Microsoft imprints their evaluation and testing versions of Windows 7 with a Watermark like the one below:
It’s a minor detail that only exists in the pre-release versions of Windows 7, but some don’t like it there. Personally, I think it sucks to have it say “For testing purposes only” when you want to show off your Windows 7 installation to your friends.
Getting rid of the watermark is simple. There is a manual way to do it, which involves modifying a system file. But lhjhyc from PCBeta has provided a patch that can remove the watermark automatically. The documentation is in Chinese, so I will explain it in English here.
Warning: Some users have reported some slight stability issues after implementing this tweak. You may or may not want to implement this tweak. (Personally, I have experienced no stability or OS issue other than not being able to run MSN in Compatibility Mode)
How-To:
- The documentation asks you to disable UAC. I managed to run the patch with UAC at its highest level for some reason. If you want to know how to disable UAC, you can access your UAC settings by typing UAC in the Start menu Search.
- Once you’re at the UAC settings window, drag the slider all the way to the bottom. You’ll have to reboot for changes to take effect.
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Once you’ve rebooted, extract the RAR’s contents and open the extracted folder. Right click the appropriate file, and choose Run as Administrator.
If you are on a 32-bit version of Windows 7, run RemoveWatermarkX86.exe
If you are on a 64-bit version, run RemoveWatermarkX64.exeThe program will make some changes to your user32.dll file and create a backup of the previous file.
- You will have to reboot again for changes to take effect.
If something goes wrong, it says in the documentation that you can always restore your user32.dll since a backup was created earlier.
Other than disabling UAC and two restarts, the procedure should be very simple. The patch also works for getting rid of XP and Vista watermarks. (story with thanks)
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