How to Rearm Windows 7 and Vista
‘Rearm’ trick on Windows 7 is done using the similar commands and steps with Windows Vista Follow these steps to reset and extend activation grace period from 30 days to 120 days in Windows 7:
- Install Windows 7 without any product activation key.
- After installation is completed, use the Windows 7 for 30 days and wait for the remaining days left to activate Windows counting down to 0, or almost zero.
- When the activation grace period (or evaluation trial period) is almost expired or ended, log on to Windows 7 desktop, and open a Command Prompt window (i.e. type Cmd in Start Search and hit Enter).
- Type any of the following commands into the command prompt, and then hit Enter:
sysprep /generalize
slmgr.vbs –rearm
rundll32 slc.dll,SLReArmWindows
slmgr /rearm
- Reboot Windows 7 to enjoy another 30 days of free usage without worrying about either activation or even the need to crack Windows 7.
- When the activation grace period countdown timer almost running down to 0 again, repeat the ‘rearm’ trick to enjoy another 30 days of Windows 7 for free. User can run the rearm command for maximum of 3 times.
As rearm only works for 3 times, make sure to run the command only when the 30 days countdown of evaluation period is almost expired to get max time.
By default, Vista will run fully for 30 days without activation, after that, it will go into ‘Reduced Functionality Mode’, which basically gives you enough resources to be able to activate the OS. SLMGR has a function called Rearm that allows you to extend your ‘evaluation period’ by 30 days. The rearm function is said to work three times, which would extend your non-activated use to 120 days total.
So how do you use it? It’s simple, just click on your Start menu, and in the search box type cmd and press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER (to run the command prompt with elevated privileges).
In the command prompt window, type slmgr -rearm and hit Enter.
Wait for about 10 seconds, and you’ll get a confirmaton window that the command completed successfully, and that a reboot is required to complete the task.
Note that you should be able to just type slmgr.vbs -rearm in the search box, followed by CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER, but both of the machines I tried that on told me that it failed because it needed elevated privileges, even though the CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER provided this.
