[humanpuff69]

@'Hidden Refuge'

Many thanks for your detailed answers.

It seems I will have to re-activate my Windows 10 after the migration. This is something I wanted to avoid.

And thank you especially for letting me know about Acronis. I only used Clonezilla before, but never try Acronis. I will definitely give Acronis a try.

I would still like to find an easy way reversing VHD created by Disk2vhd directly to physical, though.

i use microsoft media creation tool to upgrade from windows 7 to windows 10 and my windows 10 automatically activated . the weird thing is that i use a pirated windows 7 and it is upgraded it to legit windows 10 .

acronis or any 3rd party migration tool probably doesnt upgrade your license . just migrate the data . by the way the microsoft media creation tool have the option to upgrade , keep only the file , or clean install

[Mashiro]

@tryp4vps

If you need a Acronis bootable ISO just send me a private message. I have a few stored for personal usage as we have several Acronis products including several different versions of Acronis True Image.


@humanpuff69

He is talking about porting his Windows 10 installation from a real and physical computer to a virtual machine running on a physical Linux machine.

[rudra]

i use microsoft media creation tool to ........ the weird thing is that i use a #### windows 7 and it is upgraded it to legit windows 10 .

i saw that work when they were offering free upgrade for legit widows 7 installs. but i also noted that if you change enough hardware, then the license gets invalidated. they create some kind of hardware id string that changes when your computer changes too much.

but it's weird if you are saying that it still works.

People use volume licensing with local license server trick to activate.

also, to anyone interested... you could use the last version of UBCD to do imaging backup etc. they have awesome utilities all in one place.

[hamed]

i saw that work when they were offering free upgrade for legit widows 7 installs. but i also noted that if you change enough hardware, then the license gets invalidated. they create some kind of hardware id string that changes when your computer changes too much.

but it's weird if you are saying that it still works.

People use volume licensing with local license server trick to activate.

also, to anyone interested... you could use the last version of UBCD to do imaging backup etc. they have awesome utilities all in one place.

In Windows, it is illegal and cracked. If you update, you will download high-volume useless files from microsoft servers, which will slow down Windows. It is never recommended. (It is even possible to transmit the virus)

[fChk]

Interesting idea. I am also thinking about migrating my current Windows 10 installation to a VM disk.  But I am afraid I will need to re-activate my Windows 10 after the migration?

If you meant reactivation when reinstalling your Win10 on your physical machine again, then it's a simple formality done by reconnecting to M$'s servers. Your machine is supposed to have already been activated the first time you installed Win10.

On the other hand, if you meant inside the VM, then yes if your licence is of an OEM type, which is linked to your machine hardware. But if it's a retail licence then you have to reconnect to M$ server's to reactivate Win10 inside the VM.

For volume licensing, you have to reactivate it via the adhoc KMS server.

Damn it!... It's always complicated whenever you touch anything M$-ish related... What's more infuriating is that's done on purpose!..

And is there any easy way to do the reverse later if need? I mean the Virtual-to-Physical migration.

Of course there is!.. Would have been better if you opened a topic on this! But quickly, anyway:

Although hidden's method looks seems good/simple and the way to go for most of this forum's users, I'll nevertheless outline my way of doing things, for the more brave ones :-)

• Convert back your qcow2 (or whatever format you'll be using) into VHD with qemu-img.
  
• Then proceed the way you like or are most comfortable with:
  • If you still have a Win 6.x system in your boot (the way I have win7 still on), then you'll have to load that VHD into your filesystem and clone it into a physical partition and to make it bootable you'll have to fix its boot with the bcdedit tool.
    
  • The best way though is to not even bother with the cloning to physical stage altogether. JUST BOOT WITH THE VHD volume directly.
    

It's a little known secret among Windows average users that since Win7, people can boot their system directly from a bootable VHD volume (not from a physical partition.) I remember having posted a how to on this topic in the FFS forums back in 2014!.. I'll repost it here for this community in the coming days.

[rudra]

In Windows, it is illegal and cracked. If you update, you will download high-volume useless files from microsoft servers, which will slow down Windows. It is never recommended. (It is even possible to transmit the virus)

that is really a weird and i have never found this to be the case with any of the users here who could not afford or didn't want to pay four it to use it.

may be you have heard about it from some conspiracy theory lover. lol. it never, NEVER, does that. you may get some errors here and there while updating of you have failed to do it properly. but nothing else. all and any malicious or useless download is totally your own doing, knowingly or unknowingly.

Microsoft will never do anything this foolish. they want more people to use their os and get accustomed to it. now they might enforce on enterprise consumers when the party is using illegal versions. but i am yet to hear them coming down on personal user. well, they have made it pretty cheap for personal users compared to the previous versions for a reason. you can have a proper license of you want one.

[tryp4vps]

[*]The best way though is to not even bother with the cloning to physical stage altogether. JUST BOOT WITH THE VHD volume directly.....

Great point about booting with the VHD volume directly.

I rarely do so, and almost forget about it, but I know how it can be done.

Still, it is a good idea to repost the topic here as I guess it should be useful for many other community members.

[tiwil]

I did update to Windows 10 but in my current old laptop, it's awful slow. I need to wait up to 5 minutes in order an application to boot up. It's way too slow. I decided to go back to Windows 7 and ignoring its caution about being not supported anymore. It was a great time with Windows 7, but then I decided to go back to Windows 10 again since some app don't support Windows 7.

Anyway, Windows 10 update 2004 is just great. I feel it's faster than the previous version of Windows 10, and I like how it feels. I don't install too many application anymore. I use the default browser which is Microsoft Edge, but already updated to the newest version. I also install Adobe , a little bit lag when I open it but then it's great.

If you're still using Windows 7 and have valid keys, you can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free. I, personally, very recommend the newest 2004 version. Don't go below the 2004.

[Khadeer143]

I still use windows 7 os in my pc and I still get windows updates they said no more updates but I still get updates notifications

[fChk]

I still use windows 7 os in my pc and I still get windows updates they said no more updates but I still get updates notifications

That must be M$$ defender updates.. not system updates, which there are any left!...


As I was going through Reddit feeds this early morning, I came across this:

Hamburg wants to get away from Microsoft products

From the German tech site golem (translated by deepl.com)

The SPD and the Greens have agreed in Hamburg on the entry into the Microsoft exit. The city is to be digitally sourced.

After the cautiously announced return to open source software in Munich by the SPD and the Greens, more free software is to be used in the administration of the Hanseatic City of Hamburg in the future. This was also agreed upon by the SPD and the Greens during their coalition negotiations in Germany's second largest city. The coalition agreement is to be presented today, June 2, 2020. The parties still have to agree to the treaty.

As the Greens in Hamburg announced on Twitter, the agreement includes the "entry into exit Microsoft". In a statement on the results, Carsten Brosda (SPD) said that the city administration should "not become unilaterally dependent". The parties involved therefore want to tackle the problem of the so-called vendor lock-in.

In addition, the Hanseatic city is to become a "model of digital sovereignty", resulting in full control over its own systems, which in turn can probably only be achieved using open source software. The buzzword digital sovereignty has been used increasingly by politicians for some time now, including the German government. Open source companies such as Nextcloud are happy to take up this idea. The Open Source Business Alliance (OSBA) now even calls itself the "Federal Association for Digital Sovereignty".

Large parts of the German administration use proprietary products from individual manufacturers or are based on them, and this applies in particular to Microsoft's Windows operating systems. As a pioneer against this development, the city of Munich started the Limux project at the turn of the millennium to use Linux instead. The city council handled the project several years ago, but now wants to return to open source.

Guess who came to my mind as to that "entry into the Microsoft exit" ?!.. Of course, it was @deanhills!.. Still standing in front of that M$$'s exit... ?! :-)

Rant ON:
Kudos though to the Germans for their forward thinking!.. Wish we had similar mindset locally, where M$$ is entrenched everywhere you look!!.. Very Sad!

M$$ knows how to take advantage of third-world countries' policy making corruption!....

A bit off topic, but not really if we look closer as to why M$$'s product are so widespread even today!.... It's the 'politics of the education system stupid' kind-of thing!.. That does leave the vast majority stuck(/only familiar) with M$$'s products when heading to the work-force worldwide.

I'm guessing that this mobile-generation is slowly shifting to balance outside M$$'s grip into Google's !!!.. What an achievement!

Rant off!