Windows 10: Weird activation watermark at the bottom right corner of screen

There's a watermark at the bottom right corner of my screen that says"Activate WindowsGo to Settings to activate Windows."so I went to settings and I couldn't find anything. I then tried googling it, but every solution I came across required changing a setting I couldn't find, or admin access, something which I do not have. I am borrowing this computer from someone else, so I cannot contact the admin of this computer. If you're wondering why I didn't ask who I'm borrowing the computer from, That's getting a bit too personal.

:)

 

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

My HP Pavilion Laptop (purchased at Costco) is one year old and I am getting an "Activate Windows" watermark in the lower right hand corner of my screen. Do I need to upgrade?

 

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".