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I had checked the disk SMART values, and none had any failed state. Since it is also failing for a dd image sotred on a different disk, IMHO it looks more like filesystem inconsistency. Perhaps those files ended just pointing to memory, and are stored in hiberfil.sys due to quick poweroff, causing the boot process to not be able to read them.

Next step will be to attempt reading them from recovery console, in order to view them from Microsoft side.

I’m not sure about how it works nowadays. I did this years ago with a much older Windows version, and it was an OEM license.

As you only need the VM solution for a week, you may be able to run the OS in with a pending activation for that time. Not sure if it would tell the activation server and that getting problematic with the new hardware. You may want to start by running the VM with no internet access and, if everything seems right, then decide if connecting it to the internet. I think what you want would be perfectly legal, and their servers shouldn’t block you from doing that, but I don’t know if that will really be the case. It will probably depend on the actual type of license you have.

 

Yes, it is possible. Just add the physical disk to the virtual machine as you would any other (you don’t even need a virtual disk here).

Just a couple of things to take into account:

• The disk must only be used by the virtual machine. If two OS are writing into it (or even have it mounted), that could corrupt the contents, as each would think it knows the full disk state.
• Licensing: As you will be running Windows from a different hardware, it may consider that your license is no longer valid / want to phone home to validate.