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I will soon be receiving a "new" (refurbished) notebook. It comes with Windows 10 Pro. I plan to run Ubuntu, but instead of throwing Windows away, I wonder if I might be able to install it as a guest system in VirtualBox. The problem, as I see it, is obtaining an .iso for the Windows installation.

How can I copy the Windows installation/recovery file/partition (whatever the heck it is!) that comes with the new computer, so I can install it as a guest?

Larry Bristol
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1 Answers1

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Since you don't need and can't use vendor drivers/softwares under VM, the easier way round is that:

  1. Grab a Windows ISO from Microsoft, freely. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO
  2. Acquire the Windows Pro OEM license key from you computer BIOS. For example, run sudo strings /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM | tail -1 under Ubuntu command line.
  3. Install Windows, using the Microsft ISO, under VM using this OEM key.
  4. As far as I know, this will not violate any Microsoft License since you're only running one copy on the same computer.

For me it's a lot faster than converting images.

Alvin Liang
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