I’m currently dual-booting Linux Mint 21 and Windows. I’d like to run Windows in V-B but isn’t the Windows license tied to the hardware?
Do I need to find the key first or will V-B pass that on to the installer? Thanks.
I have installed Windows in Qemu/KVM with virt-manager.
Not the same as Vbox, but I needed the key and the original install CD.
I did not have any issue with hardware being linked to the key.
I think Msoft allows up to about 3 machines on the Home edition.
Win10 and Win11 perform rather poorly in a VM. Earlier Win versions (eg Win7) are better. If it is only for occasional use you can live with it, but if you use Win a lot, keep the hard install dual booted.
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I give my 2 cents here… 
First one:
I have a Windows 10 install, which I created years ago, kind of “just in case” when I moved to Linux completely. I actually used this VM very few times.
I just installed Win freshly then, and all my Windows based softwares too, and I did all of the activations. Then “pulled” the network card from the VM, so no annoying updates, also no danger from the internet towards Windows…
When I chaenged the hardware, Windows lost its actiavation in the VM.
But all the others were kept, so my Vegas pro instances are fully functional, just like Photoshop CS4.
So it seems, yes, activation is tied to hardware, even if running in a VM.
I don’t really care though, as I don’t use it anymore, it’s just there.
Second cent:
You can add a real partition to the VM:
You coud try this method too.
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That is interesting.
I want to try that with virt-manager, if it has the option.
It would seem it can be done with virt-manager
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Thank you!
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