Run Windows Vista Without Activation for 120 Days
Don’t like to be forced to activate Windows Vista after 30 days? With this simple hack, you can extend that period to a full 120.
When you install Windows Vista, you’re asked whether you want to “activate” the operating system right away. When Windows Vista activates, it contacts Microsoft servers over the Internet, and registers itself with Microsoft. At that point, Windows is tied to your specific hardware configuration, such as your motherboard, hard drive, and other pieces of hardware. If you make major changes to your hardware, such as installing a new motherboard, you’ll have to reactivate Windows.
Note: If you don’t like the idea of having your PC contact Microsoft servers over the Internet, you can instead call Microsoft to have Windows activated.
You don’t have to activate Windows Vista when you install it. You can do it any time in the next 30 days. But if you don’t do it after 30 days, you’ll get a warning, and after that, Windows won’t function fully. Many people don’t like the activation process because it ties Windows to their hardware configuration, and they like putting off activation. Also, if someone knows they’re going to do a major overhaul of their hardware in a few months, they’d also like to put off activation, because they’ll then only have to activate Windows again.
There’s a simple command-line tool that will allow you to extend your activation so that you can use Windows for a full 120 days with activating it. The Windows Software Licensing Management Tool is the Visual Basic script slmgr.vbs, found in C:\Windows\system32.
To run it, start a command prompt as an administrator by typing cmd in the Search box and right-clicking the icon that appears at the top of the Start menu and selecting “Run as administrator.”
At the command prompt, type this command and press Enter:
slmgr -rearm
You’ll see the message, “Command completed successfully. Please restart the system for the changes to take effect.” Reboot, and your activation period will be extended for 30 additional days. You’ll be able to do this three times, which means you’ll be able to run Vista without activation for 120 days.
Warning: After you type in your commands, nothing will seem to happen for a while, perhaps a minute or more. Don’t worry; nothing’s wrong. slmgr.vbs take a while to go about doing its business.
After you reboot, you can check whether your time was extended using slmgr.vbs to report on the state of your system’s activation. Type this command and press Enter:
slmgr -xpr
A screen appears telling you how long you have to wait until you have to activate Windows.
Note: Several people have reported that you can put off activation for a year or more, using a Registry hack. On a PC that has yet to have Windows activated, open the Registry Editor, and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SL. Look for the key named SkipRearm and change the value from 00000000 to 00000001. Exit the Registry, then use the slmgr command as described earlier to push out the activation deadline 30 days. You may now be able to keep doing this indefinitely. There’s a chance that Microsoft will close this hack off, by the way, and it may be short-lived.
You can use the slmgr.vbs command to perform other tasks related to your Windows license and activation. For example, type this command:
slmgr -dli
and you’ll be shown information about your Windows Vista license, as in Figure 1-7. Table 1-1 lists other switches you can use in concert with slmgr and what each does.
Figure 1-7. A short version of the license information for a PC