Use Windows 7 and Vista For 1 Year Without Activation

If all other possible ways to activate Windows has failed, you are left with only one which is to activate windows by phone. What if that also has failed somehow? Here is a nice registry (as well as a command line) trick to postpone Windows activation for 1 year or just to say, use Windows without activating it.

Reset Windows Vista And Windows 7 Activation for 120 days

1. Start Command Prompt. (Press Winkey+R to start Run, type cmd in it and hit enter).

2. Enter the command slmgr –rearm and hit enter.

3. You will be prompted to restart Windows. After restarting, the trial period will be extended for 30 more days.

NOTE : If you are willing to take full advantage (i.e 120 days) perform this trick every 30 days after installation. This trick will work only three times. So, 30days(default) + extended 90(30X3) days makes the extension of 120 days or 4 months.

Reset Windows 7 or Vista Activation For almost 1 year(360 days)

As I mentioned earlier, the slmgr –rearm trick could be used only 3 times. But a registry trick will make it usable for 8 more times i.e (8X30=240days) of Windows use.

1. Open the registry editor in Windows 7 or Vista.(Press Winkey+R to start Run, and then type regedit in it and hit enter).

NOTE : Backup Windows Registry before making changes to it.

2. Go to the following directory using the left pane,

For Windows Vista

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SL

For Windows 7

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform

*HKLM stands for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

3. Now in the right pane, you will find a DWORD entry named, SkipRearm. Right click on it and press “Modify”. Change the “Value Data” to 1.

4. Restart your computer to apply the changes. That’s all. Now you can perform the previously mentioned(slmgr -rearm) trick 8 more times.

Therefore the total count of the allowed slmgr –rearm trick is 11 which means an extra of 330 days in addition to the default 30 days. So, you get a 360 days of extension for using Windows 7 or Vista without activating it. You may also like to know how to disable or enable the Windows auto-activation feature.