09-01-2017, 06:10 AM
(09-01-2017, 05:21 AM)rsberzerker Wrote: > but it would be easier to re-load Win 7, however, that of course kicks the counter and makes my current version no longer authorized, even if I could do it.
A little off topic but I once talked with MS's anti-piracy group about some bootleg copies of Windows Server something a client bought. The most memorable part of the conversation is when he mentioned that re-activating Windows ON THE EXACT SAME HARDWARE doesn't increment the counter unless it's a VLK, which yours is not (OEM from your post).
Secondly, rather than a VM route, why not just throw a second hard drive in there and but Ubuntu on that? Hard drives are cheap and it doesn't have to be a big one, or a new one. This would leave your existing Windows install un-touched.
I have extra drives - one thing I do have. So I suppose I could just setup my machine instead of VMWARE to be Ubuntu, it would mitigate any compatibility issues with VMWARE, not even duel boot - just bare setup. Never actually done one of those for Ubuntu - but I'm betting it can't be too hard. I'm usually using VMWARE for things like XP Pro and such, so I'm at home with it - but obviously drivers aren't there anymore for the newer stuff. I actually prefer it to Window 7, since most of the stuff I do is in VB and that's 32 bit anyway.
So clean install - that's a good route to go.
Interesting on the count thing though - I was not aware of that.
Thanks.