How To (Legally) Extend Microsoft Windows Trial Software
Need more time to evaluate some Windows operating systems? There is a small little command you can run that will extend your evaluation trial of a Windows from 30 days to 120 days.
DISCLAIMER: Even though the service sounds a little sketchy, this is not circumventing evaluation terms of service since it is documented in Microsoft’s TechNet articles and blogs.
Check Current Evaluation
To check how many days left you have in your evaluation trial, you will need to open an elevated command prompt. Go into Command Prompt and run it as an administrator. Verify that you want to give the program administrative access. When Command Prompt is displayed, it should show “C:\Windows\system32 >”. If the prompt is not showing “C:\Windows\system32 >”, you need to run it as an administrator. After verifying you are running Command Prompt as an administrator, type one of these following command:
- slmgr /dli
- slmgr /dlv
- slmgr /xpr
Extend Evaluation
Go into Command Prompt and run it as an administrator. Verify that you want to give the program administrative access. When Command Prompt is displayed, it should show “C:\Windows\system32 >”. If the prompt is not showing “C:\Windows\system32 >”, you need to run it as an administrator. After verifying you are running Command Prompt as an administrator, type the following command:
slmgr /rearm
After a couple of seconds, you will see a prompt saying that the command has completed successfully and to reboot the system.
After you see that dialog, you need to reboot the system to see the results. After rebooting the computer, you will now notice that you have another 30 days to try it out when you go to your computer’s properties.
Note: You will want to have some sort a reminder to let you know that you have to run the command every 30 days. The rearm command just resets it for another 30 days. Additionally, you can only do this three more times. At the end of the third time, you cannot use this method and you are required to purchase a Windows license from Microsoft.
