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Comment by mrheosuper | Hacker News Reader

As long as they still require online account to install, nope, not for me. That's stupid requirement.

If that's important to you, there's an option to allow using a local account during setup by dropping to command line and setting a flag. Pretty straightforward if that's your only deal breaker.

I just recently installed Windows 11 on a computer and this is the steps that I followed

https://rtech.support/guides/bypass-11/

It's two steps:

1) During Windows setup you push Shift-F10

2) It opens a command prompt and you type OOBE\BYPASSNRO

When you hit enter it reboots and allows local mode.

Microsoft should not have hidden this away like they have and it should be an option for everyone installing Windows, and I recognize this isn't a solution for the non-technical user.. but for you specifically if it's something you're comfortable doing, it's an option to allow you to avoid having to use a Microsoft account when installing Windows.

I know that a lot of tech folks consider it a non issue because it is 'easy' to fix if you know the bypass and your way around the more inner workings, but broadly this isn't really an answer to the problem.

If we always just say 'Oh, well, if you do XYZ then you can manage to do A despite B' then we're eroding our control and agency. Slowly the bypasses will phase out, as they have slowly been in this case, and then we're really in a poor state.

I had a tech support client who came to be because they valued their privacy and didn't want an account but who had no idea how to make that happen. They didn't even really know what to be looking for.

Not only that, if someone has a tech knowledgable person set up their Windows 11 computer without online accounts MS updates will cause it to spam the tech-ignorant person owning that computer with misleading pop-ups saying they need to press this button to do $x thing. Which then secretly sets up online accounts which automatically and silently enables drive encryption. Which causes it to go to a bluescreen saying to go to some shady looking URL at aka.ms and type in a long code that appears on your blue screen only broken computer. It's basically ransomware. This is not some theory, I had this happen to a sewing machine laptop I set up for my mother.

And yes, I later learned that aka.ms is a real Microsoft URL. But when it was first described to me it sounded exactly like ransomware and had exactly that effect.

I'm by no means suggesting it's normal or that I think it's okay Microsoft removed the native ability.

You're right that I probably made an assumption that someone posting on hacker News would have the technical ability to hit a keyboard combination and type a command on a command line and hit enter, which is essentially what's required currently to utilize the local account ( https://rtech.support/guides/bypass-11/ )

My reply was intended as more of a direct message to OP, as opposed to general advice I think every end user should know and follow. I should have been more clear.

I would appreciate a link to the details about 'setting a flag.' The last version of that I used earlier this year stopped working in recent months, and I believe I saw tech news stories to the effect that Microsoft had intentionally closed that path.

For now I just use a customer-supplied email address which I used to setup a Microsoft account, setup Windows and use that account, immediately create a local-only 'admin' account with full rights, delete the online associated account, and start creating user account(s) from there.

I just recently had to install Windows 11 fresh on a computer and this is what I used

https://rtech.support/guides/bypass-11/

I have a Microsoft account, but I prefer to use a local account to avoid a lot of the "value add" that comes from using the Microsoft account.

I had recently had to install windows for the first time in years, did some chatting with mr gpt and poking around on reddit until I arrived at: https://massgrave.dev. They guide you on how to download windows LTSC from the "official" Microsoft links. So much less crap shoved down the system, it's kind of nice.

Great point. It is the ONLY way I would use Windows on my computers. I just use the media builder from Microsoft directly:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

There are also community projects like NTLite ( https://ntlite.com/ ) and Windows ISO Debloater ( https://github.com/itsNileshHere/Windows-ISO-Debloater ) for the more technically advanced that want full control to prevent the bloat from even making it to your machine during installation at all (instead of having to clean it up after the fact)

That doesn't sound like something that counts as an easy option.

If someone is already setting up Windows manually themselves, I believe they're already at some level of technical ability.. but as I pointed out in another comment, my reply was specifically to OP who I made an assumption had some technical ability given that they're here on hacker News. Maybe that assumption is wrong and I recognize that.

That said, the process is:

1) while installing Windows press shift f10

2) a command prompt will open and you type OOBE\BYPASSNRO

When you hit enter the computer will reboot and allow local mode.

I fully recognize that this is a hidden option that most people don't know about, but if you do, it seems pretty straightforward to me for someone that's already at a level where they're comfortable manually installing Windows, but I recognize I have an blind spot due to my own technical abilities.

It's not about technical, it's about their view and mindset.

Just ignore the sign saying "Beware of the leopard".

I hope you enjoy not being able to use the Ctrl-Alt-Delete menu to reset your password, because bypassing OOBE breaks that functionality.

Could you back this up? I did lots of unattended install without having to fill OOBE, and the Ctrl+Alt+Del menu always worked.

I'd recommend creating a sysprep answer file (with LLM's its pretty easy, also rufus can do it) instead of the trick mentioned above.

I've used this tool with great success for both W10/11 to do unattended installs instead of asking an LLM: https://schneegans.de/windows/unattend-generator/

This method does not work in current home installer. And they also closed other loopholes.

I just used it with the last official build media from Microsoft over the weekend.

Which part failed for you?

Couldn't open a command prompt? Error entering the command.

Note the command is case sensitive.

i couldnt get that to work the last time i tried but i ended up using rufus to burn the ISO which gives you options to turn off the microsoft account. it even disables the tpm2.0 check so you can install it on older hardware if you want to

Until they drop an update and retroactively force the creation of an online account. This is a game of cat and mouse that even the tech-savvy will eventually lose.

Then you just reset the VM back.

Windows 11 Pro does not require online account to install.

That's not true, I tried last week.

That's true, I tried last week. Choose "work account" or something along the lines and it'll create local account.

Forced me to log in with an EntraID account tied to an organisation.

I have no idea what's Entra ID. I don't have VM to create screenshots but I assure you that it worked for me without any network accounts with very straightforward workflow. And I've used latest windows iso from MS website just few days ago to set up the very computer I'm writing from.

Something like that:

1. Proceed through ordinary steps until account screen.

2. Choose "Set up for work or school".

3. Choose "Sign-in options" and select "Domain Join".

4. Enter username, password, recovery questions.

That's it. Despite the name, the domain join is not happening at installation time. I assume user can join domain once the installation is complete, but it's not enforced or even signalled in any way.

It is the new name for Active Directory.

That hasn't been true for years.

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