Vista Tutorial - Activation - Extend Trial Period

**Brink** · **STEP ONE:**

How to Extend Vista Trial Period for Up to 120 Days

Information

Vista gives you a 30 day trial period before you have to activate Vista or pay for a product key number. This will show you how to extend the trial period 30 days at a time for up to 3 times for a total of 120 days. When you install Windows 7, you will have 30 days (trial period) to activate by default.

Microsoft has allowed this rearm option to extend this trial period for another 30 days for up to 3 times.

3 (rearms) x 30 (days) = 90 (days extended) + 30 (default days) = 120 days total trial period.

For more information, see: Windows Help and How-to: Activating Windows FAQs

NOTE

For the license terms for Vista, see: Microsoft: License Terms for Software Licensed from Microsoft
If you are locked out of your computer and in Reduced Functionality Mode, then see: How to Get Out of Reduced Functionality Mode in Vista

Tip

Common Activation ERROR Messages:

For more information, see: Microsoft Help and Support: KB925616

Activate Windows Now
Your activation period has expired and Windows is no longer working.
To use Windows you must activate this copy of Windows.

WARNING

It is recommended to wait until you only have only 1 day to activate left before doing this to make the most out of the 3 times you have to use this rearm option.

Be sure to activate Vista before the trial period runs out, or you will be in Reduced Functionality Mode. For more information, see: How to Get Out of Reduced Functionality Mode in Vista

RELATED LINKS:

Tip

To See How Long You Have Left On Trial Period:

1. Open the Start Menu.

2. Right click on Computer and click on Properties.
A) Go to step 3.

OR

1. Open the Control Panel (Classic view)

2. Click on System icon.

3. Scroll down to the bottom and you will see this screenshot.

4. Activate Vista.
NOTE: For how, see: How to Activate Vista Normally and by Phone Activation

STEP ONE:
In the Registry

NOTE

You will need to make sure that the Data value for SkipRearm is set to 0 (zero) first for this to work.

Through a Download:
1. Set SkipRearm to 0 (number zero) -
A) Click on the download button below to download the Set_SkipRearm_to_0.reg file.

2. Click on Save, and save the .reg file to the Desktop.

3. Right click on the .reg file (on Desktop) and click on Merge.

4. Click on the Run button for Security Warning pop-up.

5. Click on Continue (UAC), Yes, and then OK when prompted.

6. When done, you can delete the .reg file (on Desktop).

The Manual Way:
1. Open the Start Menu.

2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.

3. If prompted, click on Continue in the UAC prompt.

4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SL

6. To Set SkipRearm to 0 (number zero) -
A) In the right pane, right click on SkipRearm and click Modify. (See screenshot above)

B) Type 0 (number zero) and click OK. (See screenshot below)

C) The registry will now look like this. (See screenshot below)

7. Close regedit.

STEP TWO:
In the Command Prompt

NOTE

Be sure to do Step One above first, or this may not work for you.

1. Open a elevated command prompt.

2. In the elevated command prompt, type slmgr -rearm and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
WARNING: This will only work if you haven't used up your 3 times already. If this is past the 3 times, you will probably receive a VBScript permission denied error.

3. It will take a few moments, but a window will pop-up asking to reboot. (See screeshot below)

4. Click on OK and restart the computer.

5. Your Activation period has been extended by 30 days.

6. You can repeat the above steps up to 3 times for the full 120 days.You shouls onyl do this when your activation trial period is almost up to get the most out of the 3 times you have.
NOTE: After doing this for 3 times, this will not work anymore and a clean reinstall will be needed to be able to use this again.

7. Activate Vista soon.
NOTE: For how, see: How to Activate Vista Normally and by Phone Activation

That's it,
Shawn

**Brink** · 09-26-2007

Updated 9-26-2007 to include more screenshots and easier instructions.

Shawn

**sidney1st** · 05-14-2008

	Quote:
	A) This will not work if you have the Vista SP1 (Service Pack) installed

It works fine with Vista including SP1.
Check before that in the registry
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SL
SkipRearm should be "0"
Just tested on a new install with of course a good license key used during the setup as 2 days ago was the last day before activation.
Don't work if SkipRearm key value is "1" and maybe if the trick was already used before installing SP1.

**Brink** · 05-14-2008

Thank you Sid. It has been added to the tutorial.

Shawn

thegeek · 06-24-2008

This didnt work for me I still got 15 days left.
And yes I have checked everything and it should be right.

**Brink** · 06-24-2008

Hello The Geek,

Did you recieve any errors while doing this?

Have you already done this before for all 3 times? If so, it will not work again and a reinstall must be done to do it again.

Shawn