Windows 7 activation period

I have had Windows 7 Ultimate installed for about two weeks, with a couple more weeks left to activate.

If you ignore the warnings, eventually you get a watermark on your desktop:

enter image description here

Then, after another few days, the desktop background will turn solid black:

enter image description here

What happens after the trial period has ended without activation?

SoftwareGeek

Posted 2010-02-15T01:33:31.230

Reputation: 891

5If you don’t activate Windows 7 within 30 days after installation, it turns into Windows Vista. :) – None – 2010-02-15T01:53:57.587

1LOL but i know what you mean. For everybody else, molly implies sarcastically that it's useless once trial period has ended, pretty much like vista, which is useless as well. – SoftwareGeek – 2010-02-15T02:07:41.533

Answers

After the activation grace period, you enter limited functionality mode. This typically means:

20 Second wait when starting Windows, with a screen saying activate now.
Solid Black desktop wallpaper
Nag screens popping up at random
Notification popup at random
You will still be able to do most Windows update, but anything through "Windows Genuine Advantage" will fail, this includes certain programs (e.g. Microsoft Security Essentials) and features such as many downloads from Microsoft.com.

Also, you can run slmgr -rearm (From the command prompt) a few times in order to extend the deadline by 30 days.

William Hilsum

Posted 2010-02-15T01:33:31.230

Reputation: 111 572

actually, it's called 'Reduced Functionality Mode': http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925582

– None – 2010-02-15T22:44:27.613

hmm, it applies only to Windows Vista as per the article. – SoftwareGeek – 2010-02-16T01:01:04.823

Note that grace period (few days) and trial period (30 days) are two different things. I hear it also shuts down every hour after the trial period. – jiggunjer – 2016-01-14T05:03:22.527

So, even though I noticed a few performance issues (which may not be due to the "Restricted" mode, I don't know for sure as I am stuck with this problem at the moment) it does not seem to be more than an inconvenience. I, for one, have most updates installed, and the only downside would be the longer boot time. Now, my question is, does this restrict some of you hardware performance? I'm not sure.

TheBatman

Posted 2010-02-15T01:33:31.230

Reputation: 1

This doesn't seem to be a very definitive answer to the question. – fixer1234 – 2016-07-07T20:39:36.473

Welcome to Super User! This is really a comment and not an answer to the original question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post - you can always comment on your own posts, and once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post. Please read Why do I need 50 reputation to comment? What can I do instead?

– DavidPostill – 2016-07-08T10:48:22.753