What if Windows is Not Activated?- Learn How to Activate Your OS

Well, activating a Windows works differently in different versions. To begin with, Windows XP was the first Windows that required activation. All the versions prior to the Windows XP did not require to be activated. However, since the launch of Windows XP, the user needs to activate the Windows after installation. Now, the question is, what if Windows is not activated?

You would usually get a grace period of one month to activate the Windows. This period starts when you get a notification to activate the Windows and ends one-month from that day. To be more clear, if you install the windows on say August 5, 201. The grace period for you to activate the Windows would be till September 5, 2019. During this period, it would behave normally and you would not feel any difference. But the day when the grace period gets expired, different Windows’ versions behave differently.

How to activate Windows XP?

Once the grace period expires in Windows XP, it becomes a big problem if the Windows is not activated yet. The computer would boot up and display the notification to activate the Windows. The only way to stop that is to activate the Windows or else, your computer would be a box to you.

How to activate Windows Vista and Windows 7?

In the case of Windows Vista and Windows 7, the computer is usable after the end of the thirty-day grace period. This is a bit of relaxation as in Windows XP becomes of no use after the expiration of the grace period. But this is not the end of the story. You would receive notifications on your screen in every hour or two, saying, you need to activate the Windows. On top of that, the background of the screen would go black. This is quite annoying and Microsoft does that in order to make sure that you activate the Windows.

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How to activate Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10?

There is no grace period in these versions. You need to activate the Windows as soon as you install it. But what happens if Windows is not activated in these versions? You would still be able to use most of the functions. The only problem is that you would have is that personalization is disabled. You would also see a watermark showing the version on the screen all the time. Apart from that, a pop-up would appear every six hours. There are some cons of not activating the Windows for sure but these are nothing as compared to the previous versions.

Now that you know the cons of not activating the Windows, the most of you would want to activate it. Just to make it clear, it is not like installing or purchasing a Windows. You can do it for free in a few minutes. Since the latest version of the Windows in Windows 10, we will be talking about that only. So, how to activate Windows 10? it’s pretty easy. You just need to follow a few steps and you are good to go. The easiest way to activate Windows 10 is by using Command Prompt. It is very easy and simple to follow. Let’s have a look at the steps involved.

Activation using Command Prompt

  • Right-click on the start button.
  • Open Command Prompt (Admin). Make sure you choose the right option. Don’t open Command Prompt, go for Command Prompt (Admin).
  • Use the command “slmgr /ipk yourlicensekey” to install a license key.
  • Press enter to execute the key.
  • Use the command “slmgr /skms kms8.msguides.com” to connect to my KMS server.
  • By this step, you are almost done. You just need to execute one more command. Use  “slmgr /ato”.
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This is it. This is all it takes to activate Windows 10. Check the status once again just to be sure. If you have any doubts, let us know in the comment section. We would love to help.