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A similar situation would happen if you installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 on a machine and didn’t enter a product key upon installation.

In this virtual machine, we upgraded an unlicensed copy of Windows 7 to Windows 10 and never entered a product key during the upgrade.īecause of this, Windows 10 is not activated and thus shows the watermark. You can see in the above screenshot that Windows 10 is not activated because the previous version of Windows wasn’t activated either. You may need to search for your specific error code if your issue isn’t mentioned here. Now that you know what the issue is, let’s review some of the common fixes for non-activated Windows 10. Here you’ll see the status of your Windows 10 license and what you can do to activate it and remove the watermark. To find out why you have the «activate Windows» watermark on your system, head to Settings > Update & Security > Activation. How to Check Your Windows 10 Activation Status We’ll then dive into how to potentially remove the «activate Windows» watermark using other methods. Now that you understand activation, let’s take a look at some of the most common reasons this watermark appears. You’ll still receive system updates and don’t have to deal with any nagging popups. If you don’t mind this, however, Windows 10 otherwise functions as normal. This prevents you from changing the wallpaper, theme color, Start menu, and similar. Additionally, you can’t use any of the items in the Personalization category of Settings. You’ll see the «activate Windows» watermark in the bottom-right corner of your screen, plus a message in Settings letting you know that Windows isn’t activated. What It’s Like to Use Non-Activated Windows 10Īs it turns out, a non-activated copy of Windows 10 works almost exactly the same as an activated one, with a few minor limitations. Windows 10 allows you to link your digital license with your Microsoft account, which makes reactivating it in the future much easier (as we’ll see). Conversely, those who upgraded to Windows 10 from a licensed copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 have a digital license and don’t need a product key for activation. If you purchased your PC ready-built, it also likely came with a product key. You’ll receive a product key if you buy a Windows 10 license from Microsoft or another retailer.