Extending Vista activation period to 120 days

WingaWinga MrSouth Africa Icrontian
edited February 2007 in Science & Tech
No matter which version of Windows Vista you decide to choose, you’ll find them all packed on a single DVD.
This means that the DVD in the $199 Home Basic box is the same as the one in the $399 Ultimate package. The only thing differentiating the two, is the license.

So if you buy a version which offers less functionality than the Ultimate, and are undecided if it’s the right one for you, Microsoft offers a 30-day grace period for any of the versions, without the need for a special CD-key.

This is where it gets interesting. What if, after 30 days you still undecided whether you want to pay extra for an upgrade or for that matter, legitimize your copy of windows.
Microsoft has an interesting little feature that extends the trial license. Unlike other methods that freeze the activation countdown timer, this requires no hacking, cracking or illegal third party files.
All one needs to do is log into Windows Vista with administration rights, launch the command prompt and type in:

slmgr –rearm

Restart the PC and the countdown timer will reset to 43200 minutes (30 days).
Vista will allow a reset of up to three times, so theoretically if you issue the “rearm” command on the last day of each trial period, you could squeeze 120 free days out of it.

Comments

  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited February 2007
    Which begs the question: Can you reset the reset limiter?
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited February 2007
    Which begs the question: Can you reset the reset limiter?

    slmgr -rearm -rearm

    And after that runs out:

    slmgr -rearm -rearm -rearm
  • edited February 2007
    You can stop the timer entirely by loading a specific .dll at boot if you want...
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