Once you confirm that you’re an administrator and using your Microsoft account, go back to the If you don’t yet have a Microsoft account, see If not, you’re logged in with a local account. If an email address is displayed, this is a Microsoft account. To confirm you're using an administrator account, select theĬreate a local user or administrator accountĬonfirm that the administrator account is also your Microsoft account by checking to see if an email address is displayed above Sign in as an administrator to add your Microsoft account. To link your Microsoft account, follow these instructions: If you have purchased a license for this device already and still receive an error message, continue to If you need to purchase a license for your device, see 'Purchase a Windows 11 license.' You might need to purchase Windows 11 to activate. You will see an error message explaining the failure. Your Microsoft account is already linked to your digital license. Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account Your Microsoft account is not linked to your digital license. Windows is activated with a digital license You'll see one of these activation status messages on the Activation page: Your activation status will be listed next to Bear in mind that this does not act as a genuine license key and only extends the grace period included with Microsoft's Windows 10 OS.To check activation status in Windows 11, select the Still, it does allow you to banish the watermark for that session, allowing you to screenshot or stream a game without it appearing all over your screen. It's a hangover from older Windows operating systems. It will then prompt you to reboot, and then the watermark will be gone for now. In the terminal window, type in slmgr -rearm.Right-click on Command Prompt and run as administrator.Hit the Windows key and type in the words: Command Prompt.To remove the Activate Windows watermark from Windows 10, follow these steps: Can I remove the 'Activate Windows' watermark from Windows 10? Still, there is an option to remove this temporarily if you need to grab a screenshot or similar. The watermark's transparency helps it blend in with what else is going on across your monitor most of the time, and you'll be surprised how quickly you get used to it. The words 'Activate Windows' scrawled in the bottom right corner of the screen may prompt you to upgrade, though. All you have to do is head to Microsoft's official Windows download site, grab the tool, and create a USB drive to boot your new build from and kick-start the installation process. However, functionality is limited without a genuine key. That's the bit of Microsoft's OS that you actually need to buy as the OS itself has a longer grace period.

It's actually free to install Windows 10 without a license key.

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