Lol that’s what I did after getting my new Windows laptop. Sad it’s blocked.
I love how there is an entire group of people who think it’s perfectly normal to “fight” the company that makes the OS they use.
(This message brought to you by the Linux gang.)
If people didn’t do this it would happen faster. Not everyone has the luxury of immediately switching, just like the “move to another state” argument
hey, windows users… your OS actively hates you!
that is all.
Pretty sure most windows users hate their OS right back.
I doubt most Windows users care enough to hate it.
In my company, people were shocked at the hint I might change their Windows to Linux on a whim. They’re all so attached to Windows.
And I was joking!
My mom actually said my windows mac the other day…
Yeah but on the other hand you also have to wrestle with Linux a lot, and personally usually a lot more time wise. It’s all tradeoffs and what people care more about.
This is a common misconception. You didn’t come out of the womb knowing how to use Android, iOS or Windows. To that same capacity you didn’t come out knowing how to use Linux either. It has the same learning curve any other OS would. It’s a sunk cost fallacy.
I’m not entirely certain about that. For instance, on Linux I always have to look up how to create symlinks even though I’ve been using the OS exclusively for three years. On Windows, it is: Right click -> Create shortcut. It’s easier for most people to remember a 2 action process than a console command with multiple options and specific syntax. But of course, this is only one example and doesn’t apply to everything. For instance, I have absolutely no trouble remembering mkdir, cp, or rm. I think it’s a bit of a mixed bag.
To some extent that is true. But on the other hand, Windows is both usually easier to learn (has a UI for 99% of stuff, basic design principles dictate that it’s much easier to remember what to click on than what to type), and it just works. I rarely have to interact with the OS in any way to get something to work. I’ve tried multiple times to switch to Linux, but it just has so much stuff that doesn’t work out of the box, or at all. Da Vinci Resolve has a native version which is completely broken, Dota 2 has a native version but doesn’t pre compile shaders, so whenever e.g. I open a new hero in the hero list it lags for 1-2s, many games with anti cheat don’t work, good luck with anything in VR, no popular distro that I’ve seen has a clipboard and the ones I found online are just worse than the Windows one, etc.
I want to switch, I really do, but I’m already a power user on Windows, I would have to learn a lot to be on the same level on Linux, add onto that the fact that a lot of stuf that’s important to me just doesn’t work properly on Linux, it just doesn’t make sense for me, and for most people they’re gonna be a lot less willing to switch. Most people will not bother trying to change something, even if it’s objectively better. Most people just want to stick with what already works for them, and until Linux is able to just work with no need for user intervention, especially through terminals which people fear, it’s still a long way from mainstream adoption.
true, but you’re not fighting malice or greed, you’re fighting laziness and arrogance. diffeeent vibe.
At least Linux isn’t trying to milk you for its own gain.
Ubuntu users fight Canonical all the time too.
well, perhaps. but there are a plethora of escape routes if/when it gets too bad for them.
As soon as I started doing that, I hopped distros.
Exactly, as lest when your distro starts doing things you don’t like, another can easily take its place in your set up.
Wouldn’t it be possible to buy a new PC, open the box, and return it right after because you cannot set it up without internet?
If enough people do it, may be PC manufacturers will force Microsoft to add offline setups.
Louis Rossman type energy. I like it let’s do it. Windows refund day 2 baby
Funny you say that, setting it up without internet is one of the few ways left to still be able to create a local account.
If I understand correctly from the article, you have to enter ‘OOBE\BYPASSNRO’ in command prompt during installation to prevent it from asking to connect to internet. If that’s the only way to set up a local account, that’s hardly an accessible option.
As as I said in my other comment: you can unplug your ethernet cable, and on Win 11 Pro and above there’s an “I don’t have internet” button you can click.
“Pro and above”
FYI it’s extremely easy to upgrade windows and activate it without buying. ;)
Yeah if they’re a legitimate business they might not wanna risk that but yeah for most people, just run the activation script
It was not an option one week ago when i tested it. Maybe because I was in WiFi range and Microsoft assumed you have to know the password to at least one of them to pass the wifi screen. No skip button. But could create a new account as unverified using gmail address.
There’s no clear path from getting the computer out of the box just setting it up without internet. If you call the manufacturer and they know what the hell they’re doing they’ll walk you through doing the OOBE no internet fix. It just needs to be an option in the damn operating system. The fact that they’re hiding it from you is unconscionable.
The antitrust machine hasn’t had its scheduled maintenance for a few generations. It’s gonna take a little while to spin up.
I hope they haven’t disassembled it and sold it on eBay for bribe money
Same. Lol
…aaaand I will never switch to Windows 11.
But then, I’m a hypocrite, because I have to create an account to use Android.
because I have to create an account to use Android…
You don’t. Look into degoogled ROMs, MicroG, Aurora store, and f-droid.
Oh sure, sure. My point is that Google asked for the same thing as MS, and I mindlessly gave it to them.
I’ll look into degoogling at some point.
Forced accounts are evil - including Android. Here’s my Android story:
When I got my first Android phone, my intention was to not have an account - or at least have as much isolation between any account and my actual usage as possible. So I decline account creation when I first started using the phone, and told the phone to only store all contacts locally. That worked, and I was pretty happy with it. But later, I wanted to download a couple of basic apps from the app store - and that required an account. So I created a bogus account to download the apps. …
After creating the account to download stuff, I noticed that the contacts had automatically associated themselves with that new account had automatically uploaded all my contacts and personal info to google to sync with this account. This is precisely the thing I was trying to avoid in the first place. So, I immediately logged into that account via google’s website and told it to not store any contact info, and to delete all existing info. Which it did.
But then some time later… the account again decided to sync with my phone - this time to delete all the contacts from my phone (presumably because I’d deleted them from the online account). So although I’d gone to some deliberate lengths to tell my phone to only store data locally and to not upload it, what i ended up with was all personal data uploaded, and then purged from my phone. I had to try to restore my contacts from an ancient sim-card backup from my old phone.
Since then, I’ve decided that I will not use a google account for my phone for any reason, ever. I’ve use F-droid and the Aurora store instead. (But actually I very rarely use any apps anyway.)
Do people avoid Chromebooks for the same reason?
And like that, they just ensured I’m never moving on from 10.
M$ be like, fine, we didn’t want you anyway
They say, until they start crying about “unsecured devices” that they assume all contribute to malware footprints despite all of the hold-outs I know having comprehensive A/V solutions lmfao
#RUNBSD it is then
That dude who predicted Windows 12 being a cloud OS was probably dead on the money.
How would a cloud OS even work? Like what would your PC boot in to?
You can still easily bypass it with other methods, like unplugging your ethernet cable. Even if you don’t have an ethernet cable you can unplug, the WiFi screen has an “I don’t have internet” button on Windows 11 Pro and above. Not sure about Home, but there are other alternative ways. It’s still really shitty they keep trying to force this on people.
I’ve heard you can use a cheap local RADIUS server to establish a local domain. Anyone attempt this?
Having to do the meta-workaround of running another computer to make your computer usable is just…don’t get me wrong, I love running infrastructure, but that seems like it should be unnecessary just to use a computer.
Not Radius,Samba. But yes. In theory the Samba server can even run on a VM on the same PC(but that makes it really messy). Raspi or similar is far easier.
Univention offers a ready made distro for that,but not for ARM, though.
i mean you don’t need a workaround when they put this option right there when you click add account.
The article is talking about the initial setup experience, where you could put in a fake email to bypass the requirement to sign in with a Microsoft account.
Granted it was a few months ago, but I seem to recall a command prompt keystroke and a command line command that allowed skipping online install during setup.
I don’t think Microsoft can reasonably block opening the command prompt and bypassing the OOBE without breaking a lot of other things, but them removing the simpler workarounds is a pretty obvious attempt to get more people to sign in with a Microsoft account.
don’t you need one at that point to tie the windows activation to your account?
Microsoft does sync activation keys to your account but the license is also embedded in the firmware in recent prebuilt laptops and desktops, so you don’t need a Microsoft account to activate.
Fuck Microsoft
Luckily m$ didn’t block option to install Linux by permanently enable secure boot and lock bootloader right?
OOBE\BYPASSNRO and fuck Microsoft
Just burn the ISO to a USB drive with Rufus, a window full of options with check boxes will pop up, with a lot of options to turn installation bullshit.
That no longer works sadly
Unless I missed something, the article states as follows
Another method of bypassing the account lockdown still exists. You simply have to enter OOBE\BYPASSNRO in the command prompt during the Windows 11 setup process, which allows you to skip the connection to the Internet and thus also the link to a Microsoft account.
Tried that a few months ago with a factory new machine and it did not work. Though it might work on Pro machines
I had to refresh a pc with Windows 11 recently (unfortunately) and I can confirm it works, but I found it only works on a completely clean install, and you have to run the command IMMEDIATELY when starting setup. I had to re-install twice, because the first time I connected to Wi-Fi, and even running the command and disabling wifi, it still demanded an account. I had to wipe the drive an install a second time, then run the command right at the start of the setup process, before doing anything. THEN it let me skip connecting to internet and logging into an account.
That’s interesting! I wonder if they are locking down factory installations.
About a month ago I was able to do it with a fresh install of Pro in a VM, I’ll do a quick test and see if it works on Home…and it works too. I had to disconnect the network and then run the
OOBE\BYPASSNROcommand, it rebooted and gave me the continue without network and limited setup options.That’s super weird, but disconnecting the network is the only way that you can reliably setup the machine without an account in my experience
You just need quotes on it, ms fucked up the directory traversal “oobe/bypassnro.cmd” worked for me setting up a user machine yesterday
Of course they did, urg
But why don’t you just turn off the internet when setting up Windows? You don’t need any hacks for that
A few months back I installed home edition and this workaround did not work. The installer would not allow me to proceed until it could verify with Microsoft.
I believe that one was patched a while ago
They did mostly. It is still possible (but can be extremely frustrating if your timing is off by fractions of a second) to disconnect a LAN cable or USB-LAN adapter (DON’T sign into a wifi network) at the right moment and cause it to ask for a name for the user account. I have taken to calling this the “AA Pullout Method.” My co-workers and myself are crass de-gens and sometimes have to trade off trying to get it to work and made it a game to see who can get it to work in the least amount of tries. Get the “title” of “pullout king.” Did you need to know this? No, but it is no less dumb than the steps below and attempts needed to just make a fucking local user on Windows 10/11 (though 10 seems to be much easier to get around).
You have to first fail at signing into a MS account. Which you can just type the letter “a” instead of an actual email address (seriously don’t have to type anything else, not even adding “@email.whatever” is needed) as if you are just using a preexisting account and not pick the “create a MS account.” It will then ask for your MS account password and just again type the letter “a.” It will then give a “Oops something went wrong” message. This is where the unplugging the cable is needed. The timing is that you need to pull the cable basically right as you let go of your left-click on the “Retry” button. So like if you are using a regular mouse it won’t register that you clicked the button until the moment you have lifted your finger. But if you fail to time it just right, it will either just cycle back to the “Sign into existing MS account” screen where you used the first “a” instead of an email. Or it will give a different message about not being online and take you back to the “Let’s get you online” network screen with your LAN adapter and wifi networks. However if you time it correctly, it will just ask for the name of the user and password.
If you forget to plug the LAN cable back in after getting the “name of user” screen, it will give the screen about not being online. If you are able to get the local user name screen, just plug your LAN back in and it will just ask the rest of the setup questions like normal. And you now have a local user account. But again, shit is super touchy about the timing. So it could take quite a number of retries to get it to work. If you have ever used the PSP/PS3/PS Vita “Hen” non-permanent “custom firmwares,” then you might know the struggle (as the hack may fail to launch until entirely too many attempts if you haven’t used them).
Never heard of it being patched so can’t tell. Btw was the old one with administrator command prompt patched too?
It worked as of six months ago, but it is possible that was patched in this recent “fix”.
The W11 installer sadly doesn’t allow that anymore with the current versions. If you have that older installer, keep it safely archived.
Win11 doesn’t let you past setup if you dont have an internet connection.
Just used this bypass 2 days ago. I’d recommend people download the current W11 installer so that the work around always works as long as you keep the device away from Internet until the OS is installed
