Hi, Sorry if this issue has been talked about, I searched forums but didn't find anything helpful and I'm new to all of this! So I usually use KMS pico to activate W10 Pro installations. Now with the new W10 version 2004 it goes into this locked down mode called S mode by default after Windows installation, in This PC it says 'Windows 10 Pro in S mode'. It restricts opening any non MS exe, restricts settings like disabling Win Defender and doesn't even allow using PowerShell or CMD. This mode is unusable and I can't use KMS Pico in it to activate. Now to disable S mode you have to go to the store and run this app 'Switch out of S mode' that will disable it. Issue is, this does not work when Windows is not activated. How do I fix this?
how did you install W10 pro? Was the system initially installed in S mode on the machine when you bought it ?
u installed normal windows and its locked by itself to s mode ? mb this too could help ProductPolicyEditor_1.5_en going into recovery mode and with offline option changing the edition run the kms for all to active and then removing the s mode or installing new windows like en_windows_10_business_editions_version_2004_updated_may_2020_x64_dvd_aa8db2cc
I think it was Home in S mode. Didn't check, during first start I forgot I shouldn't enter wifi password and it got me locked into the menus that ask to login using a MS account, couldn't use a local user. So I got angry and just reinstalled to Pro as that was what I initially wanted anyways.
Hi Sorry, I ended up reinstalling the OS with the iso from Media creation tool so it detects what the originally licensed OS version was, made the damn microsoft account and used the store to get out of S mode. Then reinstalled with Pro version and no more S mode. I don't have any clue how it retains information on whether the S mode is enabled on this machine or not since I wipe the contents of the SSD every reinstall and was not connecting to internet on first start.
While wackers no longer needs this, I found this thread searching for a solution for the same problem. So in case others find this thread like me, here's what I did: go into UEFI setup, disable secure boot, clear keys, disable TPM, install Windows from clean media. (not OEM recovery crap) For those who are interested: there is a manufacturing mode that system builders use to configure Windows 10 systems before locking them into S mode: docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/windows-10-s-manufacturing-mode but since in S mode you can't even open regedit it doesn't seem easily reversible.