Does it violate the license to use Windows XP Mode with Virtual Box

licensingvirtual machine

I am working on a team developing a client-side application. We work in a Linux environment, but the server we work with can only be run from a Windows environment. As such, each developer is being set up with a virtual machine, running on Oracle VM Virtual Box.

Would it violate the terms of use or licensing for the developers to use the virtual hard drive from Windows XP Mode with Oracle VM Virtual Box?

Best Answer

IANAL If you need legal advice, by all means seek it, this is not legal advice.

If you install a copy of XP licence into a VirtualBox on a machine that it would otherwise be legal to install that licence on, and the licence is not in use on another machine, and you are not using the virtual hard drive on more than one machine, I think you're ok.

For example you probably shouldn't use XP Home or XP Embedded Editions in a VirtualBox, but your copy of XP Professional on the shelf should be fine.

My reasoning is that it is legal to use software like Parallels to run Windows OSes on Mac hardware, I don't see a big difference here.

Again, this is strictly opinion.

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