Question from Karla: I bought a closeout Acer laptop a couple of months ago and I didn’t realize it had Windows 10 S on it. I didn’t even know there was such a thing.
I just found out that some of the software I really need to run won’t work with Windows 10 S. It needs Windows 10 Home instead.
I’d just return the laptop and get a different one but it was a closeout and I can’t return it.
I heard that you can convert Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Home for free but I don’t know how to do it. Can you tell me?
I’ve been using computers for a long time but this is all new to me.
Rick’s answer: Karla, you can indeed switch your laptop’s Windows 10 installation out of S mode, essentially turning it into a Windows 10 Home machine.
And yes, you can do it for free.
However, before I point you to instructions for doing that I feel that I really need to explain this first…
Important: Switching your laptop out of S mode into Windows 10 Home mode is a one-way street. Once you make the switch you’ll never be able to switch back to Windows 10 S.
In a nutshell, that means once you have the laptop running Windows 10 Home you’ll be stuck with it even if you’re disappointed with the laptop’s performance while running Windows 10 Home (and depending on which Acer model you bought, you just might).
I recommend that you carefully consider the above before making your final decision about making this switch.
You mentioned the need to run some apps that you can’t install on Windows 10 S. Have you checked the Microsoft Store to see if there are alternative apps that you can use instead? If so, that would probably be the best way to go in the long run. Just throwing that out there for your consideration.
Now the above being said, if you ultimately decide that you do want to make the switch from Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Home you can certainly do so. You’ll find instructions for both Windows 10 S and Windows 11 S on this page.
After you finish following the steps on that page your laptop will be running Windows 10 Home, after which you should be able to install and run the software programs you need.
I hope this helps, Karla. Good luck!
Update from Karla: Thanks for the info. I went ahead and made the switch and I’m happy with it for the most part. The laptop isn’t running quite as fast as I hoped it would but it’s still a lot faster than my old one.