This is a troubleshooting guide for exiting S-Mode in Windows.
- Windows is going to state that it is not activated and that a license key is required. You will need to press "troubleshoot activation" on the activation screen.
- After this is done, it will show that windows is activated in "S-Mode'. You will need to take it out of S-Mode to install the programs we require. Doing this requires a Microsoft Store account. It will not allow you to use an "organizational" or business account to do this, so I have created a Microsoft store account we can use.
Account: aplazertech@outlook.com
Password: APLazer1234! (DO NOT CHANGE THIS PASSWORD!!!) - When you select to switch out of S-Mode in the Microsoft store, use the above account. If it states you have too many devices, select to go to manage devices and remove any of the ones on the list.
- After we have taken the computer out of S-Mode, it will be necessary to take the Microsoft Account off of the computer. Doing this will allow the customer to add their own Microsoft Account or continue to login with a local account. Please follow the following steps to remove the Microsoft Account from the computer.
- Open Accounts in Windows settings by clicking Start --> Settings --> Accounts.
- From the Accounts window, click on "Stop signing into all Microsoft apps automatically."
- This should leave the account as a local account at this point
Sometimes, when the steps are being followed to take a computer out of S-Mode, the store freezes and the process doesn't complete. The solution I found was to reset the Microsoft store and Microsoft Store Cache. This is done with a simple command.
To reset the store, when it is sticking, hit the Win+R button to open the run window. In the dialog box, type wsreset.exe, then press ok. Once the script has finished running, the store will automatically open.
Verify that the computer is out of S-Mode by opening Windows --> Settings --> Update & Security --> Activation and see which mode of Windows is activated.