Hi All ; just got this warning message - never seen it before - " Windows licence will expire soon. You need to activate windows in PC settings " by May 4 it will want a long authentication code. Lenovo T500 laptop purchased used ~ 14 months ago. Running Win 8.1 Pro ; sticker says Win Vista Business. No problems or issues of any kind - until now :-( Any advice on this or a work-around ? Thanks in advance. John T.
Sounds like that is likely what the problem is. When Windows is installed it needs to be activated, otherwise it will only work for a certain amount of time. If he has the activation code, then activate it. If not, then I guess it's time to contact the seller, if they can be found.
The Vista Business sticker looks like the original - the Win 8 was installed by a previous owner - no disks came with the computer - it was a private sale. ... if I had the stuff you ask about - I doubt that I would be asking, here, for a work-around - right ? but thanks for the reply - any help is appreciated. John T.
You only have documented proof that you are entitled to a Vista Business license. For all you know, the 8.1 upgrade may have been unlicensed.
[Would you buy a car without a copy of the title?]
Most folks that have asked me for help with their computers HAVE the original install disks -- or, a way of having their computer *make* them. Yet, they still "ask (here)".
I suspect you have a hacked license and the chickens have now come home to roost. Fourteen months is a LOT longer than the time it takes for Windows to pester you about "activation" -- IIRC, 30 or 90 days (and, in recent releases, it may just nag you -- and refuse to allow any updates -- instead of "refusing to boot")
There is no such message from windows -"Windows licence will expire soon. You need to activate windows in PC setting". Windows licences do not "expire" They are "perpetual" after activation. If they were never activated you will get a message
Press the Windows key and the pause/break key to bring up the System Screen. The look at the status under Windows Activation down at the bottom. It should say "Windows is activated". If its not, there should be an activate windows option there. If you see that option click it and see what happens.
My suspicion is something got screwed up when you updated from 8.0 to
8.1.
Install Belarc Advisor and it will give you the installation key used to install windows and then you can do the phone activation, giving Microsoft the code.
| Hi All ; just got this warning message - never seen it before - | " Windows licence will expire soon. You need to activate windows | in PC settings " by May 4 it will want a long authentication code. | Lenovo T500 laptop purchased used ~ 14 months ago. | Running Win 8.1 Pro ; sticker says Win Vista Business. | No problems or issues of any kind - until now :-( | Any advice on this or a work-around ?
It's hard to know for sure from the wording, but it could be a scam. OEM computers (made by name brand companies) shouldn't ever need activation, and Windows license don't expire. If you don't figure it out you could try two things:
1) Do a search for the exact wording to see if it's a known scam.
2) While the message is onscreen, press Ctl + Alt + Delete and select Task Manager. Under applications or processes see what's running. If anything looks unusual you can track down that EXE file name and see what it is. Sysinternals.com has a better tool, called Process Explorer. In that you can hover the mouse over a running program listing and see the EXE path. Then find that file, right- click, click Properties, click Version to find out about it. You can also do a search for the EXE name.
Thanks all for helping. I did find a fix/work-around using a google search for "windows license will expire soon" lots of hits for Win 8.1 and a fairly easy fix - if it works .. fingers crossed .. btw the Belarc Win 8.1 key didn't work ; and the Vista key didn't work - tried them both twice prior to trying the fix. .. they were rejected as not valid .. Fix is : cmd prompt slmgr -rearm then re-start computer. The file that generates the message is LicensingUI.exe. John T.
They key on the label will require re-installing the original version of windows. The key reported by Belarc WILL be the key of the currently installed product.
I've been forced to do this several times for customers who have lost their licence certificate, or on laptops where the label has been worn so badly it cannot be read.
Lots of OEM installations require authentication (if they use an install disk instead of an image) and the installed Win* may well be an upfrade purchaced retail, or a total new installation purchased retail.
| Lots of OEM installations require authentication (if they use an | install disk instead of an image)
They don't use a disk. It's pre-installed and locked to the BIOS. It's rare to even get a restore disk anymore. Most just have a hidden partition for restore. The OEM license specifies being limited to a single machine. Not providing a disk helps enforce that.
| and the installed Win* may well be | an upfrade purchaced retail, or a total new installation purchased | retail.
That's possible. He says it has a Vista sticker but that it's running Win8. He may just be misquoting the message it's giving him. I could imagine someone shoehorning any old Win8 onto the laptop with no possibility of ever activating, only as a means to get it sold. Most people would consider Win8 better than Vista because it's newer.
You've just kicked the can down the road and restarted the "trial period". You can expect to repeat this exercise next month/quarter. After three or four such "resets", the trick stops working.
Try: slarm /dlv and note the lines pertaining to "initial grace period" and "rearm count".
Pirate installations effectively do this automatically as part of the bootstrap procedure. Then, resets the counter (part of the registry) that limits you to 4 "resets".
This is not the same as running licensed software.
I'm in the business. There are 2 ways "oem" licences are provided. There are the smaller OEMs that use an OEM install disk that is identical to a retail package except for the key, and then there is the "pre-install" The "pre-install" comes 2 different ways. Some come with an installtion key and requires authentication. Others, like the new ACERS do not have a separate installation key and do not (generally) require authentication.(all VM4630G systems, for instance, use the same installation key). I have had some that required re-authentication after adding or changing things like different hard drive, add-on video, and a RAID controller. I think it is 3 "major" changes trips the authentication - and "usually" the online authentication doesn't work - but phone-in does. When they ask how many systems this copy of the program is installed on you have to say "one" and it says "confirmed" and authenticates.
With both of the latter, there is a hidden partition that contains an "image" that it installs from. It has all the drivers for the equipment that comes on the computer, and virtually no extras - and is usually also full of "bloatware". Both are also capable of creating a "restore disk" - and "restore disks" are available for purchace from the company. Virtually NONE are locked to the bios in that they will not run on another motherboard of the same model - and very few won't install on a different motherboard with the same chip-set. (I've had to replace a few motherboards on off-warranty systems and have used boards from other manufacturers - as long as they have the same chipset )
On the newest computers that don't use a "bios" and don't use an "MBR" things are more complex. I have not had to replace any motherboards - but cloning a hard-drive to put in a larger drive can be a real challenge. Rolling out software on one system and then cloning the drive to the other 49 sytems on a 50 system install doesn't work like it did on the systems with a bios and MBR.
The first type uses an "installation disk" - not a "restore disk" - and it will work on virtually any hardware - but it requires the proper installation key.
This depends on the OEM and the type of licensing in place.
It has also changed, over time. E.g., for XP, the BIOS simply needed to include a (appropriately tagged) name of the PC vendor.
So, a "Dell" installation CD can typically install that version of Windows on any PC's of "the appropriate age/generation". The machine will not prompt for a license key during the installation. And, will not whine about trying to phone home (for automatic activation).
Using Dell media on a non-Dell machine will behave in much the same way as RETAIL media -- you will be prompted for a key, it will be "activated" when you go on-line, etc.
The annoying aspect is that the mechanisms are not backward compatible. E.g., I had a genuine Dell machine on which I installed 7even to see what it was like (i.e., do I want to go to the trouble of trying to install all of my software on a newer OS? what will that buy me in terms of performance? etc.). As the machine couldn't talk to the outside world, Windows eventually complained that the copy wasn't "genuine".
AFAIK, it may be possible to patch a (FLASH) BIOS to insert/replace the appropriate key and tag. But, as I have no desire to undertake the effort (gamble!) of installing all of my tools on a newer OS, I've not explored that option.
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