Windows 10 S - how to use

[toast1]

Buying a laptop for a friend, she wants a cheap one and these days they all come with Windows 10S.

I hear that it is different from Windows 10 in that you cannot install other software or apps not in the Windows store.

If they buy this, will they be be forced to pay an annual Office subscription, so they can use Word.

I was going to install an old 2003 version of Office.

 

But if I get a Windows 10 S laptop, will this not be possible.

 

I hear that is possible to change from Windows 10S to Windows 10, is this easy to do or desirable?

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Eindhoven]

It's not an issue: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/switching-out-of-s-mode-in-windows-10-4f56d9be-99ec-6983-119f-031bfb28a307

[Eindhoven]

2 minutes ago, Dagfinnur Traustason said:

First it will be very easy to change from 10S to another version of Win10, but as you say that is never disirable diregarding what version it had to do with. However, we are not talking about an upgrade here. What you would do is bacically switching to Windows 10 Professional or Home by activating the disired version with a license key.

 

The best option if the computer comes with Win10S is to buy a cheap license online for another Win10 version, like Home or Professional. They can cost all from 5 dollar and up depending on where you find them.

Regarding installation of third party sowtware, that is blocked in Win10S and only works from Windows store. That out of the reason that .msi packages has been blocked. If your friend still wish to live with Windows 10 S, there are a couple of solutions for getting around that block.

One is to go to the Winstall page, and do as the instruction says. You can say it´s a package installer like you always see in Linux distributions if you ever tried that operating system.

A second is to use Capture, Pace suite or Ray Pack Studio to make App-packages of Msi installers to get them to be accepted by Win10S.

Anyway, as you can see, everything is too complicated to deal with. Your best way is to buy a 5 dollar license for another version and download Win installer free from Microsoft Website which will give you a clean installation with the right version from start.


 

 

What on earth is this? It is all completely wrong.

[Eindhoven]

Everything is explained in my very first reply.

 

One can simply disable S mode permanently. It will then revert to standard Windows Home or Home Single Language. No need to buy a licence etc

[Scott]

Inflammatory post removed. 

 

[toast1]

Thanks for the info - most helpful. I can certainly buy Windows 10 license. 

Would that affect the speed of the laptop?

If its designed for 10S and I put 10 in, will it become slow?


Thanks

 

[toast1]

PS

If I simply use the instructions above to switch from Windows 10S to 10, will I not need to buy a Win10 license?


Thank you

[Eindhoven]

10 minutes ago, toast1 said:

PS

If I simply use the instructions above to switch from Windows 10S to 10, will I not need to buy a Win10 license?


Thank you

 

No need. That was just misinformation.

[toast1]

OK Thanks

[Dagfinnur Traustason]

On 2/21/2021 at 12:51 PM, toast1 said:

PS

If I simply use the instructions above to switch from Windows 10S to 10, will I not need to buy a Win10 license?


Thank you

For Windows 10 to work, you will not need to buy a license. However, if people do not buy a ticket to a football game and the majority start to sneak in trough the fence your favorite club will no have enough money to keep the quality of the team. Therefore it´s the right thing to buy a license for all the software you are using in your computer.

There will also be some limitations in Windows 10 if you do not activate the operating system with a license. One of those is that you will not be able to personalize setting regarding background picture and a few other settings.

On 2/21/2021 at 1:01 PM, Eindhoven said:

 

No need. That was just misinformation.

Still I have not been giving any misleading information. All I wrote in my reply to the OP,  not to you, is correct. If something is wrong, I once again ask you to present that to me. If you do not wish to do such thing, your other option is to give your advice, and also let others give them without pointing out wrongs that does not exist.

[Eindhoven]

1 hour ago, Dagfinnur Traustason said:

For Windows 10 to work, you will not need to buy a license. However, if people do not buy a ticket to a football game and the majority start to sneak in trough the fence your favorite club will no have enough money to keep the quality of the team. Therefore it´s the right thing to buy a license for all the software you are using in your computer.

There will also be some limitations in Windows 10 if you do not activate the operating system with a license. One of those is that you will not be able to personalize setting regarding background picture and a few other settings.

Still I have not been giving any misleading information. All I wrote in my reply to the OP,  not to you, is correct. If something is wrong, I once again ask you to present that to me. If you do not wish to do such thing, your other option is to give your advice, and also let others give them without pointing out wrongs that does not exist.

 

Dear DT

 

I am actually surprised that you wrote this; as it makes it clear that you did not understand what I wrote in the first place.

Please try to not get offended each time. I was actually taken aback that you wrote such a thing after reading of your experience.

 

So let us try to do this in the nicest way possible.

 

Windows 'S' is a mode, not an operating system. Think of it as a series of presets. So on a Browser such as Brave, you have presets that block advertisements, scripts, tracking etc So that you don't need the knowledge to set them up yourself or find extensions to do that job.

 

Transpose that to Windows 'S'. It's just a series of presets on a standard Windows 10 install, not actually an Edition of Windows. You can disable those presets and it will revert to the underlying edition of Windows. 

That's it. It already has a full licence; you are only disabling the presets, not changing the edition.

[Eindhoven]

Here: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-turning-windows-10-s-mode-runs-all-editions-windows-10

 

They changed from the way that you describe three years ago.

[Eindhoven]

Duplicate.

[Andrew Dwyer]

19 minutes ago, Dagfinnur Traustason said:

There is nothing that have changed. The only thing is that we need to get rid of people giving advice like you do to run a software without buying the license or activation. That is not fair to the companies that that develop the softwares and constantly working to give you updates to secure your safe working environment.

Recommending people to run a software without buying it, even if it works, it totally unetical and a very wrong and undermining thing to do.

Your rant shows you clearly did not open Eindhoven’s link.

 

This is all you need to know :

 

” Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it was changing how Windows 10 S was delivered to users. When Windows 10 S was originally unveiled, it was a specific Windows SKU (edition) that was available alongside other SKUs such as Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, and Windows 10 Enterprise. Now, however, Microsoft is killing that specific Windows 10 S SKU and is turning it into a mode that runs on top of existing Windows 10 SKUs instead.” 
 

Taken from the link , dated 2018.

 

[CharlieH]

An incorrect / misinformation post has been removed.

[Eindhoven]

Also not sure why he is completely ignoring Microsoft's own official link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/switching-out-of-s-mode-in-windows-10-4f56d9be-99ec-6983-119f-031bfb28a307

 

Already posted in post #2 it is clear that there is no requirement nor instruction to purchase a licence after switching out of 'S' mode.

 

It's a sad fact that some people just take against you on a forum and so will argue because of their perceived dislike, as opposed to just getting the correct info out there.

[toast1]

Thanks for the clarification, seems most basic laptops come in S mode now.  I guess it makes them faster or perhaps it stops people downloading rival software that competes with MS?