Q. How can I force the Windows activation dialog to activate via phone from the command line?

A. Slui.exe can be passed a numeric value to force a certain type of activation. Phone-based activation is 4. For example,

slui 4

Other values include:

• 1 - Show activation status
• 2 - Activation via the Internet
• 3 - Prompt for a new key
• 4 - Launch activation via phone
• 5 - Prompt for activation and show all methods except Internet
• 6 - Launch activation wizard
• 7 - Prompt for activation emulating last day to activate