Windows Activation is a process that helps you to activate Windows and verify that your copy of Windows is genuine and that it has not been used on more computers than the Microsoft Software License Terms allow.  The Automatic Activation feature has been included by Microsoft in the Windows operating systems to make it easier for the user to get his copy of Windows activated conviniently. But for some reason, if you wish, you can disable the feature, by editing the Windows Registry.

Disable Auto Activation feature in Windows 7 | 8

This article will tell you how disable the Auto-activation feature in Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista. If you do not wish to have the auto-activation wizard bother you, you may choose to disable automatic activation. To do so in Windows 7 and Windows 8, open regedit and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion \SoftwareProtectionPlatform\Activation

In the right pane of the registry editor, you will find REG_DWORD value ‘Manual’. Right-click on it and select Modify. In the Value Data window which appears, change the DWORD value to 1.

The default is 0 which means auto-activation is enabled. Changing the value to 1 will disable auto-activation.

Close the Registry Editor and restart your system.

You will find that the Auto activation feature has now been disabled completely.

In Windows Vista however, the relevant key is:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SL\Activation

Change the value of Manual to 1 to disable auto-activation in Windows Vista.

If you are having problems activating Windows, you may want to read this post on Troubleshooting Windows 7 Activation States.