Just like that mysterious skin rash .. It's Back ! :-(

re-cap : Lenovo T500 laptop purchased used - private sale;
running Win 8.1 ; sticker is Vista Business ; " Windows license will
expire soon" alert message comes back every year.
I wonder if my ~ annual expiration stems from the original
Vista --- Win8 upgrade by the previous owner ? :
" Windows system activated from an organization’s KMS server"
as stated in this web article :
https://www.howtogeek.com/245445/how...ndows-license/
Here we go again ... hope I haven't exceeded the reset limit ..
Any helpful advice is appreciated.
John T.



I wouldn't know what to do if I found the license .. ?
The online re-activation doesn't work - probably trying to communicate
with the original KMS server ? The offline activation requires a
long product key - which I don't have ..
I have run the SLMGR.VBS /DLI , /DLV , /XPR
DOS commands to get a bunch of info. as per my link, above.
The question remains - will these annual re-sets continue
indefinitely ? or will I have a limit of 3 or 4 - then be
out-of-luck ? I'd like to find a permanent fix if possible.
John T.



Does win8 have anything you really need?
Go back to Vista. You have that license key.
It's a decent system after you get all the
service packs installed. I have no experience with Vista business.
May have a hard time finding an install disk for that.
Standard install disk may not work with your key. Asking in
a proper computer newsgroup may provide that answer.
This is absolutely the wrong place to be asking about this.
You're far more likely to find an answer in a hacker/cracker
group.
Looks like you bought a pirated system.
There likely is NO possible free permanent license-compliant fix for
this. Pirate solutions may be available in pirate newsgroups.


Thanks for the comments - I suspect you're right.
I'm not married to Win8 but I haven't installed or re-installed an
operating system since Win98 ... my learning curve flat-lined
a long time ago ..
John T.