I have Windows virtual machines in an existing vSphere 5 environment, which we are removing entirely from one environment and recommissioning in a new vSphere 5 environment. The migration process is causing the Windows Licenses to invalidate on Windows 2008.
Is there a way to export a VM from an existing environment, and import it into a new environment, and keep the licensing intact? The problem is the same whether VMware Converter is used, or whether the VMs are exported as ovf templates then reimported.
Also, what is causing the OS to detect a change after the migration? Is it a change in the virtual machines network adapter's mac address detected by the OS? No changes are being made to the virtual hardware such as upgrading virtual hardware or installing VMware tools. What is the guest OS seeing differently that causes it to deactivate the license?