Windows 10 install "S" WTF

[Jetster]

Im curious if it was caused by a clean install after the free update from 7 and after Jan 15 2018. Will have to wait for someone else to do it

 

[Ja.KooLit]

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-s

 

[Space Lynx]

I went back to Win 8.1 with class start menu from ninite installed, windows updates disabled, and used wsus offline updater for my updates... rock solid, super fast, no bloat, 0% cpu usage all the time even when idle for long times (win 10 would get to like 11% randomly all the time, lulz... M$)

have to say I am in love with win 8.1 after making a few adjustments / uninstalling some of the minimal bloat with cc cleaner.

 

[newtekie1]

Im curious if it was caused by a clean install after the free update from 7 and after Jan 15 2018. Will have to wait for someone else to do it

I'm curious how you made the USB flash drive?

When I use the MeidaCreationTool put out by Microsoft, it creates a flash drive with every version on it. Then when I'm doing a clean install I just don't put in a key when it asks for one, and I'm given a screen that lets me pick which version of Windows 10 I want to install. Did it no do this for you?

I also wonder if this is a pre-built computer. It is possible that the manufacturer had loaded a Windows 10 S key into the BIOS, so the Windows installer read that key and automatically installed Windows 10 S.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Microsoft doesn't want you to install anything from 3rd party sources, they want everyone to stick to their store.

Only with the S operating system that he didnt want in the first place. The installer somehow glitched and installed the S that microsoft has recently decided to abandon anyway.

@Jetster your friends shit is haunted.

 

[Jetster]

I'm curious how you made the USB flash drive?

When I use the MeidaCreationTool put out by Microsoft, it creates a flash drive with every version on it. Then when I'm doing a clean install I just don't put in a key when it asks for one, and I'm given a screen that lets me pick which version of Windows 10 I want to install. Did it no do this for you?

I also wonder if this is a pre-built computer. It is possible that the manufacturer had loaded a Windows 10 S key into the BIOS, so the Windows installer read that key and automatically installed Windows 10 S.

The flash drive I created with a W10 Pro ISO (1709) from Drone's thread here Using ZotacWinUSB. I've used this USB before to install my clean install last October. No issues
Installed with no key like I always do, His previous install was with 7 pro undated to W 10 Pro and he has a MS account

The PC I build three years ago with all off the shelf new parts and a used CPU. And I did the install three times to make sure I didn't miss something.

All ended up with Windows 10 S then upgraded after logging into his MS account to Pro. But I could not install Firefox still same error. Same with Nvidia software

Did the forth install with a new OEM install disk and license. Works fine now

It may be haunted. It wouldn't be the first time I've replaced an entire system to solve a problem

Specs of this:
i7 4770K Used delided I bought from here
ASRock H97
16 Gb
1Tb
ASUS GTX 760 2 Gb
Seasonic M12II 620

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I just created install media like 2-3 weeks ago (still September FCU to my disappointment) and Windows 10 S wasn't even an option in the list. I don't know how you ended up with S in the first place because that's pretty much restricted to OEMs selling bargain-bin tablets.

Use Media Creation Tool and have it write directly to USB itself. Shouldn't have any problems as long as you can get the machine to boot to it.


Windows 10 S is basically Microsoft's answer to ChromeOS.

 

[Ramo1203]

The same thing happend to me once. I ended up making another install ISO with the Media Creation Tool. That worked for me. The first time I installed, I didn't get the option to choose the version. But the second time I tried with the new ISO, I got the option.

 

[jboydgolfer]

The flash drive I created with a W10 Pro ISO (1709) from Drone's thread here Using ZotacWinUSB. I've used this USB before to install my clean install last October. No issues

That's how I got it to happen too. I used the iso the linked here on TPU in drone's thread. Thats a common link. Because now that I think more about it the second time I did re-create the iso and I use the media creation tool. It asks if you want to create it for another PC which I did and it worked perfectly fine.

 

[newtekie1]

All ended up with Windows 10 S then upgraded after logging into his MS account to Pro. But I could not install Firefox still same error. Same with Nvidia software

Did the forth install with a new OEM install disk and license. Works fine now

Yeah, you created the USB drive wrong.

Use Media Creation Tool and have it write directly to USB itself. Shouldn't have any problems as long as you can get the machine to boot to it.

Exactly. And if you can't get the machine to boot from the USB, then just use the Media Creation Tool to burn a disc.

Now that Microsoft gives you the tools to create a bootable Windows USB Flash Drive, I don't see any point in using janky 3rd party ISOs and tools.

 

[Jetster]

Yeah, you created the USB drive wron

That may be but it work many times before. Ive used this USB on the October release and before that with every prior release the same way. I have literally done over 10 installs with it. And it not so much the Windows S issues but the blocking of applications

I think maybe it might be that it was installed with no license. Defaults to Windows S ?
To get it to Pro ether put a license in or log into your account. But the blocking of programs continued. That was the issue

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Yeah, Windows 10 S is the bottom of the bin now. Windows 10 S replaces the invalid-key watermark.

From the MCE, it always asks which version to install if you don't put the key in. If you skip that too, I wouldn't be surprised if it falls back to Windows 10 S. If you don't input the key (intending to hardware activate) then you have to make 110% sure you click on the right version of Windows 10 when it asks.

When changing editions of Windows 10, there's a lot of caveats:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/upgrade/windows-10-edition-upgrades

 

[silentbogo]

I'm curious how you made the USB flash drive?

When I use the MeidaCreationTool put out by Microsoft, it creates a flash drive with every version on it. Then when I'm doing a clean install I just don't put in a key when it asks for one, and I'm given a screen that lets me pick which version of Windows 10 I want to install. Did it no do this for you?

My media creation process was different than his, but there was still no selection. I did a WIM download via MediaCreationTool, then converted to ISO and wrote to USB via RUFUS.
What's interesting, is that the same ISO worked for almost 2 month without issues, and the Win10S madness only started a bit over a month ago.
Unluckily for me this shit overlapped with the upgrade schedule at one of my customer's office (IT company, which got 10 new employees).
Tried various options for installation, including these:
- not entering serial key during installation and activating afterwards
- not installing updates until windows is activated
- unplugging the Ethernet cable
- Disabling SecureBoot
- Disabling UEFI (leaving Legacy or CSM only, where possible)

At the end, the result was the same on all PCs: Windows stuck as 10S, while the "About" tab shows it as Windows 10 Pro.
Also, the platform also makes no difference, cause some of the existing machines were Haswell and Skylake, and 5 new PCs were KabyLake and Ryzen.

I also noticed that 1709 no longer accepts Windows 7/8 keys that were previously activated on Windows 10 (during the "free upgrade" period). Though, 1703 takes any keys, even the ones that were not used w/ upgrade. You can also update to 1709 from 1703 and the issue does not manifest itself at all, regardless of whether you have UEFI or CSM install, or whether you have SecureBoot enabled.