Removing the activate Windows watermark is one of the biggest problems that users face after installing a new copy of Windows. In this article, we will be talking about the best ways to remove the text ‘Activate Windows – Go to settings to activate windows’ that shows in the bottom right corner of a non-activated Windows 10 machine, as shown below.
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Why these texts appear on the screen?
The active windows watermark appears on your screen because your copy of Windows 10 operating system has not been activated. You should active the windows to get some important features like windows defender and other security treatment. It will also let you install Microsoft Office and other anti-malware security updates.
Step By Step Guide To Remove Activate Windows Watermark
The easiest and quickest way to remove the text is to activate windows genuinely. You will need a valid product key to activate windows 10 which will cost you around $150 these days. But if you don’t want to buy windows and want to remove the watermark permanently here are several ways about how to do so.
1. Ease of Access
You can remove the windows background image using the Windows 10 Ease of Access that will that make the watermark disappear. Follow these simple steps listed below.
- Click on the start menu icon. Search for Control Panel and open the app.
- Click on Ease of Access Center.
- Click on ‘Make the computer easier to see’ on the next page.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and tick the box ‘Remove background images (where available)’.
- Click Ok.
- Restart your computer.
2. Regedit
If ease of access does not work you can try Regedit to remove active windows watermark. So follow the simple steps t do.
- Click on the start menu Icon. Search for Registry Editor and open the app.
- Click yes if you are prompted by UAC.
- Now browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Control Panel > Desktop.
- Now scroll down to ‘PaintDesktopVersion’ and double click on it.
- Make sure Hexadecimal is selected and change the Value Data to 0.
- Restart your system.
- When you log in again the watermark should now be removed.
3. Remove Via Free Tool
You can remove the active windows watermark by using a free tool called. Follow the simple steps listed below to learn how to use this tool.
- At first install the Universal Watermark Disabler from here.
- Unzip the uwd.zip file after the download.
- Open the app by double-clicking uwd.exe.
- Click Install.
- The application should run after this.
- Then it will be automatically close and log you back.
- Once you log in again on your machine the watermark will be removed.
4. Remove Using Command Prompt
If your windows 10 machine has test mode enabled this may cause the activation watermark to show. We can disable test mode via the Command Promote by doing the following.
- Click on the start menu icon and type cmd.
- Right click on the Command Prompt application and select Run as Administrator. Then the black window of CMD shall appear.
- In the Command Promote window type ‘bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING OFF’ without the apostrophes and then hit enter.
- If everything goes fine you shall see the text ‘The operation completed successfully’.
- Now restart your machine and see if the watermark is gone.
Related Article: How to Add Sound Equalizer on Windows 10
5. Temporarily Active Windows Through PowerShell
You can temporarily activate windows 10 for 90 days using Windows PowerShell. Do not worry; you can reactive for another 90 days after the period is over. Do the followings listed below to activate windows with Powershell.
- Click on the start menu icon and type ‘PowerShell’.
- Right click on the Windows PowerShell app and select Run as Administrator. Then the bluish window of PowerShell shall appear.
- Type ‘slmgr /renew’ and hit enter in the PowerShell window.
- Now restart your machine.
6. Using Code to Remove Watermark
You can use this easy method to remove the text ‘Activate Windows – Go to settings to activate windows’ that shows on your screen. Follow the simple steps to do so.
- Create a new text document.
- Copy the code shown below to the document.
@echo off
taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
explorer.exe
exit - Then save it as a batch file with the name ‘remove.bat’.
- After saving right click on the batch file and hit ‘Run as Administrator’.
- You are all done. Restart your system and see if the watermark is still here to annoy you.
Wrapping Up
This is all the ways you can try for yourself to get rid of the activate Windows watermark. We always recommend you to activate the windows with the original serial key provided by the windows operating system.
The Proper activation system will protect your computer from unwanted threads with daily updates. If you have a better option for removing this watermark, don’t forget to leave a comment below.
