinman]

Technically, the Microsoft license only allows you to install the software on one machine. They consider a separate partition to be another machine...

You can find the pdf version of the license here:
http://www.microsoft.com/About/Legal/EN/US/IntellectualProperty/UseTerms/Default.aspx

There are special exceptions for virtualization in certain SKUs now.