Like previous Windows versions, when you install a pre-release or Insider Preview build of Windows 10 on your PC, a small watermark appears at the lower right corner of the desktop showing the edition and build number of Windows 10.
As you know, the watermark on Windows 10 desktop takes a very small portion of the screen area. In fact, when you have a light-colored wallpaper as your desktop background, the watermark will be hardly visible.
Those of you who prefer to have a clean desktop might want to remove watermark from Windows 10 desktop. As you probably have observed by now, there is no option under Control Panel or the new Settings app to remove the watermark from Windows 10 desktop.
To remove the watermark from Windows 10 desktop, you can either manually edit the Registry or go for a third-party program called Universal Watermark Remover.
Remove desktop watermark via Registry
Step 1: Open the Registry Editor by typing its name in the Start/taskbar search field and then hitting the Enter key.
Step 2: Navigate to the following key:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Step 3: On the right side, look for PaintDesktopVersion, double-click on it and then change its value from 1 to 0 to hide the watermark. To show the watermark again, set the value back to 1.
Remove watermark from Windows 10 desktop
The Universal Watermark Remover is developed to easily remove the watermark from Windows 10 desktop. The software is free and easy-to-use. Follow the given below instructions to completely remove the watermark from Windows 10 desktop.
Important: We recommend you create a system restore point before running this tool, as this tool edits one or more original system files.
Step 1: Download Universal Watermark Remover zip file.
Step 2: Extract the zip file using WinRAR or 7-Zip to get the UWD.exe file.
Step 3: Right-click on the UWD file and then Run as administrator option to launch the tool.
Step 4: Finally, click the Install button to see the following message box.
NOTE: If you see a message that the software has not been tested on the current build of Windows 10, we advise you wait for the developer to update the software to support the latest build of Windows 10.
Step 5: Click the OK button to automatically sign out (save your work!). Sign-in again to see your Windows 10 desktop minus the watermark.
Important: During our test, although the watermark was removed completely, the screen was refreshing continuously. Restarting the PC fixed the issue though. So it’s a good idea to create a manual restore point before trying out this utility.
