Likeย previousย Windows betas from Microsoft, Windows 8ย Preview for developers and consumers has its watermark saying ‘Windows 8 Consumer Preview Evaluation Copy. Build 8250’ depending on what build and version you’re using. Some users may find that watermark extraย annoying. If you’re one of those users who find itย annoyingย and would like to remove it, you have two options: remove it or hide it every timeย you change the wallpaper.
XDA-developer member namedย kwadie found out a way toย completelyย remove the watermark from Windows 8 beta. You can remove it too by following theย instructionsย he provided. I tried this myself and itย apparentlyย works.
1. First, download the ZIP file from MediaFire. Save the file in yourย desktopย or somewhere else.
2. Open the No WaterMark.ZIP you downloaded and installย InstallTakeOwnership.reg from theย Take Owenership folder.
3. Navigate toย Windows\System32\en-US, locateย shell32.dll.mui,ย right-click it and select Take Ownership. Select Yes. Do the same forย basebrd.dll.mui which can be found atย Windows\Branding\Basebrd\en-US.ย Completelyย close the Windows Explorer.
4. Now go to the No WaterMark.ZIP folder,ย navigateย to Edited Files folder and drag and replace theย shell32.dll.mui toย Windows\System32\en-US. Copy and replaceย basebrd.dll.mui from Edited Files toย Windows\Branding\Basebrd\en-US.
5. Open the Command Prompt as an administratorย by rightย clickingย it and selecting ‘Run as administrator.’
6. Typeย mcbuilder in the command prompt. Hit enter and wait until it finish which should take about 10 seconds.
Restart yourย computer. The Watermark should now be removed ย from your desktop. If theย Watermarkย is still showing up on your desktop and you followed all instructionsย correctly, change the theme or background wallpaper from Personalization.
How to hide the Watermark in Windows 8 Preview beta
If you don’t want to do all the steps above or if it didn’t work for you, you can easily hide the Watermak as well. To hide the watermark, first unlock the taskbar by right-clicking the taskbar and unchecking the Lock the taskbar option. Then move the taskbar to the top of the screen. Now lock the taskbar again and go to Perzonalization by right-clicking the desktop and selecting Personalize. Click Desktop Background change the background image and picture posistion until theย watermarkย disappear. Finally, drag the taskbar down and lock it. Unlike the first method, this will just hide the watermark so if you change your wallpaper or theme you will have to do the steps again.
