Toolbox cannot run on Windows 10 or 11 in S mode, but you can fix that

[toolbox]

Because Toolbox is small and fast, it can run well on almost any Windows computer, no matter how small or slow. But if you are shopping for a low cost Windows computer, you will see that most of them ship with Windows 10 or 11 in S mode. S mode locks a computer so that it can only run apps downloaded from the Microsoft store. So it will refuse to download or run Toolbox.

If you buy a computer in S mode and you want to run Toolbox, you have to take it out of S mode. That is fairly easy, but it requires you to run an app from the Microsoft store. We won't give details here, because instructions for doing that are in multiple places on the web, and they are easy to find with a web search.

We hope this information helps.

Toolbox Support

[Wayne Leman]

That's interesting, Karen. I had never heard of S mode before your post. My wife and I have several Windows 10 computers. I'm guessing that it is certain computers that come with the S mode as default. I found this Microsoft webpage describing how to switch out of S mode:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/switching-out-of-s-mode-in-windows-4f56d9be-99ec-6983-119f-031bfb28a307

Switching out of S mode is apparently one-way. You can't switch back to S mode if you have switched out of it to install an app that was not downloaded from the Microsoft Store.

The S mode is "designed for security and performance, exclusively running apps from the Microsoft Store".

Wayne

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[Tony Naden]

I don't have the 'switch Home/Pro' choice: I would guess that this is only available if you started with a Pro license, and that this is the only environment where the S mode thing is installed.

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[ToolBox Support]

Here is some more information from the Microsoft FAQ about S mode.

In Windows 11, S mode is only available in the Home edition, not in higher level licenses.

In Windows 10, it was possible to run higher levels in S mode. But that does not apply to Toolbox users, because it has always been impossible to install and run Toolbox in S mode.

I hadn't heard about S mode either until Alan pointed it out. If you're a Toolbox user, you don't currently have S mode, but it's something to watch out for. Alan tells me that all the less-expensive Win11 machines had S mode, at least among the Dell machines (which is the brand he bought).

Toolbox Support

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