14. Extend Windows 7 Trial For 120 Days Without Having
To Activate
The Windows operating system, by default, requires to be
activated within a period of 30 (thirty) days. If you omitted to
uncheck the 'Automatically activate Windows when online' then, as
soon as you go online, Windows will automatically go through the
activation process. We personally recommend disabling the
'Automatically activate Windows when online' option when installing
Windows to give you enough time to check that everything is working
correctly before activating.
Thirty days, of course, is more than enough time to actually
evaluate any software application, but there are times when
different scenarios present challenging problems and it simply
isn't advisable to activate until you have evaluated all of your
scenario possibilities, besides, if you try to activate your copy
again you are more than likely going to get a 'Product key already
in use' message and then you will have to telephone the Windows
Activation line to sort the problem out.
Rather than going to this trouble it is far better to delay
activation for at least 14 to 21 days. If after this period you
still require more time a simple trick will allow you to re-arm
the activation mechanism so that you get a further 30 days grace
period. This trick can actually be used up to three times, thus
extending activation for a full 120 days.
So how's it done? Well to begin with you need to be sure that
the 'grace' period hasn't already expired, so I suggest you try
this trick out when activation tells you that you have 2 or 3 days
left, i.e., after 26 to 29 days have expired.
Once you know you have time left proceed as follows:
1. Click Start.
2. On the Start menu, Click in the
Search box and type: cmd
3. In the search results you will see the
Command Prompt Application file.
4. Right click on the cmd application file and, from the
drop down menu, Select the 'run as administrator' option.
5. The User Account Control box will appear asking for
permission to continue. If you are the Administrator, then press
the Continue button. If you are not the Administrator
you will
need to input the Administrator credentials (user name and
password) before you will be allowed to continue.
6. In the Command Prompt window type: slmgr -rearm and Press
Enter.
Fig: 14-1 Open Command Prompt window
7. A Script message should now appear telling you that the
command complete successfully. For the changes to take effect,
Click Ok and then restart your PC.
Fig: 14-2 Command completed successfully screen
8. When your PC restarts, Click on the Start button followed
by Control Panel. In Control Panel, Click the System Icon. When
the System window opens the Windows Activation section should now
show 30 days to activate.
Fig: 14-3 Windows activation alert
7. Finally, Close the command prompt window and
restart your
computer.
Windows activation should now have been re-set to 30 (thirty)
days again.