Are there any limitations for Unactivated Windows 8.1?

Question

Hello, I'm stuck in a very specific situation where I am unable to activate Windows 8.1

This is how the story goes..

1. I bought my Lenovo Windows 8 Preinstalled laptop in the United States, and came into Korea. 2 years ago
2. Last month, my hard drive broke down(?) and I replaced my hard drive with Windows 8.1 installed in it
3. I don't know what was going on, but Windows was freezing once in a while for like a minute or so, making me unable to do much so I decided to restore it
4. I did the initial restore system that came with Windows 8.1
5. For some reason, I got an activation error

I've called various places - microsoft help, Lenovo Call center, and the A/S Center I used to replace my hard drive - and found what the problem was.

The Serial Key embedded to my computer is that for Windows 8 English Version, (Lenovo OEM)

But the hard drive that I replaced was Windows 8.1 Korean Version (Lenovo OEM)

So, while my serial key is a proper one, it isn't activated on the current OS

I asked the center and apparently I can only fix this, or get the image of the US Version Lenovo OEM, I need to go to the center in the US.

I am entering college this fall, and thus I am going back to US at fall, but for the next 4 months or so, I won't be able to get this problem fixed, and live with an unactivated Windows 8.1.

From what I have experienced, and searched online, I found that the limitations were basically

• I can't customize my computer 
• Full screen notice to activated Windows pops up every few hours

But what worried me was someone online noting that It will also shutdown automatically every hour or so...

This isn't happening now, but if it does start happening, it will cause huge interruption in my work progress.

So, I wanted to ask if There are any other limitations other than the disability of customization and the frequent full screen messages for Unactivated Windows 8.1.

Thank you for your assistance.

Answer 1

No, it does not shutdown every two hours. This is what happens:

Reminders and Limitations

1. The first reminder you'll get will probably be an Action Center tooltip in the Desktop Mode: You can safely ignore this tooltip and nothing bad will happen.
2. Another reminder you'll probably see quite often is every time you open the PC Settings screen. When you do, you're greeted with a new section: Again, you can safely ignore this and click any other settings section on the left-hand side of the screen. Except that...
3. Personalisation settings section is disabled: The disabled settings include:
   • Your lock screen wallpaper and apps
   • Start Screen colour and background
   • Your account picture
   The message says:

You need to activate Windows before you can personalise your PC.

I heard there are some workarounds for this, but as this was not a part of my experiment, I will not describe them here.

4. Every couple of hours, you'll see a full-screen activation request: To dismiss it, you have to click Go to PC settings and then you're back to the screenshot from point 2. Still, you can exit this screen normally, with or +, or any other way you like. I wasn't able to pinpoint the exact frequency with which this overlay appears, but it's certainly more than 5 hours and less than 7 hours, so I guess it appears every 6 hours.
5. When you try to enter a command to show the status of activation:

    %windir%\system32\cmd /c slmgr/xpr
   

   You get a not very informing message, saying that Windows is in Notification mode: EDIT: As vhanla notes in the comments, if you run:

    %windir%\system32\cmd /c slmgr/dli
   

   you'll see:

Name: Windows(R), Professional edition

Description: Windows(R) Operating System, RETAIL channel

Partial Product Key: XXXXX

License Status: Notification

Notification Reason: 0xC004F009 (grace time expired)

But even though the grace time is already expired from the start, Windows continues to work correctly.

So... I guess that's it. There are no other differences from the activated copy of Windows 8 Pro that I found. Of course, because I didn't enable Internet access, online-related activities like installing new apps from Windows Store or obtaining system updates obviously don't work. TL;DR

• You can install Windows 8 Pro without an Internet connection
• Windows 8 Pro without activation is usable
• There is probably no time limit for activation of Windows 8
• You'll get occasional reminders to activate, but they are safe to ignore
• The only thing that's disabled is Personalisation Settings screen.

Source:

Is Windows 8 Pro usable without activation? - Super User

Answer 2

Everything except for #1 is happening.. Surprisingly the action center doesn't really mind of my activation status.....

I've seen your post in another page as well. Thank you for your help.

Also, The other Community Moderator, ZigZag, says that after 30~90 days, it will start shutting down.

Do you know about this?

I think I read that you installed a copy and actually experimented,, but did you go as far as over a month??

Thanks for the reply!

Answer 3

JE

It is variable.  Somewhere between 30-90 days.

You should be able to get an OEM disk for a small price sent to you.

Answer 4

Do you know when it starts doing so?

Answer 5

JE

It will start doing the 2 hour shutdown and will not update AFAIK