“Your Windows License Will Expire Soon” Windows 10 Error

If you perform a fresh install by downloading a Windows 10 ISO, you generally get a three-month trial period. After this trial is over, you will get “Your Windows License will expire soon; you need to activate Windows in PC settings” popup on your PC.

Windows 10 is free to download and install, but that doesn’t mean it is free to use forever. Upgrading from a previous version of Windows like Windows 7 or 8.X to Windows 10 will give you a free upgrade.

Once this popup starts appearing on your screen, Windows will disable all the customization options on your PC. Only after you upgrade your PC by using a genuine key, you’ll get to restore the full functionality of the OS.

Sometimes this license issue can come across when you perform a hardware change, or deliberately mess with your OS. Nevertheless, if you have got the “Your Windows License will expire soon; you need to activate Windows in PC settings” popup on your Windows 10 PC, here are a few things you can perform to make it go away.

Restore a Backup from a Restore Point

The first and the simplest approach that you can try is to restore your OS to a previous point where you had an activated version of Windows 10.

• Look for advanced system settings in the Start menu search. Open it.
• Switch to the System Protection tab and click on the System Restore button.
• In the System Restore box, select a backup from depending on how far back you want to restore your backup from. Click Next and follow the steps. Your PC will restart and restore itself to the previous good condition.

Reset your PC

Perhaps some malware has messed up your OS and that’s why you are getting the “Your Windows License will expire soon; you need to activate Windows in PC settings” on your PC. Resetting is a very simple way to get everything back to work.

• Open the Settings app (Windows + I). Go to Update & security > Recovery. Click on the Get Started button. You’ll get a popup for selecting how you want to proceed with the reset. You can select either to save all your files (Keep my files) or delete everything (Remove everything). Select Keep my files to save your files and program data.
• Click Next. Windows 10 will restart and reset your PC by removing all the programs and their registry entries. You’ll still have all the data on the C:\ drive safe.

Reactivate Windows 10 Using your Original Key

You can use the wmic command to view your product key in Windows 10. Use the following command to note the product key of Windows.

wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey

Take note of the key that shows up as the output of the command and use it to activate your OS. Go to Settings (Windows + I) > Update & security > Activation > Add an account (if you haven’t already).

Now, click on the Change product key and enter the key you got in the command prompt. Click Next and wait for Windows to activate your OS.

Restart your PC for making all the changes.

That’s it. By following this guide, you should be able to get rid of the “Your Windows License will expire soon; you need to activate Windows in PC settings” popup on your Windows 10 PC. If you have any other solutions, please feel free to use the comments section.