'Windows 10 S' is now 'Windows 10 Now with S Mode'

Read it all again, not sure I'm any smarter on the subject though? I think I'm actually more confused? I don't get the 10 Home S and 10 Pro S? When I ran the current 10 S I couldn't run any win32 programs. Showkey for example couldn't be run. I got flamed hard for suggesting it was a special version of Home, and was promptly told it was a special version of Pro. That would make it Pro S I guess? What can you do in Pro S that you can't do in Home S? . If they do have a Home S and a Pro S, I guess Home S free upgrades to Home? and Pro S to Pro? If true paying 49 to upgrade to Pro, should get you full Pro. Pro S is only ever going to be OEM installed? As you can see I have way more questions that I have answers? It will be interesting to see what shows up on Visual Studio subscription? Right now I have 10 Home, 10 S and 10 Pro keys. And 10 S N keys, lol. And the ISO contains the following
This multi-edition media includes the following editions:
Windows 10 S
Windows 10 S N
Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 Home N
Windows 10 Pro
Windows 10 Pro N
Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
Windows 10 Pro for Workstations N
Windows 10 Core Single Language
Windows 10 Education
Windows 10 Education N

At some point I guess I'll see new ISO's and maybe some 10 S Pro keys?

I'd say Thurrott has got it wrong!

Windows 10 S (Mode) is a modified Pro edition and never has been derived from Home for a simple reason - as a secure, locked-down system, it has Bitlocker, which is not available in Home.

P

Fafhrd said:

I'd say Thurrott has got it wrong!

Windows 10 S (Mode) is a modified Pro edition and never has been derived from Home for a simple reason - as a secure, locked-down system, it has Bitlocker, which is not available in Home.

No it really does look like MS are ditching 10 S and actually there will be less skus overall. MS indicated 10 S would be named PRO S in future and there would be other developments.

Each Sku will be in S mode by default, but you can upgrade to full version. I am guessing the upgrade simply unlocks features (rather like how you can upgrade from Home to PRO).

alphanumeric said:

Read it all again, not sure I'm any smarter on the subject though? I think I'm actually more confused? I don't get the 10 Home S and 10 Pro S? When I ran the current 10 S I couldn't run any win32 programs. Showkey for example couldn't be run. I got flamed hard for suggesting it was a special version of Home, and was promptly told it was a special version of Pro. That would make it Pro S I guess? What can you do in Pro S that you can't do in Home S? . If they do have a Home S and a Pro S, I guess Home S free upgrades to Home? and Pro S to Pro? If true paying 49 to upgrade to Pro, should get you full Pro. Pro S is only ever going to be OEM installed? As you can see I have way more questions that I have answers? It will be interesting to see what shows up on Visual Studio subscription? Right now I have 10 Home, 10 S and 10 Pro keys. And 10 S N keys, lol. And the ISO contains the following
This multi-edition media includes the following editions:
Windows 10 S
Windows 10 S N
Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 Home N
Windows 10 Pro
Windows 10 Pro N
Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
Windows 10 Pro for Workstations N
Windows 10 Core Single Language
Windows 10 Education
Windows 10 Education N

At some point I guess I'll see new ISO's and maybe some 10 S Pro keys?

10 S and 10 S N will disappear. S mode will just be a mode of Home but you have to upgrade to get full version (free it seems). I fully expect upgrading to be "feature unlocking" in same way you can upgrade Home to PRO or like dozens of software packages that have a free and paid option eg malwarebytes or Macrium Reflect.

Fafhrd said:

I'd say Thurrott has got it wrong!

Windows 10 S (Mode) is a modified Pro edition and never has been derived from Home for a simple reason - as a secure, locked-down system, it has Bitlocker, which is not available in Home.

My understanding is that, "that is what it currently is". But is going to change?

I repeat that there has never been any affiliation with Windows 10 S and Windows 10 Home, only with Windows 10 Pro, from which Windows 10 S is derived - see The feature comparison in https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/...ndows-10-s-faq

Windows 10 S Feature Comparison

Configuration & features*	Windows 10 S	Windows 10 Pro	Windows 10 Home
Non-Microsoft Store apps		V	V
Domain Join on premise		V
Azure AD domain join	V	V
Microsoft Store apps	V	V	V
Default browser set to Microsoft Edge	V	Configurable	Configurable
Windows Update for Business	V	V
Microsoft Store for Business	V	V
Mobile Device Management (MDM)	V	V	Limited
Bitlocker	V	V
Enterprise state roaming with Azure AD	V	V
Shared PC Configuration	V	V



Other	Windows 10 S	Windows 10 Pro	Windows 10 Home
Microsoft Edge/Internet Explorer search default: Bing and designated regional search providers	V	Configurable	Configurable
Switch to Windows 10 Pro (through Microsoft Store)	V		V

*This feature list is not exhaustive but intended to be illustrative to outline configuration differences

cereberus said:

10 S and 10 S N will disappear. S mode will just be a mode of Home but you have to upgrade to get full version (free it seems). I fully expect upgrading to be "feature unlocking" in same way you can upgrade Home to PRO or like dozens of software packages that have a free and paid option eg malwarebytes or Macrium Reflect.

Something like that yes. Or maybe exactly like that. Time will tell.

alphanumeric said:

@ Cr00zng > "Microsoft pitches Windows 10 S as being streamlined for security/performance... " < If you've ever used 10 S you'll get the meaning of that statement. It's very restrictive in what software can be installed and run. And very restrictive in what the user can do. Most of the malware your typical user inadvertently installs, won't install, etc. You can't easily load it up with junk ware either. If I remember correctly about all you can install are approved store apps.

And if something goes wrong you can't run the tools to fix it.

Is this akin to XP Mode?

Josey Wales said:

Is this akin to XP Mode?

It's going to do just the opposite of XP mode and stop you from running programs you can normally run in Windows 10. XP Mode adds functionality, S mode strips a lot of it away.