Windows 10: Active Windows Watermark appears on a previously working Windows license.

Hello,I have a coworker experiencing issue with his laptop erroneously showing that his license needs to be activated. What we've tried so far to resolve this based off other posts I've seen:Ran a sfc /scannowTried the activation troubleshooterThanks for any help with this!

:)

 

Activate Windows watermark suddenly appeared

No changes have been made to the hardware, and I've had this laptop for nearly two years. This morning, a watermark appeared in the bottom right corner of my screen telling me to activate windows.

On the activation page in settings it tells me I don't have a valid digital license or product key, with the error code "0xc004f012".

It also suggests that I try the troubleshooter below, which then tells me that troubleshooting was interrupted and gives the error code "0xc3f6501".

 

Activate Windows Watermark

Hi Duncan,

The Windows activation watermark is usually appearing if the activation servers detect that a device is not activated. For further help with activating your copy of Windows 10, visit this
link. If the same issue persists after performing the troubleshooting suggestions on the link, follow these steps:

• Using Cortana, type Notepad and then click on Notepad (Desktop app).
• Type the following commands in Notepad:
  • @Echo off
    
    taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
    
    explorer.exe
    
    exit
    
    
• 
  Save the file and name it as Activation.bat.
  
• 
  Change the Save as type to All files.
  
• 
  Locate the file, right-click on it and then choose Run as Administrator.
  
• 
  After running the file, restart your computer and then check if the same issue persists.
  

Let us know if further assistance is needed.

 

Windows 10 Activation watermark causes mouse input lag

It is more than the watermark. Windows 10 has underlying features that take effect when you have gone over the eval period that MS allows with an install that is not activated. Suggest activating either with a previous Windows 8.x license or purchasing a license.