{"id":585,"date":"2024-07-02T21:17:33","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T21:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/?page_id=585"},"modified":"2024-07-15T19:21:38","modified_gmt":"2024-07-15T19:21:38","slug":"you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10-11","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/index.php\/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10-11\/","title":{"rendered":"You Don&#8217;t Need a Product Key to Install and Use Windows 10\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>You can install Windows 10 or 11 from our USB installation drive without needing a key, sometimes referred to as a &#8220;product key&#8221;, &#8220;license key&#8221; or &#8220;serial key&#8221;. Best of all, you can use Windows 10\/11 without needing to activate it with Microsoft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>To Install Windows 10\/11:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Insert your bootable USB drive and boot from it. Please check our instructions<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/index.php\/installing-windows-10\/\" class=\"ek-link\">here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On the&nbsp;<strong>Activate Windows Screen<\/strong>, notice that at the bottom in blue is the phrase &#8220;I don&#8217;t have a product key&#8221;, click on it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click the&nbsp;<strong>Next button<\/strong>&nbsp;to complete the install.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"526\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/windows-10-product-key.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-586\" style=\"width:553px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/windows-10-product-key.png 526w, https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/windows-10-product-key-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/windows-10-product-key-380x213.png 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 526px) 100vw, 526px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How Unlicensed Windows 10 Behaves<\/strong><br>Microsoft imposes three limitations if Windows 10 or 11 is unlicensed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An &#8220;Activate Windows&#8221; watermark appears on the Windows Start Screen.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Windows 10\/11 Settings App may not allow you to change the default background image, system colors and themes, or items in the taskbar.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you try to modify any of the settings in the Settings App, the message, &#8220;You need to activate Windows before you can personalize your PC&#8221; may be displayed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"526\" height=\"321\" src=\"https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/activate-windows-watermark.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-587\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/activate-windows-watermark.png 526w, https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/activate-windows-watermark-300x183.png 300w, https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/activate-windows-watermark-380x232.png 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 526px) 100vw, 526px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To remove the watermark from the Windows 10\/11 Start Screen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Open the Windows 10 default text editor Notepad on your device; you can easily find it by searching for &#8220;Notepad&#8221; in the Start Menu Search Box.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In notepad, type:<br>@echo off<br>taskkill \/F \/IM explorer.exe<br>explorer.exe<br>exit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>From Notepad&#8217;s File Menu, select &#8220;Save as&#8221;, give the file a name such as &#8220;remove.bat&#8221;, select the location where you want to store the file then change the &#8220;Save as type&#8221; to &#8220;All Files&#8221;.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Navigate to the location where you stored the &#8220;remove.bat&#8221; file and right click on the file; from the popup menu that appears select &#8220;Run as administrator.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Restart your device and the watermark is removed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.troubleshootpro.com\/remove-activate-windows-watermark\/\" class=\"ek-link\"><strong>other methods<\/strong><\/a> that can remove the activation remainder, but the above method is the easiest to use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can install Windows 10 or 11 from our USB installation drive without needing a key, sometimes referred to as a &#8220;product key&#8221;, &#8220;license key&#8221; or &#8220;serial key&#8221;. Best of all, you can use Windows 10\/11 without needing to activate it with Microsoft. To Install Windows 10\/11: How Unlicensed Windows 10 BehavesMicrosoft imposes three limitations<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.appsticks.com\/index.php\/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10-11\/\">Read more  &#10230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","inline_featured_image":false,"iawp_total_views":5,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-585","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>You Don&#039;t Need a Product Key to Install and Use Windows 10\/11 - Appsticks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Get the software need to keep you PC up and running. 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