Windows 7: License for Windows 7 in VM?

I just ordered an HP ENVY 17-1010NR with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. I would like to install a clean Windows 7 on the hard drive and then use a Windows VM as my main workstation. Can anyone tell me if the Windows 7 license allows this?

FWIW, I am a software developer and have been running multiple VMware player VM's on a Vista 64 box for work.

Not without purchasing another license. Of course, as a software developer you might have something like Technet or more likely MSDN which would allow this.

Thats too bad. What about running Ubuntu on the hard drive and then running Windows 7 on a VMware player, does the Windows 7 license allow this?

This page may help you slightly.

Neowin.net - Virtualizing Windows may violate your license requirements

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Though to be honest, I wouldn't truly worry any 'End User License Agreements'. As long as you are running it on one PC at a time (this includes VM's) you should be golden.

I agree

Yes, because you would be using the 1 license you are entitled to. Unless of course that license is OEM and then it's tied to the actual physical machine and cannot be moved to another machine.

I have some trouble grasping this. I would wipe windows 7 from the hard drive, install Linux and VMware player, and then install windows 7 on a vm using the activation key for the OEM license on the laptop. So there would be only one copy running on the OEM hardware. I am assuming that the windows 7 would be legal and could be activated. Agreed?

Technically, this would be a sort of loophole as you are still technically on the same physical machine. It just so happens you're running a virtual one on top of it. I don't think there would be a problem with it but again, this is one of those really grey areas.

I don't even think in this instance that it actually qualifies...as technically the virtual hardware being presented does not match the physical real hardware in the box. Plus, once a VM is up and running, you can easily move it from machine to machine without it seeing a hardware change....so in the event that you went to another machine your VM license would still be activated and valid...which is not allowable with an OEM copy.

I'm not going to attempt this - I'm usually a stickler for following licensing, although sometimes I don't understand. In any case, I think I'm better off leaving the laptop hardware to Windows 7. I am disappointed Microsoft does not allow one Windows 7 VM on the native instance though.

I plan to use VMware player hosted on Windows 7 to run a number of Linux instances.

Thank you for all the thoughtful responses.