Three Ways to Turn off S mode if an idiot sold you a doorstop pretending to be a laptop.

[ad...@reviews.wox.org]

There are two scenarios here:
You just got a new Microsoft S mode boat anchor, and are
stuck in the initial setup screen as you don't want to/cant
connect to a network, and don't want to basically give
Microsoft your pc and all its data by signing into a
microsoft account, and getting limited to 5gb of disk space.
Since you are in S mode you cant just press shift-f10 to get
console and fix it there.
(fix is usually type: cd oobe, bypassnro.cmd to get the "i
dont have internet" option available) with S mode you need
to regain access to the console before it is physically
possible to even complete setup offline or without a
microsoft account.

or

You already signed in using a Microsoft account, sure there
are a few corporate security type reasons to do this, for
everyone else tho, it is a stupid idea and you want to ditch
S mode since you cant install or download a single thing
right now.


1:  Simply disable and nuke secure boot in your bios.  For
some machines this also disables S mode.  secure boot is not
actually needed for anything useful, it is just there to
make it easier for Microsoft to treat your computer like
they own it.  TPM can remain enabled, and windows 10 and 11
will still boot perfectly happy with it disabled.

Issues:
A) If you were silly enough to sign in with a microsoft
account, you are probably using a pin number, face scan or
finger print to log in.   Aside from your hard disk now
being held for random by Microsoft with bitlocker, turning
off secure boot before disabling windows hello can
potentially lock you out of your pc and all your data. Turn
windows hello off first and switch sign in to your microsoft
account password. Also NO, your pin number is not actually
your password and using one is actually a really dumb idea,
since almost everyone forgets their real password (or that
they even had a password) after using window hello for a
while. That said if you are using a microsoft account there
is an easier way to disable s mode.
See section 3:
B) If you are running a home edition, you need to do an
additional step to disable S mode as it will stubbornly
remain on even after turning secure boot off. See section 2:

2: Registry hack if secureboot off doesnt work or you are
setting up home edition, and are stuck at the windows setup
screen with no internet or no microsoft account.   Boot into
windows recovery mode.   You may need to hold the power
button down to force power off, then the moment the windows
loading screen appears hold the power button down again for
2 to 3 reboot attempts until you see "loading system
recovery" or similar.   Once you are in windows recovery go
in to advanced troubleshooting options and select command
prompt if it will allow you.  If not boot a live disk or
pull the hard disk and connect it to another windows
machine.  At this point you either have a command prompt or
can see the laptop hard disk on another pc.    run "regedit"
and click on "local machine"    then "load hive"   browse to
the hard disk from the S mode machine, locate the windows,
system32 and config folder, then open "system"  it will want
a nickname,   type something as a placeholder like
"offlinesystem" and expand the new section under local machine.

Look for "current control set 001" then  "CI" then "policy"
then a setting like "skupolicy" which will be set to "1".   
Change skupolicy to "0"   then go back to the "local
machine" level in the list, find your placeholder name,
click it, and choose "unload hive" from the menu above.
At this point you can reboot the S mode PC and it should
boot into non-s mode now, allowing the "shift-f10" hotkey to
work again and allow you do run oobe\bypassnro.cmd  again. 
        If you are paranoid, or a later version of windows
disabled shift-f10 in setup, before booting back to the S
mode machine,    backup your utilman.exe from system32, and
overwrite it with a copy of cmd.exe.    Then if shift-f10
fails, just click the "accessibility" icon to access the
require command prompt for bypassnro.


3:  Method if you are already signed into a windows S mode
potato,  connect to the internet,   open windows store,
search for "switch out of s mode" or "s mode" etc until you
find the tool by microsoft.     Click install and run it.   
If any boxes pop up trying to get you to sign in or sign up
for other nonsense, hit the [x] in the corner and let the
tool finish launching, this should turn S mode off too.


Other thoughts.
Where possible before you make any changes to windows,
registry, cmos settings etc,   turn off bitlocker and make
sure your hard disk is not encrypted.   This can be done
from opening the start menu, pressing setup, and searching
for "encry" until you see bitlocker or encryption settings
in suggestions, and can flip the bitlocker/encryption switch
to disabled.

If you are stuck in a microsoft account you will be locked
out of the option to run a local account anymore.   If you
want to remove your windows login from being under the
control of Microsoft and create a local account you can do
so with the following commands at command prompt (assuming
the desired username is "offline"):
net user  offline /add

net localgroup administrators /add offline

Reboot and you should see a new user account on the log in
screen.  If you don't then windows hello may have disabled
account sign in for other accounts (can happen depending
what windows account options you use or if you registered etc)

In your account settings too, you can also select the change
to local account option, but other than the account being
able to sign on without the internet, it will still leave
all your private data stored with Microsoft, and only give
you 5 gb of disk space for your files. Best to make a new
account and move your data over to it.

Forgive any typos, was writing this while working on several
computers at the time and was distracted.

--
New and improved 2600... well.. ..we drew on some flames and polished it a bit..
--
Google - making sure, life is no more, than 1984...
--
In politics - Later never happens.

[ad...@reviews.wox.org]

Forgot to point out here - depending on the PC you may have
the bios key disabled, just use the hold the power button
down for 2-3 windows reboots method and select "uefi
firmware/bios set" option instead of command prompt from the
troubleshooting/advanced/recovery menu.

On 9/07/2026 5:43 pm, ad...@reviews.wox.org wrote:
>
> 1:  Simply disable and nuke secure boot in your bios.  For
> some machines this also disables S mode.  secure boot is
> not actually needed for anything useful, it is just there
> to make it easier for Microsoft to treat your computer
> like they own it.  TPM can remain enabled, and windows 10
> and 11 will still boot perfectly happy with it disabled.
>
>