Using a graphical user interface
- From the Start menu, select All Programs > Activate Windows.
- Select whether you want to activate by phone or over the Internet.
Using a command-line interface
The following command opens the Activation wizard described in the previous section:
> %systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe /a
There are no options that can activate the computer silently from the command line.
Using VBScript
' This code activates a Windows Server 2003 system.
' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------
strComputer = "."boolActivateOnline = True ' If this is true, boolActivateOffline should
' be false
boolActivateOffline = False ' If this is true, boolActivateOnline should
' be false
strOfflineConfirmationCode = "1234-5678" ' if Activating offline, you need
' specify a confirmation code
' ------ END CONFIGURATION ---------
set objWMI = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
set colWPA = objWMI.InstancesOf("Win32_WindowsProductActivation")
for each objWPA in colWPA
WScript.Echo "Activation Settings:"
Wscript.Echo " Activation Required: " & objWPA.ActivationRequired
Wscript.Echo " Caption: " & objWPA.Caption
Wscript.Echo " Description: " & objWPA.Description
Wscript.Echo " Notification On: " & objWPA.IsNotificationOn
Wscript.Echo " Product ID: " & objWPA.ProductID
Wscript.Echo " Remaining Eval Period: " & objWPA.RemainingEvaluationPeriod
Wscript.Echo " Remaining Grace Period: " & objWPA.RemainingGracePeriod
Wscript.Echo " Server Name: " & objWPA.ServerName
Wscript.Echo " Setting ID: " & objWPA.SettingID
WScript.Echo
if objWPA.ActivationRequired = True then
if boolActivateOnline = True then
intRC = objWPA.ActivateOnline
if intRC <> 0 then
WScript.Echo "Error activating online: " & intRC
else
WScript.Echo "Successfully activated online"
end if
end if
if boolActivateOffline = True then
intRC = objWPA.ActivateOffline(strOfflineConfirmationCode)
if intRC <> 0 then
WScript.Echo "Error activating offline: " & intRC
else
WScript.Echo "Successfully activated offline"
end if
end if
end if
next
You can run an unactivated copy of Windows for up to 30 days before you must activate it to use the system further. Over those 30 days, you are periodically reminded to activate Windows via a pop-up window from the system tray. The longer you wait the more frequent these notifications become. And they can be down right aggravating if you don’t plan to activate the system for a number of days. Fortunately, you can disable these notifications. Here is a small script that does it:
strComputer = "."
set objWMI = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
set colWPA = objWMI.InstancesOf("Win32_WindowsProductActivation")
for each objWPA in colWPA
objWPA.SetNotification(0)
next
Just don’t forget that you still need to activate the system!
Tags: activate