[ibook_steve]

The subject kind of explains it all. I'm hoping that people will reply with their best solutions to avoiding the tedious and ridiculous activation process when switching between using Boot Camp and when using a virtualization product, such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop.

I am so unbelievably frustrated at this point. I'm constantly switching between Boot Camp and virtualization, and I almost need to reactivate every time I do. Not just Windows, but other programs I use such as MacDrive (they say they're working on this problem), AVG free anti-virus, and Articulate Presenter. I'm also still occasionally switching between using Parallels and VMWare (I still haven't decided; see my previous posts). Right now, I'm back at Fusion in preparation for trying out that new beta. Fusion seems to have much bigger problems with going between it and Boot Camp than Parallels does.

Internet activation no longer seems to work for me. I always have to call and say those f***** numbers, have the computer tell me that I have to speak to an operator, explain to them that I am activating yet again, and enter the new numbers in.

If anybody has figured out any definitive ways to avoid Microsoft's ridiculous restrictions (this is XP Pro by the way; I can't imagine how painful Vista activation must be) with a perfectly valid, personally owned product key, I'm all ears...err, keyboards!

Steve

[naphtali]

I use Fusion with Vista in Bootcamp and XP as a full VM.

So far the only time I've had to reactivate anything was when I copied XP to and from an external drive (if you tell Fusion that you simply moved the VM that seems to take care of things).

I haven't had to reactivate other stuff like AVG (and isn't it free anyway?). I might have gotten lucky with MS Office since I'm running the enterprise edition.

Could your problems stem from switching back and forth Parallels and Fusion? That's seems more likely to cause problems than Bootcamp -> Fusion. From what I know, the activation issues in Fusions were fixed a few builds back.

Might want to talk about your situation on the VMware boards VMware Communities: Community: VMware Fusion

[yugyug]

This annoys me too. This site may be of some help

spacebag - spacebag

be aware that the site does kind of assume you are doing the dodgy with a pirate copy of wndows though.

[turtle777]

Weird, doesn't happen to me.

I have Windows Vista on Bootcamp, activated.

When I run the bootcamp partition in Fusion, I don't have to reactivate it.

What am I doing wrong right ?

-t

[Spoffo]

I recently installed Fusion on my BoootCamp partition. As they warned in their documentation, I had to re-activate my installed copy of Win XP once (I think it was the first time I launched it in Fusion) and auto online activation worked fine. Since then, switching between Fusion and BootCamp hasn't triggered any more activation requests.

[64stang06]

Hmm, weird. The only thing I had to reactivate (once) was my copy of Office 2007. After that, things have run smooth.

[ghporter]

Once an installation is activated, it should never need to be reactivated unless you make a major change. Switching between a Boot Camp installation and a Fusion installation should not trigger anything. There are certain relatively major hardware changes that will trigger it though, but since you're not likely to change your video card AND your network card AND your hard drive in some short period of time, it's not likely that this will happen.

turtle, your use of the Boot Camp image is probably the reason you haven't had to reactivate. If it works like Parallels does with a BC image, it's just applying a different startup configuration for that installation, not running a "different" installation.

And I have to add a caveat that my own XP installation is with a corporate, site licensed disc that does not require activation. I have another disc that will require that, but I'm not going to go through the hassle of changing my installation just to see what activation is like. Yes, I'm chickening out on this.

[ibook_steve]

Oh, to have a corporate site license. Activation is the bane of my existence. Hard drive died last week: reinstall OS and reactivate. Switch between using Parallels and Fusion: reactivate. I hate it. And I can no longer use the Internet reactivation option. I *always* have to call.

Steve

[etung]

IIRC, I've heard problems with Bootcamp reactivation when using both Parallels and Fusion - the management schemes we use might not be compatible (Microsoft obviously doesn't want to make it easy, so there's no standard way to do this).