
Right, double-click Start and change the Value to 4. Open CMD as Administrator gpupdate /forceĬomputer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\svsvc On Panel\Desktop\PaintDesktopVersion Double click it and change the Value Regedit > Computer/HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control


I also found the following guide which I ran through in full, but it failed for Windows Sandbox I found the following registry snippet that purports to remove the watermark but have had no success (it may require a reboot this might work by injecting into the registry of the VHDX from the host at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Containers\BaseImages\\BaseLayer.vhdx, but I'd rather avoid that if possible as that would be more complex). The following answer was not useful for this scenario: How to Remove Windows Activation Watermark?

Therefore, how can we completely suppress the "Activate Windows" watermark when working in Windows Sandbox (I would ideally like to be able to do this as a single silent set of PowerShell commands to put into my startup script)? However, for Windows Sandbox, we are aware that it is in a non-activated state but do not mind that (and from a logic perspective, there really is no point to the "Activate Windows" watermark here, because Windows Sandbox cannot exist outside of being a subservient component of a full Windows OS instance). The "Activate Windows" watermark is used by Microsoft to track unlicensed copies of Windows this is important for them and I have no issue with that.
