Legal to install an OEM license of Windows 7 in VMWare Fusion?

Solution 1:

Quoted from this thread Windows 7 licensing rights:

What license do you have? Retail, OEM, and Volume Licensing are all different.

Volume Licensing http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/springboard/archive/2009/08/06/windows-7-enterprise-edition-understanding-software-assurance-volume-licensing.aspx:

"Virtual OS Rights - Use up to four instances of Windows in virtual OS environments for each license that has active Software Assurance coverage." Notice that this appears under MDOP. "MDOP is an add-on subscription license"

You can find the retail and OEM EULAs here: http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/default.aspx

As far as I know, since the days of Vista, Microsoft allowed running up to 4 virtual machines, as long as they use the same operating system and serial number as in the physical machine.

EDIT

It's finally quite unclear what are the virtualization rights of a desktop Windows version, with conflicting opinions between authorities (even Microsoft). Finally, only a thorough examination of the EULA can maybe give some answer (and maybe not).

Solution 2:

I wrote to Microsoft and asked the question about OEM. They said it was ok.

This was the answer:

You can install it on your Mac as long as it not has been installed on another computer. When it comes to OEM, the license will be locked to that specific motherboard.

Solution 3:

It is not legal since OEM is connected to particular hardware. Except for Windows Server 2008, you cannot use OEM licence inside of virtual machines.

However, on practical side, it will work properly and you will not have any problem with Windows Update.