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I have a Vista guest running inside VirtualBox on an Ubuntu host.

Suppose I take a snapshot, apply a patch, and then run the snapshot again (effectively the same as reverting the patch) am I likely to confused Windows Product Activation?

The hardware hasn't changed, but a technically-un-uninstallable patch has somehow disappeared :)

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Windows Activation has never been an issue with me when creating\deleting\reverting snapshots. Just don't revert to a pre-activation snapshot.

I'm not sure what you mean about a disappearing patch, though. Wasn't that the point of reverting to a snapshot?

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Re the disappearing patch: if I take a snapshot, then install a patch, then revert, does WPA somehow notice that the patch that was installed needs installing again. For example, I take a Vista-without-service-pack snapshot, then install SP1, then shut down the machine and start the snapshot. I was wondering if WPA tracked the patches that are installed, as part of its hunt for multiple machines running the same install of Windows. – Rich Mar 17 '11 at 14:56
When you revert to a snapshot, you're essentially taking a trip in a time machine. Windows will know what it knew before hand. Windows Product Activation checks when you try and download a patch are just "Is it valid? Okay, go." Only things like O/S and application installs are tracked. – Hyppy Mar 17 '11 at 14:59
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I'm going to say "No". As far as I'm aware the only thing that can trigger a reactivation is a hardware changed. You might get some unusual effets though, not using snapshots for this sort of thing I can't be sure how it would work.

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