Windows 10: Activate Windows watermark - cant get rid of it!!!!!!!!!!!

I have had windows 10 since the free update and have had no problems with activating it. it has worked flawlessly with no problems (maybe a few but that's besides the point) and have never had to deal with this stupid "activate windows" watermark. Now out of the blue i have to activate windows (which i have already done like a year ago) and have to put up with this stupid watermark. Now im not sure if ive deleted some important files or if my product key has changed somehow but can someone help me asap, i need to get rid of this watermark, its so distracting

:)

 

Windows 10 cannot be activated?

I managed to get rid of the watermark, but windows still doesn't activate.

 

I didn't get an email about my Win10 Product Key?

I either didn't get an email about it after the free installation, and now i cant get rid of the "Activate Windows" watermark-like notification in the bottom right corner of my screen, How do i get it re-sent to me?

 

Hi iboy55 and welcome to Tenforums.

Did you upgrade from W7 or W8?
If W7, you can try putting your old W7 keycode in where it says Change Product Key. Your old W7 code would be on a sticker on the machine, if the system came with W7 installed by the OEM. If you purchased the W7 key, you'd need to locate that.

If the system came with W8 pre-installed by the OEM, then you should be able to identify that by using ShowKey Plus, to grab it from the BIOS, where it would be stored. Again, if you purchased W8.x, you'd need to locate that purchase.

If you make regular images of your drive, you could just restore an image back from when it was activated, and see if that doesn't solve the problem.

There are a few reasons this could happen: 1. if you had digital license for Pro and installed Home (or vice versa), 2. if you purchased a digital key from a questionable source, which was actually a leaked key that MS eventually blocked, or, 3. you're trying to activate Windows using KMS and it's unable to call home now to keep the activation current.

The activation error 0x8007007b indicates that you are using KMS for activation and it's failing.

 

Run slmgr /dlv from an admin command prompt and post image (data is not confidential).

 

My PC was custom built and i have installed windows 8 from a disc, which was later upgraded to windows 10. I have recently used a KMS, and accidentally pressed activate windows which is why ( i think) that the watermark has appeared.

im wondering if the product key would be the same one as i used for windows 8, and if so will i be able to use the same key tosort this out if not well I will need more help.

 

You are exactly correct.
See if you can press the Change Product Key and enter the W8 key that you purchased.

 

I chatted with a Microsoft tech. Here was the fix:
1. open cmd with administrator rights
2. type "slmgr - rilc" without quotes
3. wait....files will be reloaded
4. type "slmgr - rearm" without quotes
Here, I got an error, but was told to just reboot

Rebooted, and watermark gone. Tech said needed to reinstall license files. It worked.