I'yard having a difficult time finding and answer to this. If I had to hypotheitcally remove the Windows license cardinal from a VM that's been specifically setup for a partner, and it needs to be removed before the VM is handed over, how would I go near doing this? Naturally the built-in 30 day grace period has expired and I'thou using an MSDN license central, only I need to remove the key before handing the VM off. The recipient can input their own license cardinal. e.g. how practise I reset the Activation Cardinal Wizard'south nagging?

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abatishchev

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asked Oct 13, 2011 at 19:50

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ane

  • Is there a fashion to start an It Pro Technician stack overflow community. In that location are coffee and beer brewing simply no IT Tech.

    May 6, 2019 at 13:03

2 Answers 2

  1. Open up a command prompt every bit an Administrator.

  2. Enter slmgr /upk and wait for this to complete. This will uninstall the current product key from Windows and put it into an unlicensed state.

  3. Enter slmgr /cpky and look for this to complete. This will remove the product key from the registry if it's still there.

  4. Enter slmgr /rearm and wait for this to complete. This is to reset the Windows activation timers then the new users volition be prompted to actuate Windows when they put in the key.

This should put the system back to a pre-fundamental state.

Hope this helps you out!

answered Oct 13, 2011 at 20:14

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seven

  • This solved my problem. +1. Is there a mode of doing the in a higher place via the GUI?

    May 5, 2016 at 19:52

  • @IanLewis The slmgr tool was never designed for stop users to reset their Windows vii / Vista land and, every bit such, has no GUI interface.

    May x, 2016 at xiv:12

  • C:\Windows\System32>wscript slmgr.vbs /upk for those with contradistinct default vbs action to edit or something else.

    May x, 2017 at fifteen:28

  • Practise I demand to use any of this before formatting the disk and reinstalling Windows with the same key?

    Dec 13, 2017 at 18:46

  • @cubuspl42 No. This removes the electric current licensing from an existing installation and then that a new central can be installed.

    Dec 14, 2017 at xv:forty

On Windows XP -

  1. Reboot into "Safe manner with Command Prompt"
  2. Type "explorer" in the control prompt that comes up and push [Enter]
  3. Click on Start>Run, and type the post-obit :

    rundll32.exe syssetup,SetupOobeBnk

Reboot, and login equally normal.

This volition reset the 30 twenty-four hours timer for activation back to thirty days so you can enter in the cardinal normally.

answered Dec thirty, 2014 at 11:53

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