Bought a cheap new laptop for my dad, came with W11 home. Turn it on, expecting the setup to take ~10 minutes (all he needs is Chrome & Chess Titans installed). Created a new MS account (usual workarounds didn't work, though hadn't tried too hard, just wanted to get this done), went through setup, downloaded Chrome installer, clicked, and ... S mode, won't install.

No problem, takes a few mouse clicks to switch S off. Or, rather, it should. Clicking the "Get" button in MS Store brought up "We couldn't complete the upgrade," with "Try again" replacing "Get."  Surprisingly, trying again solved nothing.

Googled workarounds -- found out command prompt & powershell don't work in S mode. Tried starting from scratch with "Reset your PC" (wasted another half an hour to net the same results). Finally gave up & installed a fresh copy of W11. This installed in normal (not S) mode, and even (verily, we live in an age of miracles) let me create a local account -- guessing because 11 didn't have a network driver for this laptop, so no viable way to connect. Finished installing, stuck in a USB WiFi dongle, let 11 update (bringing in WiFi & the rest of the drivers), after ~2 hours, everything works as it should. Two hours to set up a new laptop with 11 Home preinstalled. Reject modernity >:(

6 hours ago, 66cats said:

Created a new MS account (usual workarounds didn't work, though hadn't tried too hard, just wanted to get this done

It's always advisable to disconnect any LAN cables, remove WiFi card from laptop physically, or put up a copper screen (shield) above and around it, to block the signal when you install any Windows.