Introduction

In my guides on how to upgrade to Windows Vista ^[1]and perform a clean install of Windows Vista ^[2] I show you how to skip adding a product key and install any version of Windows Vista.

When you install Windows Vista with no product key it will only work for 30 days unless you give it a valid product key and activate it.

I ran across a little trick to extend the 30 day evaluation up to 3 times giving you 120 days to evaluate Windows Vista without a product key.

How It’s Done

1. When you’re about to run out of days you can add an additional 30 days by navigating to C:\Windows\System32\.
2. Right-click cmd.exe and select to Run as Administrator.
3. When the command prompt opens, type slmgr –rearm, then press Enter.
4. Restart your computer and evaluate it for another 30 days.