Bootcamp & Parallels, licensing Win 8.1?

I got Windows 8.1 installed using bootcamp (for those having trouble, I installed Win 7, and then upgraded to Win 8.1).  I then installed Parallels, and was able to boot it as a VM.  
Going forward, I would like to be able to do both, boot Win 8.1 natively, as well as use it from Parallels.   Parallels warns about licensing/activation issues.  This makes sense to me, as the hardware will appear different depending on whether you boot it natively or from Parallels.  Will windows really get confused after activation?  
Anyone have any experience with this... do you really need to just pick method of booting and stick with it.   I do some pretty heavy development with Visual Studio.  So far parallels seems to run things pretty well, but I'd like to keep the option to boot natively with boot camp. 

You can access your Boot Camp installed Windows natively and/or using Parallels or Fusion. Just follow the directions on the Parallels site regarding licensing and activation of Windows when used this way. If you get stuck call the Microsoft activation number and you will automatically get issued a new activation key. There is no extra cost and the process is simple and automatic.
So the answer to your question is no you are not restricted to using Windows only one way. You use the same installation of your Boot Camp partition both natively and with Parallels interchangeably. You only have to activate Windows in both Boot Camp and Parallels once. Use Windows booted natively for resource intensive games and use Windows in through Parallels for more mundane computing that is less resource intensive.

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    Hello bigbobber,
    If  you have issue in using Windows 8.1 Pro in the software  parallels in MAC?
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    About the license issue, please read the following article about Buyer’s Guide and Microsoft software license agreement windows 8.1.
    http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/windows8-1.aspx
    It is recommended to contact the phone support if you have license issue.
    Best regards,
    Fangzhou CHEN
    Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]

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