Microsoft removes documentation for switching to a local account in Windows 11

A long long time ago as a poor college student, I signed up to get a “free PC.” You got a shitty packard bell tower for signing away your privacy and allowing a bunch of ads annd telemetry exist in the OS. It really wasn’t that intrusive and eventually the company folded and I got a free (shitty) ad-free pc out of it.

I’m a Mac user now but when I pull up windows 11 on my kid’s or wife’s laptop, it feels like that free-pc dot com again, only it’s in every person’s PC. I’m genuinely shocked at the amount of trash that barrages a common user in windows, and shocked that Microsoft gets away with it.

My 14 year old gets barraged with not just co-pilot but a bunch of news and trash clickbait that is straight inappropriate for kids to see.

I’ve had to remove it all twice but with every significant update, somehow my settings get reversed and we’re back at square one.

I tried even using local accounts but it causes significant issues in the OS.

If you’d told me in 1999 that free-pc.com was the dystopian digital future we’d all be living in, I’d have laughed you out of the room - but that’s exactly what we have. The only difference is that the PC isn’t free. We are.

Geez, the more I read about it the more I think about migrating my gaming machine to something like Pop_OS. I heard people are having great experience, and Steam through Steam Deck has considerably improved gaming on Linux experience.

I think I get it - there are plenty of people using Windows as their primary OS and they want bells and whistles while not caring about telemetry. But just.. let people disable things.

IMO fact, that Microsoft is pushing spyware on their users and make it harder and harder to disable it is much more important topic than EU focusing on Apple (which is monopoly inside their ecosystem, but not a provider of "default" software used in offices etc.)

User hostile abuses like this is what has finally pushed me off the Windows spyware/admil after 25+ years of using Windows as my primary Desktop.

There's still some rough edges but overall Fedora 40 is an amazing Desktop OS which was easy to recreate all my dev tools including: .NET 8, VSCode, JB Toolbox/Rider/DataGrip/etc, GH CLI/Desktop, Docker/lazydocker, Ollama, AWS CLI, Discord, Obsidian, with PostgreSQL/MySQL/SQL Server/Redis running in Docker, effortlessly installed node/bun/go/python with mise, even all my major titled Windows games are working under Steam/Proton which was a pleasant surprise.

With Windows 10 nearing EOL I believe Linux Desktop is at the turning point for market share now that Microsoft is turning the crank with Windows 11 and turning it into an ad/spyware marketing channel for their Apps and cloud services.

The Internet Wayback Machine has archived the instructions how to convert a Microsoft account into a local account: https://web.archive.org/web/20240612104753/https:/support.mi...

> The easiest way to do it on a PC you just took out of the box is to press Shift+F10 during the setup process to bring up a command prompt window, typing OOBE\BYPASSNRO, rebooting, and then clicking the "I don't have Internet" button when asked to connect to a Wi-Fi network.

The easiest way!

Windows is lost…

In case you don't know, there is a Windows version called IoT LTSC that strips all the spyware junk out and doesn't update often but is hardended.

It disables a bunch of features and will likely never enable them like CoPilot, Windows Store etc.

If you really must suffer Windows its worth seeing if it has the features you need.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot/iot-enterprise...

If you're not going to buy their cloud services Microsoft doesn't want you as a customer anyway. My 9 year old Windows PC keeps nagging for me to "finish setting up", because there is no way not using onedrive is your actual intention right?

I wish Microsoft didn't make local account creation so hard. One big reason I want a local account is so that my user profile in `C:\Users` is my full first name with a Capital first character, i.e. `C:\Users\Username`. Signing in with an online account in the out-of-box experience means the user profile is truncated to 5 characters and begins with a lowercase character, i.e. `C:\Users\usern`[1]. This has been the behaviour since Windows 8.

Additionally, Microsoft's decision to plague Windows with advertisements and Copilot was terrible. Windows is otherwise a damn good OS, and I wish the engineers had a say over the marketing and Copilot departments at MS. I also wish the UI/UX department didn't suddenly decide that macOS was a shining bastion of good desktop UX, i.e. favouring icons over text.

I'm going to link another comment of mine: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40541721

After setting up I log in to OneDrive and Microsoft anyway; I have an Office 365 subscription (the competition here absolutely sucks) and I'd like my game achievements in XBox Live.

I still use Windows, and I probably will continue to use it despite all this. Unlike the rest of the commenters here, I actually like using and writing for Windows.

Desktop-on-Linux is broken if you have any reasonable multi-monitor HiDPI set-up with an NVIDIA GPU. I personally don't care which company/entity is responsible; as an end-user, it is broken, full stop. I'm also not fond of the OS-as-an-IDE mentality; I like a right proper IDE with a green play button and red circles. I was never comfortable with the command-line, and I remain so, having been entirely raised on Windows. Proton is nice, but what's nicer is never having to bother about compatibility because one is running the platform the game was written on and for.

I faffed around with macOS and I use it at work, but writing programs for Macs is ridiculously painful (and dare I say, expensive) after Apple introduced the requirement to sign + notarise stuff. I'm also not a big fan of the post-OS X Lion workflow when the 'Save As' button was removed.

[1]: https://superuser.com/questions/1148991/why-does-windows-10-...

Since rufus wasn't mentioned here: https://rufus.ie/de/

You can create an win 11 iso with some custom settings (e.g. "remove requirement for an online Microsoft account)

edit: ok, its already mentioned in the article, sorry :o

I’ve got a dedicated windows sffpc for games running Windows 11. IMO, it’s a terrible OS for a dedicated gaming box or htpc. I constantly have to switch from controller to a keyboard and touchpad because of new settings, random pop-up notifications, etc. after updates I’ll find disabled things that were re-enabled or new “features” that require me to disable because everything is auto opt-in… I had auto login enabled for a long time before it randomly stopped working and somehow the host had switched from local to Microsoft account login. Attempts to switch back resulted in a weird semi-broken state. I just left it as Microsoft login and found a way to re-enable auto-login with the Microsoft account.

Windows 10 was pretty easy to convert to a htpc or arcade box. Windows 11 not so much, feels like I’m running a rolling release run by someone who doesn’t care about user experience

Switching to a Mac was one of the best decisions I ever made because of crap like this. The only thing that will ever make me use windows again is GTA 6!

When you look at GitHub, Visual code, and OpenAI, Microsoft looks like an innovation powerhouse who gets it.

Then you put Windows on a new machine and you remember that that Microsoft still exists. The thing is riddled with value-squeezing bullshit, like a stupid homepage in your browser filled with clickbaity crap, ads, requirements to sign up for an account just to use your own damn computer, etc.

I guess one of the benefits of Microsoft being able to operate with different cultures within the company is that, for example, they haven't killed GitHub the way that Google killed so many acquisitions. The problem though is that there not getting any culturally beneficial benefits back into their core and keep pumping a very crappy OS.

The recovery commandline solution did not work for me. What did work was using no@thanks.com with a random password, which is a locked account, which then allowed me to create a local account.

Large thread from yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40775301

I’ve been leaning towards using windows server for the few use cases that I need windows. The performance of it running on libvirt/qemu is indistinguishable, for me, to baremetal.

License is a bit of a challenge but with the 180 trail days and how little I actually use it I can afford to do a fresh installation every few months and be ok.

It’s kind of sad given than windows itself, at least the core OS used in windows server is rock solid… but when you go to the user offerings of windows 10/11 is such a stark contrast and crappy/unstable experience!

Windows 10 is my final Windows. When it's out of support I'm switching to some Linux distro and not looking back. I've already experimented a lot with Proton on my Steam Deck and it's been great, and there's no other software I need anymore that can't be run on Linux acceptably.

Using Microsoft products is like waking up and finding someone’s hand down our pants.

And, instead of speaking to law enforcement we move into the abuser’s bedroom and stop wearing underwear.

Makes perfect sense.

They do these things slowly and hoping no one notices. More and more intrusive, the dimmer the frog of losing your privacy and slowly add ads. It might take 10 years but you better believe AI will train on your data for their benefit and profit

I'm so happy that I don't have any workflows that require Windows in my life, except for playing some games with my friends a few times a week. Other than that, I've been 100% Linux for personal use and MacOS for work.

I understand that Windows has a lot of exclusive software, but damn do I feel bad for those who need to use it. It's a real piece of trash compared to my mental "golden years" being in Windows 7.

Despite the meme, I've had a consistently good (and getting better) experience with the Linux desktop since I switched full time about four and a half years ago (with a lot of part time use before hand). There are definitely some things that come up that I know how to deal with because I work with Linux on a daily basis or I've seen it before, but we are making great progress towards it being a _very_ user friendly operating system.

When these user hostile windows threads popup regularly I'm genuinely baffled how people can complain and so thoroughly document workarounds instead of just using Linux. Work machines are a different story, but you control your life at home. What do you want? Choose.

It's interesting to watch the arc of Microsoft being the big baddie, transitioning to being a good dude that the open source community has embraced, back to being horrible.

Except they've gone from being horrible to developers, to being horrible to normal, non-technical users.

A funny thing I always notice about these sorts of discussions, where a lot of folks identify this particular offense as the final line that is harmful... (which for the record I understand).

Everyone in the Linux community has known this would be the outcome since forever. There have been a million small abuses on the road to here. And I get that everyone has their reasons for using Windows and other proprietary software but the strangulation was plain as day. So:

For all the flack that folks here give militant believers such as Stallman et. al., you can thank them and every other FOSS dev for keeping the alternative alive. Imagine a world where there was no alternative. You don't deserve to have your attention hijacked or to be forced into a cloud contract just because you want to use your hardware. Hate to say we told you so but you can come to the fold anyway. Welcome to freedom.

The most amazing part of this is Windows doesn't care if it can't detect any network devices.

You're just stuck in a loop. Luckily I was able to bridge my phones internet connection. Then in Windows it was able to start installing device drivers.

I read through these threads and no one blames Nadella for these decisions. But when Google makes a mistake inevitably someone will blame it on the poor leadership of Pichai. Why does HN have a double standard for Nadella?

Doesn't matter any more to me. I'm replacing my Windows installation with Linux, 3 done, 4 to go.

Bait and switch.

It's a shame that toothless regulators can't do anything about it. Microsoft should received such a large fine, they should end up on the brink of bankruptcy.

I've managed to convert a few family and friends to Linux (PopOS) at this point. A lot of games run under Wine/Proton without issue and most general use (email, facebook, youtube) pretty much just works for them.

While not all cases, one might be surprised how many could use Linux without issue if someone else installs and configures it for them. Much like Windows is installed and configured by someone else when the system is new.

Even my gamer kid is asking about dual-booting or moving to Linux when Windows 10 goes EOL next year.

(They're quite capable of running a Linux box, it's the games and Office 365 Full Version [which doesn't do well in Wine] when LibreOffice won't quite do the job. They've heard the good news about Proton. But I think it's a sign that Microsoft is repelling the gamer kids too.)

We're passing some sort of threshold where their antics are starting to piss off the normies. I am very curious what comes of that.

I have had non-technical friends get so fed up with Windows that they're willing to try Linux. One of my friends is just loving Ubuntu except that he can't seem to get his printer to work. I should poke around with it.

In the enterprise, I'm convinced the effort to move people away from Active Directory Domain Services to Azure Active Directory is also a backwards step. For an enterprise without extensive working from home, the new model seems to create at least as many problems as it solves.

I wonder why they have to do it this way? Why not make having an account so useful that people want it? The fact that so many people go to extraordinary lengths to not have an account indicates a problem with their approach.

What a pointlessly antagonistic action. What marginal benefit in number of live account logins is being gained here, vs pissing off the people who care enough to search for this in the first place.

Yesterday 274 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40775301

They also have dark mechanisms to restore certain settings. Like default browser and also security settings. I am a person who likes to disable everything. No ms anti virus, no ms security, no uac. Nothing. I want everything to be disabled. Absolutely required when you work on cracks and hacks. Annoying stupid Microsoft keeps enabling their realtime protection crippleware. Despite settings, registry changes. Very annoying.

This has been the way for years and is not news. It is hilarious that anyone on any os, with any browser might search "how to take back control". To not have your bank account frozen, or the CPS come by for a visit.

These windows users are and have been trained not to think. It is best to keep them locked in and unaware.

My gripe is that an os that generates revenue isn't getting taxed. Like coin mining or in game loot drops.

From past 2 years, for 98% of the time, I use Linux (Mint-Mate edition). I have nVidia p600 GPU and 4K monitor. Due to some reasons, scaling does not work fine in Xfce edition, but scaling at 1x works fine in Mate edition.

Given the limitations, still I feel, using GNU/Linux is better than Windows for most use cases like surfing web, Terminals, LibreOffice, SW development etc...

I'm wondering when PC/laptop OEMs will see that user unfriendly Windows is scaring off their potential customers?

I have a Windows 10 machine for one thing only -- iRacing. For all other gaming needs I happily use my Steam Deck thanks to the amazing support from Steam.

I would happily pay MS for an OS that was zero bloat and only included the core functionality to support sim racing and the 3rd party hardware.

This is annoying, even though I am mostly a Linux user I still use Windows occasionally.

Every time I've been a situation in building cloud infrastructure when multiple vendors have been involved in a complex problem and one of those vendors was microsoft, they've always been the worst to deal with.

I tried to make an account for my kid. The Windows never could load the box.

The quality of Windows is poor. Fedora is actually a great OS. Windows is among the Debian/Ubuntu/Mint tiers of OS, kind of crappy but kind of works.

> Macs, iPhones, and iPads will all let you complete the setup process without signing in, though you do have to know which buttons to click

IME it's very difficult, and for intents and purposes here from a user perspective, it is the exact same thing. Further we've found it's also impossible to create an account without handing over credit card details. Please call it what it is instead of wringing your hands - dark patterns.

[dupe]

More discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40775301

2024/25 is finally the year of the linux Desktop. Not because linux got better, but windows got hostile. xD

Our kids like Minecraft. If it wasn’t for that there would be no Windows in the house.

Maybe this year will finally be the year of Linux on the desktop... :)

I'm probably going to sound like a troll for saying this, but I hate when history gets conveniently "forgotten".

Please, don't forget how many people online (including here on HN) repeated the astroturf propaganda about how "Microsoft has changed" and "Nadella's not Gates and Ballmer" when Nadella first took over. Don't forget how anyone who dared type "EEE" was called a troll or at least stubborn and stuck in the past.

Microsoft sucks. They are a hostile company who absolutely abuses their market position and will never--ever--think twice about it. I don't want to hear whataboutism for Google and Apple--I have my complaints for them, too. But, I'm really bitter about how well the Nadella-MS marketing campaign worked on devs and IT people.

But, at least Microsoft "hearts" open source, right?

"Dear user,

You have engaged in wrong-think, so we have disabled your windows account and deleted all your docs in the cloud.

Regards,

Microsoft."

In bird culture this is called a dick move

Apart from obvious privacy and GDPR issues, is this not also an anti-trust issue?

At some point OS vendors were forced to point to alternative browsers. Should the setup not also point to competitors like rsync.net?

> To be fair to Microsoft, all the big tech companies want you to sign in with an account before you can use all the features of the software ...

That's just saying 'others are also doing awful things' which is no excuse at all - while ignoring the fact this is a single-node operating system paid for by you, and deployed on a machine you own.

To be more fair, make it easy for me to use local authentication and have zero reliance on (or exposure) to a potentially exploited [0] auth systems.

Maybe they want to see how many times the EU can come down on them in 2024.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37702095

Someone wake me up when there is a linux distro that hides the terminal.

Every successful OS hides the terminal and allows you to fix 99% of problems without having to copy+paste cryptic commands from a random website into a console.

Linux has so much promise but distro devs chronically keep leaning hard on the apache helicopter cockpit UI (the terminal) when the first thing mainstream OS devs do is turn the UI into a Honda Civic.

Yes, I have been on linux for 2 years now, and ready to go back to windows (again). If I had the time I'd learn how to make a distro just so I could make something that seasoned linux users would hate (and would actually be popular for once).

There is no downside to MS's increasing enshittification of Windows.

If people keep using it, cool. If not, they'll release Windows 12 "now with zero ads and bloat!" and people will come flocking back from their year or so of Linux frustrations (there will be more than a few).

Do MS managers do Altavista & Co ? Sell NOW !

Or maybe they are trying to prepare us for buying v12 soon ? :>

Also: I planned to stay on Win10 for gaming but they makes "W*" so disgusting that will move to Linux as soon as free time comes. And that is tomorrow ! Hurray !

It's shocking how awful Micro$oft is.