I recently attempted to install Firefox on a device that had Windows 10 S preinstalled. It was incredibly difficult! It would be really helpful to provide a step-by-step set of instructions for folks. The existing resources from searching the web are quite difficult to understand.

For reference, Windows 10 S has at least 700 Million active installs (as of June 2018). https://windowsreport.com/windows-10-market-share-2018/

Patrick: can you check this out and let us know if this is already in your backlog and when it could be available on the SUMO website? Thanks!

Joni will reach out to Selena to get an article stood up.

Is loading Firefox on Windows 10S akin to side loading android apps on Kindle? For example having the user go through a number of steps they wouldn't normally have to do on a supported system?

(In reply to Patrick McClard;pmcclard from comment #4) > Is loading Firefox on Windows 10S akin to side loading android apps on > Kindle? For example having the user go through a number of steps they > wouldn't normally have to do on a supported system? Yes. I'm adding Matt Howell, who has a great deal of background experience with these kinds of UX patterns.

(In reply to Selena Deckelmann :selenamarie :selena use ni? pronoun: she from comment #1) > For reference, Windows 10 S has at least 700 Million active installs (as of > June 2018). https://windowsreport.com/windows-10-market-share-2018/ To be clear, this is 700 million installs of all editions of Windows 10; S mode installs would be some fraction of that. (In reply to Patrick McClard;pmcclard from comment #4) > Is loading Firefox on Windows 10S akin to side loading android apps on > Kindle? For example having the user go through a number of steps they > wouldn't normally have to do on a supported system? That's correct; you have to get the machine out of S mode, which is an action that amounts to relicensing the operating system and requires making a Microsoft account or logging in to the Store app with an existing one, then visiting a special page in the Microsoft Store app ("ms-windows-store://switchwindows", we could provide that link directly rather than making the user look for it). Microsoft has a support article [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4456067/windows-10-switch-out-of-s-mode] with a cursory explanation of the procedure. There's a more complete description at [https://www.thewindowsclub.com/switch-out-of-s-mode-in-windows-10]. Note the special attention paid there to avoiding the paid upgrade route, which is easy to mistake because of the terminology used; if we do link directory to the Microsoft Store page, that would skip the user past that confusion. After those steps are complete, our installer will work as normal.

Thank you for clarifying, Matt. From what I understand, we might be asking users to permanently switch out of their unsupported OS and possibly pay for a supported OS so they can install Firefox? We generally don't write documentation for unsupported systems and we haven't received any support questions for Windows 10 S. I'd like to help and I'm wondering how we can approach this in a way that would benefit users and not have them make significant changes to their computers or pay for another version of Windows.

Here's the messaging we came up with after consulting with Porfirio. Please let me know what you think.

I have a revision to the https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/windows-10-s-wont-let-me-install-firefox that's pending review.

Hi! (In reply to Joni Savage ("need info" me) from comment #7) > Thank you for clarifying, Matt. > > From what I understand, we might be asking users to permanently switch out > of their unsupported OS and possibly pay for a supported OS so they can > install Firefox? To clarify, the issue does not require Windows 10 users to pay for a supported OS. The issue is that the instructions for turning off the Windows 10 S functionality involve "re-licensing" a system to Windows 10 Pro. The process is quite confusing and one possible outcome apparently is paying for something -- I'm not even sure what that is because I didn't follow that workflow. Matt would need to speak to it. It's not that we don't support Windows 10 S. It's that the Windows Store doesn't allow web browser engines other than the one that powers Edge. > We generally don't write documentation for unsupported systems and we > haven't received any support questions for Windows 10 S. I'd like to help > and I'm wondering how we can approach this in a way that would benefit users > and not have them make significant changes to their computers or pay for > another version of Windows. This link shows there's largely no difference between Windows 10 S and Windows 10 Pro https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsforbusiness/compare, just the license and the fact that you can't install applications that aren't provided by the Windows Store on Windows 10 S licensed systems. (not mentioned in that particular page... I have a screenshot somewhere that shows that "installing applications not in the store" is the main difference when you change licenses).

(In reply to Selena Deckelmann :selenamarie :selena use ni? pronoun: she from comment #10) > To clarify, the issue does not require Windows 10 users to pay for a > supported OS. The issue is that the instructions for turning off the Windows > 10 S functionality involve "re-licensing" a system to Windows 10 Pro. The > process is quite confusing and one possible outcome apparently is paying for > something -- I'm not even sure what that is because I didn't follow that > workflow. Matt would need to speak to it. Microsoft's official instructions take you through a screen which has a button that says "Switch to Windows 10 Home", which is the button that gets you out of S mode and is free, and also a button that says "Upgrade your edition of Windows", which is the button to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro and costs money. That's the source of the potential confusion. Our instructions could provide the user with a link directly to the next step, so it shouldn't be possible for them to be charged.