Opt out of S Mode Difficulty

There is no supported offline or alternate method in the provided guidance to force Windows 11 Home out of S mode. The supported path is through Microsoft Store, and switching out of S mode is permanent and free.

For Windows 11 Home in S mode, use:

1. Open Settings > System > Activation.
2. In Switch to Windows 11 Pro, select Go to the Store.
3. On the Switch out of S mode page in Microsoft Store, select Get.

Important points:

• Do not select the link under Upgrade your edition of Windows. That is a different process and keeps the device in S mode.
• Once switched out, the device cannot return to S mode.
• If the device belongs to an organization, an administrator may have blocked switching out of S mode.
• Not all new Windows 11 devices are shipped in S mode. Windows 11 in S mode is only available in the Windows 11 Home edition, and some devices come preinstalled with Windows 11 Home in S mode by the manufacturer.

If Microsoft Store keeps failing with Try again, the provided troubleshooting from similar Microsoft Q&A cases includes:

1. Check date, time, and region settings. One accepted answer suggests temporarily changing Country or Region to US or UK, then trying again.
2. If using a VPN or third-party antivirus, temporarily remove or disable it, then retry.
3. Reset Microsoft Store cache:
   • Press Windows + R
   • Run wsreset.exe -i
   • Wait about 10 seconds, then try again
4. Re-register Microsoft Store app in an elevated PowerShell window:

      Get-AppXPackage WindowsStore -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
   

   Then restart and try again.
5. In Settings > Accounts > Access work or school, disconnect any work or school account, then retry.
6. Create a new local/admin user account, sign in with that account, and try switching out of S mode there.

References:

• [Windows 11](https://support.microsoft.com/windows/experience/platform-variants/windows-10-and-windows-11-in-s-mode-faq#how-do-i-switch-out-of-s-mode)
• [Windows 11](https://support.microsoft.com/windows/experience/platform-variants/switching-out-of-s-mode-in-windows)
• [Windows 11](https://support.microsoft.com/windows/experience/platform-variants/windows-10-and-windows-11-in-s-mode-faq#about-windows-11-in-s-mode)
• Windows wont move out of S mode - Microsoft Q&A My new laptop wont go out of S mode, when i click 'get' in the Microsoft store it fails and i get a message 'try again'.
• stick in windows S mode - Microsoft Q&A bought a new laptop. acer aspire al15-41p. its stuck in windows s mode even after a clean install of windows 11 home it goes right back into S mode. cant disable the acer boot system that opens it and also the store option to disable S mode just buffers and says try again. doesnt actually work. even after WSreset etc. tried absolutely everything. how am i supposed to get it out of S mode