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Windows Will Expire Soon Error

 

This is one of those errors that aren't very common but are a headache when they occur. 

Senerio: You have a Windows computer with a valid license (either by upgrading, purchasing the key, or buying the PC with the key already on it) you turn it on and BOOM, you get a notification and watermark telling you to activate your system.

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This can sometimes be corrected by simply restarting the machine or refreshing the desktop, but the problem may also require more steps to repair. The following guides will walk you through how to resolve this problem with ease, but before we git into those steps, here are things you should not do if you are experiencing the problem:

  1. Call any numbers that appear in a pop up

  2. Do not click on anything that pops up as any variation  of "repair now" 

  3. Do not click on anything that seems suspicious

These are just a few tactics that scammers will use to either access your system or steal your credit card information

Sections:

  1. Restart Windows Explorer

  2. Activation troubleshooter

  3. Fix a Tokens.dat file

  4. Edit Registry

  5. Disable problematic services

 

Restarting the Explorer

Restarting the Explorer is about as easy as it gets and only takes a few steps

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Restarting the system has the same effect but can take more time depending on how fast your computer is

Step 1.) Open Task Manager

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Step 2.) Search for Windows Explorer

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Step 3.) Right-click Windows Explorer and select "restart"

Locate and restart Windows Explorer

Activation Troubleshooter

The Activation Troubleshooter should be the first thing you try after restarting, although Windows troubleshooters are not exactly the most reliable tool, there are times when it comes in handy for issues such as this.

Locating the troubleshoot option

Step 1.) Open the Activation settings

System settings>Activation

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Step 2.) Locate the TROUBLESHOOT option on the activation page, it will either be located on the bottom or the right side of the page

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Step 3.) Follow any instructions the troubleshooter gives you to complete the solution.

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Tokens.dat file Corrupted

The Tokens.dat file is related to Windows Activation which is why if there is an activation issue, this file can become corrupted, to repair the file we will be using Command Prompt

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Since I have a working license, I will be listing the commands in this guide without the Command Prompt screenshots just in case running this on my system would cause errors on my end

If you have this webpage open on the system having issues, copy and paste the commands to speed up the process

Step 1.) Open Windows Command Prompt as Administrator

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Step 2.) Enter the following commands:

  • net stop sppsvc

Press Enter

  • cd %windir%\system32\spp\store\2.0

Press Enter

  • ren tokens.dat tokens.bar

Press Enter

  • net start sppsvc

Press Enter

  • cscript.exe %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs /rilc

Press Enter

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Step 3.) Restart your computer to complete the process

Edit the Registry

The Registry could be the culprit here, which means that we will need to edit it in order to remove the activation error, luckily for you, all that is needed for this is the Command Prompt and one line on command

Step1.) Open the Command Prompt

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Step 2.) Enter the following command then press enter:

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reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Software Protection Platform" /v NoGenTicket /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

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Step 3.) Restart your system to finalize the solution

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It's that simple, now you should not be bothered by Windows needing activated

 
Command prompt registry edit

Problematic Services

As far as the Windows services that are related to this specific issue, there are only  2

  • Windows license manager

  • Update Service

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Both of these will need to be disabled in order for this method to work properly, you can enable the Update service once this is complete to continue getting updates for your computer

Step 1.) Open the services program

Open start>Search services

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Step 2.) In the services window, search for 

Windows License Manager Service

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Step 3.) Now you will want to disable this 

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Step 4.) Now you will need to do the same for the Windows Update Service, locate it and disable it

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Now with both services disabled, restart your computer to remove the activation error, you can enable both after the restart if the error has been corrected

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Disable the license Manager
Locate the Windows License Manager Service
Locate Windows Update Service
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