Tag: slipstreaming

Wrestling with Windows S Mode

Background

I was setting up a new PC for a client yesterday. It shipped with Windows 11 Home edition, and I agreed to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro using a license key he’d purchased.

I prefer to do a fresh install to minimize bloatware, and created a bootable USB drive with the installation media for that purpose. During installation, instead of allowing me to select the edition I wanted to install, it just defaulted to Windows 11 Home:

The installation did not include an Edition Configuration file (EI.cfg) in the .\Sources folder of the installation media, so I created one:

EI.cfg

[Channel]
_Default
[VL]
0

After restarting the installation, I could now choose the Windows 11 Pro edition and complete the installation. On completion, I logged into the PC, and to my dismay, it was configured as “Windows 11 Pro S Mode“…

About S Mode…

The ‘S’ stands for s***…

It’s a neutered version of the OS that only allows you to install S Mode-compatible applications from the Microsoft store, disables access to most configuration options, other browsers apart from Microsoft Edge, and disables access to Command Prompt and PowerShell. Who would want this?

Hint: not me, and if you’re reading this, not you either.

Catch 22!

Although I’d successfully installed Windows 11 Pro, I could not activate it because the OEM had preinstalled the Windows 11 Home license key in the BIOS. To update the key, I needed to disable S Mode, but I couldn’t do that without first activating Windows…

Getting Around It…

I tried…

  • Manually inputting the Windows 11 key using a PID.txt file in the .\Sources folder of the installation media to override the Windows 11 Home key on installation.
  • Logging in with a new Microsoft account, assuming the Windows 11 Home Edition digital license was bound to the Microsoft account I used to log in to the system for the first time before reinstallation.
  • Bypassing the Microsoft account creation process during installation. While I was able to use Shift+F10 to access the Command Prompt in some contexts of the installation process, neither oobe\bypassnro nor start ms-cxh:localonly worked.

To make things even more complicated, the touchpad and the Wireless NIC were not recognized by default! The latter had to be manually installed to progress through the installation process. As to the former, I simply had to do without (i.e., using keyboard shortcuts) until I got into the OS proper. I considered slipstreaming the drivers into the installation media, but it didn’t seem worthwhile…

Once More Into the Breach!

At this point, I had three options remaining:

  1. Give up, reinstall Windows 11 Home edition, and leave well enough alone.
  2. Reinstall Windows 11 Home edition, and then explore other options.
  3. Install Windows 10 Pro edition, then upgrade it to Windows 11.

Options 1 and 2 weren’t mutually exclusive, so I decided to start by installing the Home edition and then try to remove S Mode, which worked. Now that I had a Get button to use (it wasn’t present when Windows wasn’t activated), I could proceed.

Removing S Mode restored my option to update the license key, and after a reboot, I successfully upgraded to Windows 11!

Lessons Learned

This ordeal taught me that the correct upgrade path from Windows 11 Home S Mode to Windows 11 Pro is:

  1. Complete the initial setup as is on first boot, or if you want to get rid of the bloatware, reinstall the OS with Home Edition first
  2. Remove S Mode via the Microsoft Store on the activated Windows instance
  3. Change the license key to Windows 11 Pro and let it complete the upgrade
  4. Activate the new Windows 11 Pro installation

Because this particular system used a pre-installed Windows key, any attempt to install a different Windows 11 edition resulted in an [S Mode induced] Soft Lock Loop (see Catch 22 above). The only way off that crazy train is to install the same version it shipped with, and only then will you have the option to ‘Get’ the ‘Switch Out of S Mode’ app from the Microsoft Store, and the rest falls into place.

Slipsteaming Drivers into Windows Setup CDs/DVDs

NOTE: This post was written almost 10 years ago, and republished here for posterity. As such, no attempt has been made to update the links or information below.

I recently had to repair an installation of Windows Server 2003. Unfortunately, Windows Setup was unable to automatically detect my RAID controller, and while you can press F6 during setup to provider a 3rd party driver, this won’t work for computers without floppy drives.

One solution is to “slipstream” the drivers you need into your Windows Setup media. Slipstreaming is a technique used to insert additional drivers, updates and service packs into your installation disks. This can be done manually by manipulating installation files, or by using a 3rd party tool such as nLite (vLite is the Vista version), AutoStream and PE Builder. I personally prefer nLite because it’s free, relatively easy to use, and works with a wide range of Microsoft OS’s. Best of all, you can also use it to remove unwanted or unneeded components, tweak system options, or set preferences in advance to create an unattended setup disk. Here’s procedure I used:

  1. Download and install nLite (https://nliteos.com/download.html)
  2. Copy the contents of your Windows setup CD to a folder on your hard drive (e.g. N:\Windows Setup Files)
  3. Start the nLite application, the click Next to advance to the source file screen
  4. Browse to the files you copied above, click Next again. nLite will detect the OS type, then click Next again to proceed
  5. The next screen gives you the ability choose a previous configuration if you have one, or you can click Next again to skip it and start fresh
  6. The next screen allows you pick and choose what features you want to manipulate, I chose “Integrate > Drivers” and “Create > Bootable ISO”, then Next to take you to the Driver selection screen
  7. Click Insert. If your driver directory comes with multiple .INF or .SYS files, you should select Multiple Driver Folder, otherwise, you can use Single Driver
  8. There will be a pop-up window prompting you to select a driver and a mode. The options are Textmode or PnP. Anything that you need to pre-load prior to installation should be installed as Textmode. NOTE: Be sure to use “Textmode” for any drivers windows will need to begin setup! I chose this option for my RAID controller drivers.
  9. Push Ok > Next to proceed, and when prompted, choose Yes to start the process
  10. When done, it should display the create window. At this point, you can create an ISO or burn the image directly to the CD There you have it!