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I am planning to purchase a few Win 10 Pro OEM devices. Requirement are to run XP(don’t ask me why) and Windows 7 virtual machines on the Win 10 Pro host machine using virtualbox

What are the steps involved in getting that done and legally binding. I am not sure if should be getting software assurance for my Win 10 Pro and this will give me the ability to run 1 XP and 1 Win 7 machine on my host pc.

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The VMs would only be accessed locally, by the Windows 10 user?

This how-to has some very good info. It’s about 10, but most of it applies to older OS, too:

https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/146354-license-windows-10-for-use-in-virtualization-environment-including-multitenant-and-cloud-hosting-use-rights

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The problem you’re going to run into is obtaining Windows XP Pro media. …

License-wise, Software Assurance (SA) will permit the licensed device to run Windows XP and Windows 7 Pro in a VM locally on the device. You’ll get access to VL media via VLSC and you can download the images to run as VMs. Windows XP is no longer available (or supported by Microsoft) on VLSC, so you’ll have to find the media and key to activate it.

Software Assurance (i.e. Windows 10 Enterprise E3/E5) permits the local use of Windows in a VM. Any other devices that access these VMs would also require a Windows SA or Windows VDA license. This is because Windows desktop OS is licensed per device (and also per-user), and not by the VM.

I have two how-to’s on this topic:

License Windows 10 for use in virtualization environment – including multitenant and cloud hosting use rights

Licensing Windows 10 with virtualization technologies

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