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When I follow the steps in the Microsoft Store to try to switch out of S mode, all I get is a message:
"Something happened and we couldn't start the upgrade"
and a Try Again button.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
What seems to work for other users on this forum is to reinstall windows. In Windows 11 this is available via Settings > System > Recovery > Fix problems using windows update > Reinstall now.
As it states this reinstalls windows with all apps and settings preserved.
So UPDATE! I waited 24hrs after first turning on the laptop and once that was done I was able to go to the app store. Prior to this though I had to go doo all updates required even the optional updates offered. This helped.
this is the only thing i didn't try yet (except for just waiting), all others either failed, or i just couldn't even enable them (for example, disabling secure boot, this setting in bios is just unavailable). I have the same issue as everyone else here, i'm being kept hostage by microsoft in this S mode ("S" seems to be for "Slavery" here), nothing of what is written here helped me yet. Yesterday i bought a laptop from one store, Asus Vivobook 15, and it's just stuck in S mode (every time i click "get" button in microsoft store it just says "something happened and we couldn't start the upgrade), i tried everything already, even full reinstall of windows. well, before i already hated microsoft, now i hate it like no other company. This is literally a digital 1984.
it didn't work.
If you carried out the reinstall via Settings have you tried downloading the latest ISO image from
Download Windows 11 (microsoft.com)
then mount the ISO in File Explorer and select the virtual drive letter and run Setup.exe. This should give the option to keep everything.
All I can say is the reinstall via Settings has worked for others and they were able to successfully switch out of S Mode.
