RMweb Premium Little Jeeem Posted October 13, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 13, 2023 Hello My first post, hopefully in the right place. With a laptop that seems to be on its last legs, I've been looking at buying a new one. Most now come with Windows 11 S, where the "S" apparently means, amongst other things, that only apps from the Windows Store can be installed. So I'm just wondering if anyone has it installed and working on a Windows 11 S machine? Thanks - Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RFS Posted October 13, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 13, 2023 I'm not aware that most laptops come with Windows 11 S. Most usually come with the Home edition of Windows 11 and you should have no problem using Anyrail on that - I do. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveArkley Posted October 13, 2023 Share Posted October 13, 2023 4 minutes ago, Little Jeeem said: Hello My first post, hopefully in the right place. With a laptop that seems to be on its last legs, I've been looking at buying a new one. Most now come with Windows 11 S, where the "S" apparently means, amongst other things, that only apps from the Windows Store can be installed. So I'm just wondering if anyone has it installed and working on a Windows 11 S machine? Thanks - Jim There's no such product as Windows 11 S so I'm not sure what snake oil that laptop vender is selling. There is an S 'Mode' for normal Windows which can be turned on or off, and AnyRail will not run under S Mode, nor is it likely it ever will. Listing on the Microsoft store mandates the use of a particular development technology, AnyRail is programmed using a technology which is not 'store compatible'. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RFS Posted October 13, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 13, 2023 Here's a description of Windows S from Microsoft. It's a security mode of operation. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cwmtwrch Posted October 13, 2023 Share Posted October 13, 2023 I have a computer which ran in Win11 S Mode when bought, and the OP is correct; it seems to be the standard now for Win11 Home. It is possible to remove S Mode, which I did, but it is a one time only change; you can't go back once you've removed it. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/switching-out-of-s-mode-in-windows-4f56d9be-99ec-6983-119f-031bfb28a307#WindowsVersion=Windows_11 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveArkley Posted October 13, 2023 Share Posted October 13, 2023 24 minutes ago, Cwmtwrch said: I have a computer which ran in Win11 S Mode when bought, and the OP is correct; it seems to be the standard now for Win11 Home. It is possible to remove S Mode, which I did, but it is a one time only change; you can't go back once you've removed it. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/switching-out-of-s-mode-in-windows-4f56d9be-99ec-6983-119f-031bfb28a307#WindowsVersion=Windows_11 No I'm afraid the OP isn't correct and neither are you. S Mode is NOT the default on Windows 11 Home, however venders of laptops (and desktops and servers for that matter) often take a base copy of Windows and configure it to work with their devices. So a vendor may be selling copies of Windows on their devices which are shipped with S mode turned on but that does not make it the default. Anyway this is straying away from the original question, AnyRail will not run on a machine which has S mode enabled. Cheers Dave 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Little Jeeem Posted October 13, 2023 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 13, 2023 Thank you for the various replies, didn't realise it would be quite so contentious! I'm looking on the Currys website where the MAJORITY of the laptops in my price range are shown as having Windows 11 S. Think I'll go ahead with the purchase and as mentioned above, remove the S once I've established how. Thanks - Jim 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
n9 Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 On 13/10/2023 at 17:17, Little Jeeem said: Thank you for the various replies, didn't realise it would be quite so contentious! I'm looking on the Currys website where the MAJORITY of the laptops in my price range are shown as having Windows 11 S. Think I'll go ahead with the purchase and as mentioned above, remove the S once I've established how. Thanks - Jim Sounds like something I'd switch off immediately, and be nothing but grateful that you can never get it back. So I think it's the right move. I ended up buying AnyRail btw, I think it's a great product, so once you have it up and running, it should be a win-win for you. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB-AU Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 It's quite easy to turn off S mode. Even MS tells you how to do it. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/switching-out-of-s-mode-in-windows-4f56d9be-99ec-6983-119f-031bfb28a307 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Harlequin Posted October 16, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 16, 2023 (edited) I've worked in the software business for a long time and "S mode" has the dirty fingerprints of the marketing department all over it: An artificial restriction that they think will drive sales in some obscure way, but which wastes developers time, pollutes the code, confuses customers and which will get quietly dropped after a while. Happy Monday! Edited October 16, 2023 by Harlequin 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveArkley Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Harlequin said: I've worked in the software business for a long time and "S mode" has the dirty fingerprints of the marketing department all over it: An artificial restriction that they think will drive sales in some obscure way and which will get quietly dropped after a while, wasting developers time and confusing customers. Happy Monday! Yes it's marketing speak but with a purpose. Windows S Mode is targeted at lower specification, and hence cheaper devices. What S mode does is disable a subset of Windows so that less RAM, CPU an disk space are required and in particular battery life can be prolonged. This is an answer to other devices which only run apps from a store and don't have the ultimate flexibility (and capability) often seen with desktop class machines (and relevant here, any of the better specified laptops). A vendor shipping Windows with S Mode enabled will often be doing so because their hardware is not capable of running full Windows well. For those suggesting they'll just turn S mode off, so that they can use the full features of Windows (and in this case enable AnyRail to be run) be prepared for it to perform poorly. Cheers Dave Edited October 16, 2023 by DaveArkley 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Geep7 Posted October 16, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 16, 2023 I know this is slightly off-topic, but regarding laptop / desktop spec, I would generally advise going for the largest amount of RAM / fastest cpu you can afford, and in that order. There is no point having an i7 CPU running with 2Gb of RAM. Windows (even the latest version) is notoriously RAM hungry, and is totally inefficient is it's memory management. My PC only had 4 Gb of RAM, and Windows 10 would run slowly. Upping that to 12Gb has resolved that, but it still has its moments. From what i've seen, AnyRail isn't too processor or memory intensive, so shouldn't need much, unless you want to view your plans in 3D. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Little Jeeem Posted October 16, 2023 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 16, 2023 I was hoping to have reported back by now with news that my new laptop was up and running, S mode disabled and Anyrail successfully installed. Unfortunately not. It's gone back due to being faulty (a vertical white line on the screen) and the replacement is yet to be delivered. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Little Jeeem Posted October 22, 2023 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 22, 2023 Just to bring closure to this, I'm now happily using Anyrail on the replacement laptop running Windows 11 Home. Just needed to switch out of S mode via the microsoft store, very easily done. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveArkley Posted October 22, 2023 Share Posted October 22, 2023 2 hours ago, Little Jeeem said: Just to bring closure to this, I'm now happily using Anyrail on the replacement laptop running Windows 11 Home. Just needed to switch out of S mode via the microsoft store, very easily done. So you're running Anyrail while still in S mode. Interesting... Cheers Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaym481 Posted October 22, 2023 Share Posted October 22, 2023 8 hours ago, DaveArkley said: So you're running Anyrail while still in S mode. Interesting... Cheers Dave He wrote "Just needed..." I think you may have misread. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Little Jeeem Posted October 22, 2023 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 22, 2023 8 hours ago, DaveArkley said: So you're running Anyrail while still in S mode. Interesting... Cheers Dave No. I had to exit S mode (a once only, one way transaction) before being able to install Anyrail. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveArkley Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 15 hours ago, jaym481 said: He wrote "Just needed..." I think you may have misread. I did, thanks Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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