Windows is one of the greatest pieces of software ever created. Do you disagree? Even if you do, the numbers certainly don’t lie. There are over 1.3 billion devices on Windows 10. And that’s just one of the many operating systems that have been made by Microsoft over the years.
Windows computers have also carved out a rich chunk of the desktop operating system market, taking up nearly three quarters as of 2021. Considering macOS is second-placed with about 15%, it is clear that the dominance of Windows is not going to be usurped anytime soon.
This activation business wasn’t something that used to be attached to Windows. You used to have to buy the installation media physically and then use the product key that came with it to keep piracy on the low. Microsoft has changed things, though, and now you can download Windows for free from their website. Activation is their new method of ensuring payment.
When your Windows PC is now activated, you’re going to have that Window watermark at the bottom right corner of your screen at all times. Whether you’re watching a movie, playing games, or just sitting on your desktop. No one wants this there, but some people can’t pay for an official license for one reason or the other.
I don’t condone piracy, but if you’re looking for how to remove activate Windows watermark, this is the final station for everything you need to know. Let’s get right into it.
Do you have a particular question about removing activate Windows watermark? Then use the table of contents below to jump to the most relevant section. And you can always go back by clicking on the black arrow in the right bottom corner of the page. Also, please note that some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. For more details, check the Disclosure section at the bottom of the page.
Here's what we'll cover:
Why do I need to activate Windows?
Windows is everywhere these days, but we shouldn’t forget that Microsoft is still running a business with its operating system. They need to make money, which is why activating is a thing. Here’s an interesting read on Microsoft making that switch.
When you activate Windows, you gain a lot of perks that a non-activated version doesn’t have:
- Certain features are excluded from an unactivated version of Windows. These include features such as dark mode, Windows Hello, and Windows Defender.
- You won’t be able to download most updates. Windows will only give you the chance to install critical ones.
- Most Microsoft apps will be blocked from use.
- You won’t have access to Dark Mode.
- You’ll be unable to customize your taskbar and other personalization options.
The Activate Windows watermark is annoying, but you might find it a bit more annoying not to access these features on your Windows PC.
How to remove Activate Windows watermark?
What you’re here for is to figure out how to get rid of Activate Windows watermark from your desktop. There are quite a few ways that you can do this, so I’ll show you all of the ones that I know.
Activate Windows
Perhaps the most obvious way to remove Windows watermark is to activate Windows! It is the only official way to get rid of that annoying watermark. When you do it this way, you’ll be certain not to run into any issues with your activation status in the future.
The steps to activating Windows are pretty straightforward. You’ll need to go to Settings to activate Windows.
- Open the Start menu.
- Click the gear icon to open Settings.
- Select “Update and Security.”
- Click on “Activation.”
- You can then activate Windows from here.
Using RegEdit
Do you know what RegEdit is? If you don’t, then this will be a risky option for you to turn to. You should try one of the other methods because using RegEdit wrongly can cause serious problems.
If you want to proceed, though, you do so at your own risk. Follow these steps to remove Activate Windows watermark using RegEdit.
- Open Run by pressing the Windows key + R.
- Type “regedit” and press Enter.
- At the left side of the screen, select “HKEY_CURRENT_USER.”
- Under that folder, choose “Control Panel” and then “Desktop.”
- At the right side of the window, look for “PaintDesktopVersion” and double-click it.
- In the window that appears, click Hexadecimal and enter 0 as the value data.
- Press OK.
- You can now close the Registry Editor window.
- Reboot your PC.
Even though your Windows not activated, you’ll no longer see that annoying watermark on your screen any longer. That’s a huge relief!
Using Ease of Access
There’s a setting in the Ease of Access settings built into your Windows OS that can serve as a Windows 10 watermark remover. I discovered this one entirely by accident, but it works perfectly.
- Open the Start Menu.
- Type in “Control Panel.” Select the app from the results that appear.
- Select “Ease of Access Center.”
- Click on “Make the computer easier to see.”
- Click the checkbox for “Remove background images (where available)” at the bottom of the screen.
- Now click OK and reboot your PC.
Voila! Just like that, there’s no longer a Windows watermark for you to worry your head about.
Using a Windows Watermark Remover Tool
This is such an annoying problem for people using Windows 10 that many talented coders have made Windows 10 watermark remover tools for free. One of the best of these, in my opinion, is Universal Watermark Disabler.
You can get this application here.
After you have downloaded Universal Watermark Disabler, just follow these steps below:
- Unzip the download into a folder of your choice.
- Close all applications that you have open and running on your PC.
- Open uwd.exe from the folder you unzipped to.
- Click “Install” in the window that appears.
- Universal Watermark Disabler will run and restart your computer when it has done its work.
That’s it! Once your computer boots back up, that Activate Windows watermark should be gone.
Using a Script
Suppose you’re looking for how to get rid of Activate Windows watermark using a fancier solution. In that case, I’d definitely point to using a script as one of those options.
You just have to put specific text into a Notepad file and save it as a bat file to make a script. This sounds harder than it really is. It’s one of the methods to remove Windows watermark that I like the best.
- Open the Start menu.
- Search for Notepad and select the application that appears.
- Copy the following text into the window:
@echo off
taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
start explorer.exe
exit
- Press “File” at the left side of the menu bar and press “Save As”.
- You can name it anything, but we’ll choose “watermarkremover.bat”. You must include “.bat” at the end or this method won’t work at all.
- Click the drop-down menu next to “Save as type:” and choose “All Files”.
- Take note of where you’re saving the file to and go ahead and press “Save”.
- Navigate to the folder you’ve saved the file to.
- Double-click on the watermarkremover.bat file (or whatever funny name you might have called it).
- The watermark will vanish!
One important thing to note about this method is that the Windows watermark will pop up again once you restart your PC. So, you’ll need to launch it each time your turn on your computer. Regardless, this is an easy method with little risk, so it is an excellent option if you don’t know too much about computers.
Credits: Thanks for the photo to Canva.
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