HOWTO Reset Windows Vista Activation

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Need more time to activate your copy of Vista? This article will show you how to use the 2099-ReArm trick to give you another 30 days.

Solution

  • Start -> All Programs -> Accessories
  • Right Click "Command Prompt" -> "Run as Administrator"
  • Type 
date
  • Set the date for December 31, 2099
  • Type 
cscript slmgr.vbs -rearm
  • Restart the computer
  • Fire up a command prompt and reset the date back to current time.
  • Done! You now have another 30 days.

Checking how much time is left

In a command or run prompt (Windows key + R) type 

slmgr.vbs -dlv

A window will pop up indicating the time left until activation.

Editing the registry to re-arm for longer period

1. Start -> type regedit into Search -> Enter

2. Explore down to the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ SL

3. Right-click the Registry key named SkipRearm and click Edit. The default is a Dword (a double word or 4 bytes) with a hex value of 00000000. Change this value to any positive integer, such as 00000001, save the change, and close the Registry Editor.

4. Start a command prompt with administrative rights. The fastest way to do this is to click the Start button, enter cmd in the Search box, then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. If you're asked for a network username and password, provide the ones that log you into your domain. You may be asked to approve a User Account Control prompt and to provide an administrator password.

5. Type one of the following two commands and press Enter:

slmgr -rearm or rundll32 slc.dll,SLReArmWindows

Either command uses Vista's built-in Software Licensing Manager (SLMGR) to push the activation deadline out to 30 days after the command is run. Changing SkipRearm from 0 to 1 allows SLMGR to do this an indefinite number of times. Running either command initializes the value of SkipRearm back to 0.

6. Reboot the PC to make the postponement take effect. (After you log in, if you like, you can open a command prompt and run the command slmgr -xpr to see Vista's new expiration date and time. I explained the slmgr command and its parameters in my Feb. 15 article.)

7. To extend the activation deadline of Vista indefinitely, repeat steps 1 through 6 as necessary.

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