Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines
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If he truly want to be able to run either one or the other, I suggest a hotswap drive enclosure. Insert the drive for the installation you wish to use.
If he wants access to his old PC from his new PC, I suggest virtualbox. There are of course other reasons to dual boot but I find this to be a common one. Virtualbox works extremely well for this.
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Yeah there are plenty of reasons to want to keep a system around, but none of that matters in this case.
The simple solution, plug the one disk into the other chasis, show the client how to select the boot disk.
It's quick and it cost them near to nothing to have done. They get what they want from the system and @CCWTech can move on with his day.
If the client wants to spend more money on this, than other options can be considered, but I believe he was simply over thinking this one.
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Also don't forget that some clients can't have two computers on their desk, but if you show them how to remote desktop into their second PC, that might be all it takes to make them happy.
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@DustinB3403 said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
Yeah there are plenty of reasons to want to keep a system around, but none of that matters in this case.
The simple solution, plug the one disk into the other chasis, show the client how to select the boot disk.
It's quick and it cost them near to nothing to have done. They get what they want from the system and @CCWTech can move on with his day.
If the client wants to spend more money on this, than other options can be considered, but I believe he was simply over thinking this one.
Too complicated in my experience. For the user that is.
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@Pete-S said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
Too complicated in my experience. For the user that is.
More complicated than a boot loader?
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Why not just create a new user on his pc, then copy the "2nd" pc's user to that new user folder. Then install anything he actually needs.
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Dual boot and virtualization seem kinda pointless when you running the exact same OS. It might make sense if you were testing and wanted to blow things up. But that doesn't seem to be the case here
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@IRJ said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
Why not just create a new user on his pc, then copy the "2nd" pc's user to that new user folder. Then install anything he actually needs.
This would only pull the user files over and not the entire environment.
(I was under the impression that the user simply wants to run two distinct OS's because of some applications that are configured on each system)
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@DustinB3403 said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
@IRJ said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
Why not just create a new user on his pc, then copy the "2nd" pc's user to that new user folder. Then install anything he actually needs.
This would only pull the user files over and not the entire environment.
(I was under the impression that the user simply wants to run two distinct OS's because of some applications that are configured on each system)
Is there any real reason for this? OP doesn't mention it either
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@IRJ said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
Is there any real reason for this? OP doesn't mention it either
IDK, I thought the same thing as well, but I didn't not want to provide a potentially useful answer.
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Installing a boot loader (like grub) could probably work, but BIOS already has a boot loader built in. Adding the complexity of installing another boot loader on top of an existing installation, and then converting a physical installation from one host to a physical installation on another host, under a custom boot loader.
Is way more complex, and likely would cause all sorts of issues.
I would stick with using the existing BIOS to manage the boot device and simply train the customer how to hit F12 or Delete or whatever the boot selection key is at startup.
You can name the boot devices from within the OS.
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@DustinB3403 said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
How would he even license this?
As long as one of the Windows 10 copies is retail rather than OEM or he gets two OEMs for the same hardware...
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@DustinB3403 said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
@IRJ said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
Is there any real reason for this? OP doesn't mention it either
IDK, I thought the same thing as well, but I didn't not want to provide a potentially useful answer.
When the objective or goal itself is useless, any answer you feel is useful would then default to useless anyways.
So, the only potentially useful answer would be to get the OP to re-evaluate the situation and perhaps approach it differently altogether. -
@scottalanmiller said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
@DustinB3403 said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
How would he even license this?
As long as one of the Windows 10 copies is retail rather than OEM or he gets two OEMs for the same hardware...
You're incorrect here - Windows 10 OEM License Terms and Windows 10 Retail License Terms
2. Installation and Use Rights. a. License. The software is licensed, not sold. Under this agreement, we grant you the right to install and run one instance of the software on your device (the licensed device), for use by one person at a time, so long as you comply with all the terms of this agreement. Updating or upgrading from non-genuine software with software from Microsoft or authorized sources does not make your original version or the updated/upgraded version genuine, and in that situation, you do not have a license to use the software.Both state the same terms and conditions. Each instance needs to have it's own license.
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And further down in the documentation. . .
d. Multi use scenarios. (i) Multiple versions. If when acquiring the software you were provided with multiple versions (such as 32-bit and 64-bit versions), you may install and activate only one of those versions at a time. (ii) Multiple or pooled connections. Hardware or software you use to multiplex or pool connections, or reduce the number of devices or users that access or use the software, does not reduce the number of licenses you need. You may only use such hardware or software if you have a license for each instance of the software you are using. -
Meaning to dual boot or run as a VM (on Hyper-V) for example gives you only that 1 installed license to use. If you wanted to consolidate the hardware, you would be required to purchase an additional Windows 10 OEM or Retail license for each instance on any given system.
Even in the scenario I proposed of just moving the drive from one system into the other and using the boot selection, would require that the host have an additional licensed purchased and be applied to that host.
Edited to make the clarification about Retail licensing terms and conditions.
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@Obsolesce said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
@DustinB3403 said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
@IRJ said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
Is there any real reason for this? OP doesn't mention it either
IDK, I thought the same thing as well, but I didn't not want to provide a potentially useful answer.
When the objective or goal itself is useless, any answer you feel is useful would then default to useless anyways.
So, the only potentially useful answer would be to get the OP to re-evaluate the situation and perhaps approach it differently altogether.My response is to get more detail from @CCWTech as to the reason the client wants this. I don't know why the client wants to do this as it's not explained anywhere in this topic.
@CCWTech why just post and disappear? Give us some more details.
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Also whether it's dual boot or a vm, it's another OS to manage, update, and troubleshoot.
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@DustinB3403 said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
@scottalanmiller said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
@DustinB3403 said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
How would he even license this?
As long as one of the Windows 10 copies is retail rather than OEM or he gets two OEMs for the same hardware...
You're incorrect here - Windows 10 OEM License Terms and Windows 10 Retail License Terms
2. Installation and Use Rights. a. License. The software is licensed, not sold. Under this agreement, we grant you the right to install and run one instance of the software on your device (the licensed device), for use by one person at a time, so long as you comply with all the terms of this agreement. Updating or upgrading from non-genuine software with software from Microsoft or authorized sources does not make your original version or the updated/upgraded version genuine, and in that situation, you do not have a license to use the software.Both state the same terms and conditions. Each instance needs to have it's own license.
Thats what i said.
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@scottalanmiller said in Joining 2 Windows 10 Machines:
As long as one of the Windows 10 copies is retail rather than OEM or he gets two OEMs for the same hardware...
What? No you said that so long as 1 of the licenses is Retail that the Owner of that Retail license gets two instances of Windows 10 Retail (on the same hardware) and the licenses both very clearly disagree with you.
If you want to run two copies of Windows 10 Retail (or OEM) on the same hardware, you need to have two distinct product keys (and licenses).
I've very clearly lined this up across a matter of very few posts above.
