This error message usually indicates that Windows was not obtained through official means, and it turns your wallpaper black along with an annoying message that appears in the lower-left corner of the screen. The error message varies depending on the build version of your Windows. For example, if Windows 7 Build 7600 is not activated properly, the error message will look like this:
History of this Error
This is quite similar to the message, “You may have been a victim of software counterfeiting,” that would appear on computers running Windows XP if their copies of the OS were detected as pirated. Although this technology is designed to display the “This copy of Windows is not genuine” message only to users with pirated copies of Windows 7, it sometimes slips up and displays the message to Windows 7 users who own completely legitimate copies. This is especially the case for Windows 7 users who own completely legitimate OEM versions of Windows 7 – the versions that came pre-installed on their PCs or laptops from their manufacturers, and it displays an activation error.
How can I fix this ‘Windows is not Genuine’ error?
Fortunately for you, though, the “This copy of Windows is not genuine” message can certainly be removed along with the black background that came with it. If you’re affected by this problem, regardless of whether you’re using a legitimate version of Windows 7 and are interested in knowing how to resolve this issue, here’s how you can do so:
Step 1: Uninstall update KB971033 (if applicable).
First and foremost, you must uninstall update KB971033 from your computer. However, keep in mind that this is only part of the solution for removing the “This copy of Windows is not genuine” message and will not be able to fix the issue by itself. To uninstall update KB971033, you need to:
Step 2: Reset the licensing status of your computer.
Once you have uninstalled update KB971033, you need to reset the licensing status of your computer to ensure you no longer encounter the “This copy of Windows is not genuine” message on your desktop. To accomplish this, you must: Note: The SLMGR -REARM command line is designed to work on 32-bit versions of the Windows 7 OS, and it works on almost all 32-bit versions of Windows 7 and a few 64-bit versions of Windows 7. However, if you use this command line and see that the “This copy of Windows is not genuine” message still appears when you restart your computer, you may have better luck repeating the steps listed and described above, but this time, use the following command line instead of SLMGR -REARM. If you run the “slmgr -rearm” or “slmgr /rearm” command-line and receive an error message stating, “This maximum allowed number of rearms has been exceeded,” you need to go through the following steps in order to fix the issue and proceed with Phase 2: If you run the SLMGR –REARM or SLMGR /REARM command-line and receive an error message stating that “SLGMR is not recognized as an internal or external command,” the cause can be one of three things – you are typing the command-line incorrectly, you are not typing the command-line into an elevated Command Prompt that you are running as an administrator, or there is a problem with your computer’s slmgr.vbs file. If there is a problem with your computer’s slmgr.vbs file that is causing the command-line not to be executed correctly, here’s what you need to do: Pro Tip: To ensure that the “This copy of Windows is not genuine” message does not reappear, make certain to turn off automatic Windows updates. In order to disable automatic Windows updates, you need to: Also, try to perform a startup repair if all else fails.
Step 3: Reconfiguring the Plug and Play Service.
In some cases, your computer’s policy may not be configured properly, which could prevent certain services from starting on your computer. Therefore, in this step, we will make some changes to the system’s policies and ensure that the Plug and Play Security service is set to start up automatically. To do this:
