Expire soon? Help?

[ushy86]

"your windows license will expire soon" is what I started seeing once upon loading my pc after a windows 10 update. This is a legit copy, and I did the free upgrade years ago when it was announced. Under the computer's system tab it says my windows is indeed ACTIVATED so what's with this message? I don't want it to randomly stop working on me and the weird thing is, that it doesn't seem to give a day countdown like the old windows systems used to. Is this some kind of error?

I would appreciate some feedback, thanks as always Toms forums !

 

[captaincharisma]

that definitely sounds like a virus or malware. download a free malware scanner like malwarebytes and do a scan

 

[rgd1101]

are you updated to the latest version?

 

[weberdarren97]

"your windows license will expire soon" is what I started seeing once upon loading my pc after a windows 10 update. This is a legit copy, and I did the free upgrade years ago when it was announced. Under the computer's system tab it says my windows is indeed ACTIVATED so what's with this message? I don't want it to randomly stop working on me and the weird thing is, that it doesn't seem to give a day countdown like the old windows systems used to. Is this some kind of error?

I would appreciate some feedback, thanks as always Toms forums !

It's the use of the word "soon" that seems suspicious here. Windows would give you a day-to-day countdown. But if you've already activated with a legitimate code from a trustworthy seller then you shouldn't have to worry about this.

Windows gives a much more direct and user friendly response with this happens, and personalization features will also be disabled. Can you hide the Taskbar? If so, personalization is still working and the message is a fake.

In terms of scanning, Windows Defender is an okay start. I'd recommend following it up with MalwareBytes and BitDefender.

Do you install updates regularly? Many of them are security related.

Do you have extensions installed in your browsers? If so, can you vouch for their security?

 

[Rocky Bennett]

It sounds to me like at some point you installed an Insiders Preview which will expire.

 

[USAFRet]

Where did you obtain your OS from?

 

[ushy86]

Thanks for the quick input everybody, I thought that not having a day countdown thing was a little off. I will download MalwareBytes and any others and then run some scans.

Also, while I am here, and for the purpose of not making yet another post. MY 250gb SSD seems to be running out of space, which doesn't seem to add up when I overlook it all. Can I delete the Windows.old folder without any complications? It has about 30gb of files. Thanks again!!

 

[USAFRet]

To delete Windows.old, you have to go through Disk Cleanup. You can't just click-Delete

 

[ushy86]

Where did you obtain your OS from?

The free windows activation upgrade time frame that Microsoft was giving awhile back.

 

[ushy86]

To delete Windows.old, you have to go through Disk Cleanup. You can't just click-Delete

Yeah, I searched that online, and the Windows.Old file doesn't show up on my DiskCleanup dropdown at all, yet it is taking up 30+ gigs.

 

[USAFRet]

Where did you obtain your OS from?

The free windows activation upgrade time frame that Microsoft was giving awhile back.

Upgraded from what?

 

[USAFRet]

Can you post a screenshot of this message?
Sounds bogus to me.

 

[ushy86]

Can you post a screenshot of this message?
Sounds bogus to me.

I don't have a SS, but If you just google, windows 10 your windows will expire soon, and go to images, it is basically the first image option. Funny thing is, my windows says it as activated under the activation tab and has no specific date of expiry, hence the confusion. Yet, the expiry pop up comes up after a computer boot up, so I've noticed. I will reboot quick to check if it happens every time or not.

 

[Rocky Bennett]

In order to eliminate windows.old after you press disc clean up you still have to press clean up system files. That will show another menu of files altogether.

It sounds like you have a virus or a bad copy of Windows

 

[weberdarren97]

Yeah, I searched that online, and the Windows.Old file doesn't show up on my DiskCleanup dropdown at all, yet it is taking up 30+ gigs.

When you launch Disk Cleanup, select Disk C:, when it asks you what to clean up just hit Clean Up System Files and it will scan again. One of the options should be something along the lines of Previous Windows Installations. This is how it identifies the Windows.old folder.

This is kinda funny because I actually just deleted it by right-clicking and selecting Delete on one of my old computers that I hadn't fired up in almost a year and a new version of Windows 10 was waiting for install. After install, I was left with the Windows.old folder I mentioned a sentence ago. IDK why it doesn't just work for everybody since many people don't have that option.

I'm so confused... IDK what I did wrong but I quoted the wrong person so I just removed the quote.

 

[rgd1101]

Are you sure it didn't said "this build of windows will expire soon"?

 

[ushy86]

So I restarted and I still got the blue box prompt ONCE of windows will expire soon. But once again, my SYSTEM'S tab says windows is ACTIVATED. IDK if I should just ignore this and if it's a bug after one of the recent windows updates or what. It has been running solid ever since my FREE upgrade in 2015.

PS. All is good now with the windows.old disk cleanup. I followed your guys direction.

 

[Rocky Bennett]

What does your system say when you go into command prompt and enter winver

 

[captaincharisma]

So I restarted and I still got the blue box prompt ONCE of windows will expire soon. But once again, my SYSTEM'S tab says windows is ACTIVATED. IDK if I should just ignore this and if it's a bug after one of the recent windows updates or what. It has been running solid ever since my FREE upgrade in 2015.

PS. All is good now with the windows.old disk cleanup. I followed your guys direction.

is your version of windows fully updated. if you did not take the anniversary download and for some reason it does not automatically install this may be the reason

or like someone else here has mentioned you somehow have an old windows insider build installed

check for windows updates

 

[rgd1101]

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/01/22/time-to-upgrade-those-windows-10-version-1507-machines/

 

[ushy86]

https://postimg.org/image/6kr2qbj9b/
https://postimg.org/image/4fqd3p22v/

 

[USAFRet]

From a command prompt, type winver
Just to verify what build you're on.

This is a fully updated system

 

[ushy86]

From a command prompt, type winver
Just to verify what build you're on.

This is a fully updated system

Exact same outcome, I just did that.

 

[weberdarren97]

From a command prompt, type winver
Just to verify what build you're on.

This is a fully updated system

Just realized double reply. I'm not OP just for organization sake.

Apparently I still have 1511... Whoops. Is 1607 what they're calling the Anniversary Update? If so, Windows Update never found it for me and I update every two days.

 

[rgd1101]

From a command prompt, type winver
Just to verify what build you're on.

This is a fully updated system

Apparently I still have 1511... Whoops. Is 1607 what they're calling the Anniversary Update? If so, Windows Update never found it for me and I update every two days.

update by download the windows 10 iso from Microsoft