The "Activate Windows" watermark is used by Microsoft to track unlicensed copies of Windows; this is important for them and I have no issue with that. However, for Windows Sandbox, we are aware that it is in a non-activated state but do not mind that (and from a logic perspective, there really is no point to the "Activate Windows" watermark here, because Windows Sandbox cannot exist outside of being a subservient component of a full Windows OS instance). Therefore, how can we completely suppress the "Activate Windows" watermark when working in Windows Sandbox (I would ideally like to be able to do this as a single silent set of PowerShell commands to put into my startup script)?
The following answer was not useful for this scenario: How to Remove Windows Activation Watermark?
I found the following registry snippet that purports to remove the watermark but have had no success (it may require a reboot; this might work by injecting into the registry of the VHDX from the host at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Containers\BaseImages\<GUID>\BaseLayer.vhdx, but I'd rather avoid that if possible as that would be more complex).
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\Activation]
"ActivationInterval"=dword:000dbba0
"Manual"=dword:00000001
"NotificationDisabled"=dword:00000000
I also found the following guide which I ran through in full, but it failed for Windows Sandbox
regedit > Computer/HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\PaintDesktopVersion Double click it and change the Value Data to 4
Open CMD as Administrator gpupdate /force
regedit > Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\svsvc On right, double-click Start and change the Value to 4. Right-click on a space on right side, select New. Select Key. Change its name to KMS.
Double-click on the Default icon on the right side of the Window Change the Value to "kms_4" and OK that.
Run "gpudate /force" on the Admin CMD again to update the Computer Policy.
Start > Settings > look for notification: "Windows isn’t activated. Activate Windows now." Click on that and look for "Windows reported no product key was found on your device." To address this issue, take note of the Operating System Edition of your PC. Then, head to this link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/kmsclientkeys Windows Sandbox always lists as "Enterprise" NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43 You can see all the keys on the Microsoft page that you will need to activate your Windows version. Scroll down until you see the Edition that matches the one that is on your PC.
Get the entire key string and copy it. Open the Command Prompt again slmgr /ipk NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43 An error notification pops up, saying to run a command to see the error: slui.exe 0x2a 0xC0020036 "There are no more endpoints available from the endpoint mapper" Then: slmgr /skms kms8.msguides.com then: slmgr /ato Both of these produce the same error ...
Go back to the Settings Window and check if the Activation was successful. If you don’t see the red text anymore, then the method worked. Go back to regedit > Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. On the right side Find PaintDesktopVersion and change the Value Data from 4 to 0.
Finally, go back to the Admin CMD and type gpupdate /force This action will again Update your Computer Policy for the last time.
Close all of the opened Windows. Right-click on your Desktop and hit Refresh. You should notice that the Windows 10 Watermark was removed.
Take note that this solution only removes the Windows Activation watermark.
The above will remove the watermark without a reboot on a non-Sandbox system, but fails on the Sandbox. So, it looks like the elements are in place to be able to remove the watermark without a reboot with the right combination of commands. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
