Windows activation on ex school laptop

Anonymous
2025-05-18T09:47:27+00:00

Hi,

When my son left primary school he "bought" the school laptop (it was a lease arrangement with the option to buy at the end).

It hadt windows installed, but since we left the school I am getting the windows activation watermark. There is a key in the activation section of the settings, but windows does not appear to be activated and there is a message that says windows can't connect to my organisations activation server (which I assume is the school, which the laptop is no longer connected to).

How do I get rid of the watermark?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Licensing and activation

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DaveM121 931.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2025-05-18T10:55:43+00:00

Thank you for the screenshots.

The problem is the Enterprise edition of Windows is installed, most likely, that was a licence provided by the education facility and has expired.

That device has a Windows Home pre-installed OEM licence stored on the motherboard, you will need to create a bootable Windows USB, then use that to install the Home version of Windows and that will activate automatically after the instalaltion.

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  1. DaveM121 931.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-05-18T11:58:34+00:00

    Yes, that is correct, you would need to backup all files from the device before clean installing Windows from a bootable USB.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-05-18T11:51:55+00:00

    Thanks. I assume this will erase everything on the laptop?

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-05-18T10:36:41+00:00

    Thank you. Please see below. I hid the Installed and OEM key. Let me know if you need the OEM key.

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  4. DaveM121 931.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-05-18T10:21:10+00:00

    Hi, I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    1

    Click your Start Button, type cmd then right click Command Prompt and choose 'Run as Administrator'

    Run or paste this command and hit Enter:

    slmgr.vbs /dlv

    Please post a screenshot of the resulting dialog

    2

    Download the free ShowKeyPlus app from the Microsoft Store.

    Please provide a screenshot of that app window and please hide your product key in the screenshot.

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