Can you activate one Windows 7 on 2 identical machines? [duplicate]

No. The hardware signature uses data that includes includes system specific things like the NIC card's MAC address and the CPU and hard drive serial numbers.

Installing the same Win7 key on multiple machines is against the EULA. Also, I'm pretty sure that even if the machines are "hardware identical" the hardware will still have different IDs generated.

Yes you could.........BUT there are no two IDENTICAL computers. Serial numbers differ between otherwise like computers and that prevents doing what you suggest!

You just activate, then clone the hard drive. No big deal. Works with XP, Vista, it should work with Win7 as well.

"Yes, technically, you probably can. You might have to call microsoft licensing and ask them to help you activate the new machine (because, say, you had to replace your previous computer, due to a mainboard problem that you don't fully understand ;). But I'm not sure if the old computer would still be able to go online and get updates once the new one was activated. I think it would work fine though.

Even if just using the software as permitted by the license on one machine though, the DRM is a big inconvenience. Upgrading some components on your own computer can mean having to call microsoft and justify yourself to them. It's much easier to just apply an activation crack."