Activating Windows 10 Home

DavidP10 · Oct 2, 2016

I already had Windows 10 Home running on Boot Camp on Sierra on a late 2013 iMac, a lProduct Key had been purchased and the installation was activated.

Using a trial version of Parallels Desktop 12 I am attempting to use Boot Camp in Parallels. It is proving impossible to get this activated, I have used the existing Product Key but that fails with Error code 0xC004C003 with the suggestion to go the the Store to buy genuine Windows. The Parallels Tools have been run, I had thought that on of the functions of the Tools was to handle this situation.

Is is still possible to use Windows on Boot Camp both directly by booting into it and from within macOS, or has Windows 10 changed something so that it is now case either or?

W.I · Oct 5, 2016

If you activated windows 10 in boot camp and then try to install win 10 in a Parallels VM, Parallels will create a new Mac address for the VM. Windows sees this as a different PC and won't let you install on more than one.

DavidP10 · Oct 5, 2016

Thanks for that. I have now imported the Boot Camp installation into a VM. As a bonus, this boots more quickly that it did from Boot Camp.

imacken · Oct 7, 2016

You're touching on a subject that has been discussed a zillion times in the past few years. The whole validating W10 on Parallels is a nightmare.
With prior versions of Windows it was a case of calling MS and get them to validate the VM as just needed to state that you were running Windows only on one computer - which was true!
Windows 10 works in a different way, as it is hardware based for validation purposes. I gave up and bought a separate licence for my Parallels Bootcamp VM.
I have no idea what will happen if the VM is deleted and reinstalled.

DavidP10 · Oct 7, 2016

I gave up too, but settled for a single instance of Windows 10 as a Virtual Machine, and abandoned Boot Camp entirely. On this iMac with its fusion drive the VM outperforms Boot Camp by a considerable margin.

The Windows 10 EULA, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/Retail/Windows/10/UseTerms_Retail_Windows_10_English.htm section 2.d.iv seems clear enough.

It is what is.

imacken · Oct 7, 2016

I could never do without Bootcamp as I mainly use it for games, and Parallels can't do them. There is no way your VM outperforms a native Windows install. Not possible.
Regarding the EULA, it is not at all clear! If you had 2 installs of Windows in separate VMs, then that would require 2 licences, but with Bootcamp and Parallels, there is only 1 installation of Windows. Parallels is simply accessing Bootcamp, not doing a separate install.

DavidP10 · Oct 8, 2016

imacken said:
There is no way your VM outperforms a native Windows install. Not possible.

That is what I thought and is why I wanted a best of both Boot Camp direct + Boot Camp via VM, but the start up times tell a very different story. This iMac has a fusion drive, I believe Boot Camp goes on the slower hard disc part and I am guessing the VM finishes up on the SSD. I would also guess the difference would disappear on an all SSD Mac. However that is what happened and given that I was not minded to shell out for a second licence, I am pleased with the VM result.

imacken · Oct 8, 2016

Start up time really is not that important in the general scheme of things. Hard disk performance is only one aspect of measuring overall speed. Other components are CPU, graphics both 3D and 2D and RAM, and with the macOS overhead and limited allocation of RAM/CPU and a virtual video driver, there is no way that your VM performs anywhere near the same as a native Windows install, e.g. Bootcamp.
I'm afraid that is just a fact.

Ajith1 · Oct 15, 2016

W.I said:
If you activated windows 10 in boot camp and then try to install win 10 in a Parallels VM, Parallels will create a new Mac address for the VM. Windows sees this as a different PC and won't let you install on more than one.

Yes, you are right Parallels Desktop is not just directly accessing the Boot-camp partition. We need to create a virtual machine (ie. which will have a individual Mac address, virtual RAM and graphics memory) to access the Windows installation files on the Boot-camp partition from the Mac side due to the virtualized new environment Windows will require a reactivation of it license. The only option is to reactivate Windows or recreate a new Boot-camp based VM.

imacken · Oct 16, 2016

Ajith@Parallels said:
The only option is to reactivate Windows or recreate a new Boot-camp based VM.

See my first post here. Things are different with Windows 10, as I'm sure you well know. You can't just simply re-validate or get a code from MS anymore. W10 licences are hardware locked, and therein lies the ongoing painful topic that is 'Parallels with Bootcamp'.