Enable manufacturing mode

Overview

To run scripts, installers, and diagnostic tools on the factory floor, Windows 11 in S mode has a manufacturing mode. This mode allows you to run unsigned code in Audit Mode. Enable manufacturing mode by adding a registry key to an offline image. Disable manufacturing mode by removing the registry key when booted into audit mode.

Important

Don't ship a Windows 11 in S mode PC with the registry key in place. Remove the registry key prior to shipping the device.

Before shipping a Windows 11 in S mode PC, remove the manufacturing registry key and exclude it from recovery packages.

How to enable manufacturing mode

Here's how to enable manufacturing mode.

On your technician PC:

1. Mount your S mode image.

   Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:D:\sources\install.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\mount\windows
   

   Where D: is your S mode installation media.

2. Load the SYSTEM registry hive from your mounted image into regedit on your technician PC. We'll use a temporary hive called HKLM\Windows10S.

    reg load HKLM\Windows10S C:\Mount\Windows\Windows\System32\Config\System
   

3. Add the manufacturing registry key.

   reg add HKLM\Windows10S\ControlSet001\Control\CI\Policy /v ManufacturingMode /t REG_DWORD /d 1
   

4. Unload the registry hive from your technician PC.

   reg unload HKLM\Windows10S
   

5. Unmount the image and commit changes.

   Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:"C:\mount\windows" /Commit
   

The S mode image now has the manufacturing key that will allow you to make changes in audit mode.

Remove the manufacturing registry key

When you're finished making changes to your PC in audit mode, you'll remove the manufacturing registry key.

While still booted into audit mode:

1. Open Command Prompt.

2. Remove the registry key.

   reg delete HKLM\system\ControlSet001\Control\CI\Policy /v ManufacturingMode
   

The manufacturing registry key is now removed. You can check the Registry Editor to double check that the key has been removed.

On your S mode PC in audit mode:

1. Open Registry Editor by clicking on the start menu and typing regedit and press enter.

2. Use the registry browser in the left pane to navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CI\Policy.

3. Under policy, you should not see a key called manufacturingmode.

Exclude the manufacturing registry key from recovery

When you create a recovery package, exclude the manufacturing registry key. Create an exclusion file that tells scanstate to skip the registry key when it captures a recovery package.

1. Create an .xml file in a text editor.

2. Copy and paste the following code. This tells ScanState to not capture the registry key in the recovery package that it creates:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <migration urlid="https://www.microsoft.com/migration/1.0/migxmlext/ExcludeManufacturingMode">
   <component type="System">
       <displayName>Exclude manufacturing regkey</displayName>
           <role role="Settings">
               <rules context="System">
                   <unconditionalExclude>
                       <objectSet>
                           <pattern type="Registry">HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CI\Policy [ManufacturingMode]</pattern>
                       </objectSet>
                   </unconditionalExclude>
               </rules>
           </role>
   </component>
   </migration>
   

3. Save the file as exclusion.xml.

4. When you use scanstate to generate a recovery package, add /i:exclusion.xml to the scanstate command to exclude the manufacturing key from the capture. This command creates a recovery package that excludes the manufacturing registry key, and places it into the recovery folder.

   Scanstate.exe /config:T:\deploymenttools\Config_SettingsOnly.xml /o /v:13 /ppkg C:\Recovery\Customizations\usmt.ppkg /i:exclusion.xml /l:C:\Scanstate.log
   

Redeploy Windows in S Mode

If the device has already been switched into Windows in S Mode, to install an image on a device you must:

1. Set the ManufacturingMode value to 1
2. Disable Secure Boot in the UEFI menu
3. Reboot the device
4. Install or deploy the Windows image on the device
5. Disable ManufacturingMode