Hi Pyradius,

Thanks for your  prompt response.

Fair enough that there are no plans to remove the activation software; perhaps there should be plans to make the activation software work correctly in a virtual environment? :) But I digress.

EDIT: Received my licence key, thought I'd try activating the software under XP running in Parallels. Looks like the activation works fine... which kind of conflicts with your post saying that activation can't work in a virtual environment. Can you please provide more information about this non-virtual-compatible hard disk access and perhaps elaborate on why it seems to have worked under Parallels but not under VMWare?

Once again, looks like a purely "technical" restriction from Equis' point of view. And if that's the case; surely this restriction should be limited only to eval copies of the software (that is, make a different binary available to paying customers)...

If I'm wrong and the activation hasn't worked, it looks like there are a few options for me:

END EDIT

* purchase dedicated hardware and run a dedicated instance of the Windows XP operating system for MetaStock
* discard my plans with MetaStock and use a competing product
* purchase an older copy of MetaStock that will work correctly virtualised

Of these options, I'd prefer the third - are there any legal methods for me to acquire say MS 9.x? Would it be more appropriate to take this discussion point-to-point?

Regards,

Saliya