By default, Windows 7 comes with a 30 day complimentary trial before requiring activation. Meaning, you can install Windows 7 on your PC with full functionality, before having to enter a product key.
However, after that 30 day trial, Windows will go into Reduced Functionality Mode, or may even become inoperable. This is Microsoft’s safeguard against people who find a download of Windows 7, but don’t have a purchased product key.
If your Windows 7 (or Vista) PC should happen to get to that 30 day limit, you may want to prolong the trial a bit longer. Maybe you don’t yet have a purchased copy of Windows 7, can’t find your Windows 7 Product Key, or just need to get regain full use of Window so that you can backup your files. There is a simple way to rearm the Windows 7 trial, and get another 30 days.
For quick reference, you can check to see how many days are left before activation on your particular PC by navigating the path Start > right-click Computer > Properties. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and it should display a prompt with how many days are remaining.
Now, if you still have a good majority of the trial left, there is really no need to use this tip yet. However, if your trial is up, or you only have a couple of days remaining, you may want to add more days. Here is how you do it:
- Open up the Start Menu and type the words command prompt into the search box.
- Windows should find the Command Prompt utility under Programs.
- Right-click the Command Prompt listing in the Start Menu, and select Run as administrator.
- Enter the following text into Command Prompt: slmgr –rearm
- Press the Enter key. Windows should display a restart computer prompt.
- Restart your computer.
After your computer boots back up, you should have the the full 30 day trial again. You can use this tip three more times before having to purchase a Windows 7 activation key. Thus, you can get up to 90 days of additional demo time, or 120 days of total demo time before needing to activate Windows.
