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Will resizing my VM change the machine ID for a licensed program

Andres Laverde 20 Reputation points
2023-03-10T13:15:16.97+00:00

I have a Windows 10 VM (B4ms) and installed a licensed software that is linked to the computer ID. Now I want to resize the machine for higher CPU performance but I was wondering if that would change the ID and affect the license.

Azure Virtual Machines
Azure Virtual Machines
An Azure service that is used to provision Windows and Linux virtual machines.
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  1. Andriy Bilous 11,821 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2023-03-10T14:11:40.49+00:00

    Hello @Andres Laverde

    When you resize an Azure VM, the virtual machine's hardware configuration changes, but the machine ID (also known as the machine SID) remains the same. The machine ID is a unique identifier that is generated during the installation of the Windows operating system and is used by some licensed programs to identify the specific machine.

    Therefore, resizing your Azure VM should not change the machine ID for a licensed program that relies on it. The machine ID is tied to the Windows operating system and should remain consistent regardless of changes to the underlying hardware configuration of the VM.

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/557733/what-id-of-the-machine-will-be-changed-if-i-replac

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  1. TP 125.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-03-10T14:15:19.0333333+00:00

    Hi,

    That's a question for the software manufacturer. Among software that license their software to a specific device there are many different ways they calculate a unique "fingerprint" for the device. Additionally, there are different ways the licensing component works. For example, some are very aggressive in terms of "detecting" a potential change in the hardware (and thus consider it unlicensed) whereas others the device can change a lot without an issue.

    In terms of when you resize the VM, the processor may stay the same model just with additional RAM/cores, or it could change if deployed to different host. So one question is, will the software detect that CPU has more cores and consider that a different machine for licensing purposes? Or if the CPU model does change, will it flag that as potential violation?

    If the above was helpful please click Accept Answer.

    Thanks.

    -TP

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