* Reinstalling FH5 on Windows in S Mode

[robert.1837]

I'm trying to reinstall my disc fh 5 to my laptop but ive had no success at all ive a lenovo and have got an external drive i can use to put the disc in . any help please thankyou

rob

[tatewise]

Rob, some more clues please.
In what way does it fail?
At what stage does it fail?
What are the error messages?
What operating system is the Lenovo using?
Can you load other data from that external drive?
Is this the same method you used to install FH V5 before?
Have you simply lost the Licence Registration code?

[robert.1837]

hi tate thanks for reply, my is an ideapod when the disc loads it gives you an option to put it to a clipboard or if you download it only gives you the file system i have my reg key for the disc. the last time i first installed it was on my xp desk computer i had no problem with that at all
rob

[robert.1837]

sorry tate ideapod 3

rob

[robert.1837]

tate this is whats on my screen

for security and performance this mc only runs microsoft-verified apps

this helps protect your pc and keep it running smoothly

e:\fh\setup.exe

rob

[tatewise]

AH! It sounds like it is running Windows 10 in S mode.
Windows 10 in S mode only runs apps from Microsoft Store. If you want to install an app that isn't available in Microsoft Store, you'll need to permanently switch out of S mode. There's no charge to switch out of S mode, but you won't be able to turn it back on.

Follow the instructions at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 1bfb28a307.

[robert.1837]

hi tate, thankyou for your help in this matter, is there no other way i can do it without taking the S mode off

rob

[tatewise]

I quote: "If you want to install an app that isn't available in Microsoft Store, you'll need to permanently switch out of S mode."

[NickWalker]

hi tate, thankyou for your help in this matter, is there no other way i can do it without taking the S mode off

rob

I think the main benefit of S mode was to restrict installation of software to only be from the Windows store. This was to improve security and also S mode was a cheaper licence.

If you convert to a normal non-S mode version you can go into Windows Settings and turn on a setting to restrict installs to only from the Windows store again. So you could install FH and then turn that on again. I don't personally do this and haven't tested it but you would probably need to do this each time you need to install a new FH update (or Ancestral Sources if you decide to use it ). You would need to remember to switch the setting back on again afterwards. See this Microsoft article: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... Windows_10

[tatewise]

There is more to S Mode than just the restriction to use Microsoft Store apps.
It allows lower power laptops to run more efficiently and reduces disk space usage via OneDrive.
See https://www.techrepublic.com/article/wi ... -and-cons/ for a description of the pros and cons.
So turning the Microsoft Store restriction back on is only part of the story.
The features cannot be reversed.

[NickWalker]

Sorry yes you're quite right, you do need to make sure you have enough disk space of course. I doubt the power saving really amounts to very much in reality, particularly as the Windows store now has 'normal' win32 apps and they don't run any more efficiently just because they are in the store.

Do you know how much memory the laptop has and the amount of disk space?

[tatewise]

How do you interpret: "Microsoft even configured Windows in S mode to run on ARM processors, so it’s intentionally designed to work well on hardware that wouldn’t normally run Windows 10 very smoothly."

I'm not saying Lenovo IdeaPad 3 uses ARM processors but just wondering why they are sold with Windows in S Mode.
It is suggested that Windows in S Mode uses less RAM than full Windows, so switching out of S Mode results in less usable RAM.

[NickWalker]

Microsoft have a version of Windows 10 and 11 that runs on Arm chips (currently Snapdragon chips only). These are relatively unusual to come across so I'd be surprised if Robert had one of these. If it was Windows on Arm then it would only be able to run FH in emulation mode and it would probably feel quite sluggish. If Robert isn't sure about this then perhaps he could post the model of laptop so we could look this up.

I'm not saying Lenovo IdeaPad 3 uses ARM processors but just wondering why they are sold with Windows in S Mode.

I would imagine it is to restrict installations so they have to be from the Windows store. As I said in my previous reply, it is really this security feature that is sold as the main benefit of the S version. A cynic would suggest Microsoft were trying to get more people to use their app store.

[tatewise]

He said it was a Lenovo IdeaPad 3 which I believe use AMD processors.

[Mark1834]

About £250 on Amazon, so entry level. Spec looks very similar to my old laptop, which runs full W10 on a Pentium with 4 GB RAM and a small SSD. Runs well for FH and basic MS365 & web, but I wouldn’t render HD video on it! Small SSD might be the limitation (128 GB), but fine with cloud storage.