Different Ways to Check Windows 10 Activation Status

Recently I was greeted with a shocking message “Your Windows license will expire soon” as soon as I powered on my PC. This was very unexpected as I have bought the computer from Dell and Windows 10 came preinstalled and already activated. So I had to find what is going on with the Windows 10 activation status. Fortunately it is very easy to find the current Windows 10 license and activation status. There are many different ways to check Windows 10 activation status. Here are some of them:

1. Check Windows 10 activation using Command Prompt

  1. Launch command prompt by pressing Win+R and then entering cmd in the Run dialog.
  2. In the command prompt, type slmgr /xpr and press Enter.
  3. You will see a small message box informing you about the status of your Windows 10 activation status.Check Windows 10 Activation Status

2. Check Windows 10 activation using PowerShell

  1. Launch Windows PowerShell by pressing Win+R and then entering powershell in the Run dialog.
  2. In PowerShell, enter the following command 
    Get-CIMInstance -query "select Name, Description, LicenseStatus from SoftwareLicensingProduct where LicenseStatus=1" | Format-List Name, Description, LicenseStatus
  3. If you do not see anything then your copy of Windows is not activated, otherwise activated Windows edition is displayed on your screen. LicenseStatus is 1 if your copy of Windows 10 is activated.Check Windows 10 Activation Status

3. Check Windows 10 activation using System Information

This is the easiest way of checking for the Windows 10 activation. All you have to do is press the key combination Win+Pause and the system information window will be in front of you. As an alternative, you can also right-click on This PC in Windows File Explorer and select Properties from the context-menu.

Check Windows 10 Activation Status

4. Check Windows 10 activation using Windows Settings

You can view the Windows activation information right from the system settings. For this, you have to open Windows Settings using the Win+I hotkey. In the settings window, select Update & Security and then Activation.

Check Windows 10 Activation Status

There are perhaps many more ways to find the activation of your installed copy of Windows. And if your Windows is not activated in time, then Microsoft will surely inform you through a screen-wide message.

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