This might be relevant to those who wish / have to use Windows 11:

This week, Microsoft made it very clear that it wants to block the popular BYPASSNRO workaround, used to skip the internet and Microsoft Account requirement checks during the Windows 11 installation OOBE (initial setup), although thankfully, the script can still be created using Registry edits.

A 7 step guide.

    • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      No, it’ll always exist because corporate and government contracts are not putting up with a requirement to have a Microsoft account.

      That’s only something that poor people have to do.

  • heavydust@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    People say Stockholm syndrome is fake, but when I see Windows users, I know it’s real. They have been suffering for years and never thought once about alternatives like Ubuntu.

    “Oh Linux is too complicated, I can’t do that.” Yeah, you can’t click on Firefox to open Firefox, or LibreOffice to write a document. That’s too hard.

    To rant a bit, the last time I helped my parents, I removed every icon from their desktop and installed Firefox with uBlock Origin. Only Firefox on the desktop, it was idiot proof. When I came back, Firefox had disappeared and on the desktop I saw: Edge, 2 copies of Chrome with the most scummy plugins ever, and one Chrome fork that came from an adware that they purposefully installed (WTF). I told them that they had a virus, and that from now on I wouldn’t help them anymore. They like to suffer, I let them.

    • Nelots@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      They have been suffering for years and never thought once about alternatives like Ubuntu

      The average user is pretty unaffected by windows’ enshitification. And if it doesn’t fuck over their daily life, most people are more than happy to keep using the thing they’re familiar with. Especially when switching would require not only learning one new thing, but a large number of new things. For example, do you use paint.net? Sucks to suck, time to find a Linux alternative and learn how to use it and hope it can do everything you need it for.

      Linux fanatics like to pretend its as simple as installing a different OS and that’s it, everything else in your workflow will work immediately with no research needed. But that’s simply not true.

      • drkt@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 month ago

        … everything else in your workflow will work immediately with no research needed.

        I’ll put it simply for you: You can spend a few hours figuring out a new workflow, or you can spend the rest of your life fighting a losing battle against a megacorporation that has it out for you that will also randomly upend on your workflow.

        • Nelots@lemm.ee
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          1 month ago

          Im not saying sticking with windows is the better option. Im just saying people should stop acting like it’s a one and done switch with no extra effort needed.

          • drkt@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            1 month ago

            Nothing in life takes no effort. I’m only advocating on the basis that Windows has become more of an effort to stick with than Linux has become to learn.

      • heavydust@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        The average user is pretty unaffected

        The average user complains about Windows all the time around me and I have to fix their crap constantly. It is fucking over their daily life, either by preventing them from working or by swallowing their files into a black hole. Windows users at work don’t care about it, but around me when it’s their personal computer, it’s a disaster.

        switching would require not only learning one new thing, but a large number of new things

        Any Ubuntu from 10 years ago is identical to the latest Windows. It’s laziness, fear, or being hostage, but it’s certainly not learning something new. Also, Windows 11 is completely different from the previous versions and it didn’t seem to bother them.

    • m4m4m4m4@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      My parents are almost completely technological-illiterate (i.e. due to old age my father doesn’t even have a cellphone nor knows how to use it, and my mother barely can know how to do calls in her phone - both of them don’t know how to use a computer) but they know they don’t know about stuff - so hearing stories like that kind of make me be thankful they’re like that and that they will hear me when needing some advice or need to do something involving something tech-y

    • nicerdicer@feddit.orgOP
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      1 month ago

      I can relate. It is like those tool bars that were installed automatically if you weren’t attentive while installing software when Windows XP still was around.

      They like to suffer, I let them.

      Me too. I always suggest to them to install UBlock origin (or any ad blocker compatible to their browser), along with add ons that get rid of cookie consent banners. If they follow my advice, I will invest my time into helping them to make their OS a little bit less annoying (e.g. switching off telemetry data and uninstalling Copilot). If they can’t be bothered with at least installing an ad blocker, I will not waste my time on them. They clearly want to suffer.

      Edit: The screenshot displays a Windows Vista UI. These Toolbars must have been aorund also while Windows Vista was around. I didn’t know that, because Vista made me settle into the other walled garden.

  • banazir@lemmy.ml
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    29 days ago

    Honestly, guys, gals and others, Microsoft is making it crystal clear they don’t want you to use their OS. It’s not your OS, it’s theirs. Stop trying mangle it into something it is not. If you need registry edits just to make the OS usable, it’s not worth it. It’s not for you. Please, please, please look at alternatives that respect you, your intelligence, your privacy and your data. One day Microsoft will push an update that will lock you out of your machine unless you create an account. Jumping through these hoops is just delaying the inevitable. Using an OS is not worth all this effort and stress.

  • slazer2au@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    7 steps? I have it down to 3

    1. don’t by will 11 home
    2. when at the account creation screen select This will be domain joined.
    3. create local account.
  • VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 month ago

    Recently needed to set up a Win11 VM. It worked after removing the network adaptor from the VM setup, and then using the bypassnro command.

    Fucking Microsoft.

  • terminhell@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I work at an MSP 99% of all machines we deploy for our clients are windows based. The oobe /bypassnro is just mandatory for initial setup. Yes, there are ways around it post setup but it’s just that much extra to do.

    Having a local admin account for domain or azure/entra joined is still very useful. I don’t get why MS refuses to accept this. (Money/data harvesting aside, we all know the real reason, just wish they’d just admit to it).

    • Lucky_777@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      This. When the user hasn’t even showed up yet, setting up a local account out of the box saves a bunch of time.

  • MacStache@sopuli.xyz
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    1 month ago

    I don’t really get it why people jump through these major hoops just to get Windows working the way they want it to. Just ditch the problem.

    • Lucky_777@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Sure that’s ok for your personal machine. Now convince leadership that your 500 machine fleet needs to be switched over to Linux.

      • Shanmugha@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Well, if a company has 500 machines and all of them having microsoft online accounts raises no security questions, I ain’t working there, simple as that

    • RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      30 days ago

      It takes me 10 seconds to remove internet access from yet another windows process, it takes weeks if not months to re-download the 2 point something TB of games I have installed.

      People who have a real internet connection need another excuse but my internet isnt good for 2005, let alone 2025.

  • Surp@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Lemmy is the 1.45% user base on steam hardware surveys os section. https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam

    By far most people want to use windows. The people that are loud on here about Linux are the only ones that don’t so thank you for a solution that’s not the constant post saying just install Linux. Its not intuitive for almost all users aside IT people and enthusiasts.

    • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Windows intuitively making you jump through 7 steps to not have an online account. The reality sadly is most Windows users will just be pushed by Microsoft to use a Microsoft account to access their own PC.

      Only 1% of Windows users who are IT people and enthusiasts will find out how to avoid being forced into internet based accounts.

    • AstralPath@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      If installing something like Linux Mint is not intuitive enough for someone, they probably don’t even know what they’re doing on Windows either.

      • MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com
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        1 month ago

        I had a family member call me because they were having difficulty with a light switch. They’re not dumb, just set in their ways and can’t be bothered to learn something else. Plenty of these people don’t like change just because it’s different. They got confused when windows started doing the rotating desktop pictures because they didn’t realize it was still their desktop. Do I think they could eventually use Linux? Probably. Do I want to deal with even more questions? No. Could they install it themselves? Absolutely not without help.

      • AstralPath@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        You down vote me for saying the truth.

        If you think installing Linux is hard you’ve either never done it and let other people dictate your opinions, you’re incompetent with computers or you can’t follow a simple step-by-step guide.

        If you or someone you know sucks with computers, that’s fine. I get not moving someone from Win to Linux if they can’t understand the digital equivalent of tying their shoes. Just get a Chromebook if that’s the case.

        Barring cases of disability, using Windows at a basic level is not hard. Most home users use it to browse the dust on the upper crust of the internet, write a doc, print shit and nothing more. I bet if you swapped Win for Linux on most people’s computers and riced it to look like Win 11 many of them would be none the wiser.

        Also, if you’re a Lemmy user and you have a basic understanding of how this platform works I guarantee you have the basic capacity to successfully install Linux on an old computer.

      • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Honestly a lot of people just don’t realize how easy it actually is. They think it’s something arcane and strange

    • utopiah@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      By far most people want to use windows.

      Do they though? I’d bet a significant share do not “want” to, but they are stuck there, convinced there are no viable alternatives.

    • AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      It’s not even viable for me. I simply cannot use Linux daily because all my jobs require software that doesn’t have a Linux version, or it does but it’s lacking necessary features, or there’s an alternative but I have to burn extra hours making it work with their systems/setup - hours I don’t have.

      Or I have to use internally configured Remote Desktop profiles over a VPN (not to be confused with RDP), and you can’t do that specific use case on Linux because it requires using the company’s internal Windows Store with specific Remote Desktop installation.

      Or I have to use a specific Outlook instance, locally installed, because somehow they’ve blocked web access (I still haven’t figured out exactly how they set this up).

      After a 12 hour day, sure, I can switch back to my dual boot Linux instance and spend 1-2 hours for personal use. But the ratio is still Windows-leaning no matter how you slice it.

        • boonhet@lemm.ee
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          29 days ago

          Unless of course you’re self-employed so suddenly you have to start dual booting. Linux for gaming and work, Windows for windows-specific work lol

    • mspencer712@programming.dev
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      1 month ago

      That’s right. Even if you have to use a windows app that Linux compatibility layers don’t support, you can banish Windows 11 to a virtual machine.

      Oh, weird, even in a virtual machine it wants an account. Anyone know where I can find a bypass method? :-)

      • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        The number of Windows applications that don’t run via compatibility layers is small and shrinking. Unless everyone is a video editor who steams professional Valorant then they can find software to do what they need done.

        • utopiah@lemmy.world
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          30 days ago

          video editor who steams professional Valorant

          What about Kdenlive or OBS Studio for that?

          • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            It was more than kernel anticheat from Valorant that I was aiming at.

            OBS works great (though it did have issues with Wayland) and kdenlive as well, but in these arguments the person is always going to insist that they can only use Adobe products, because they don’t work and they’re trying to prove that you can’t use Linux.

            • felbane@lemmy.world
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              29 days ago

              It was more than kernel anticheat from Valorant that I was aiming at.

              There’s an easy solution to that too: Don’t buy games with kernel anticheat.

  • utopiah@lemmy.world
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    30 days ago

    Meta : I’d be curious to know the ratio of people downvoting the “Linux!” suggestion who actually do so from Windows.

  • Cossty@lemmy.world
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    30 days ago

    People who can’t or don’t want to use Linux should just use Windows LTSC or IOT. It’s honestly the next best thing. I just set it up for my brother. When you open up the start menu on the fresh install and there is nothing there out of the box, it’s such a nice feeling. No ads, no games, no onedrive, nothing. The only thing LTSC has is Microsoft Edge but even that one you can uninstall.

    Licenses are expensive, but you can easily activate it with mas.

    • kalpol@lemm.ee
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      29 days ago

      How expensive is expensive? And you usually can’t just buy a single license, right? You have to have an enterprise agreement and buy some minimum number.

  • tvbusy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    30 days ago

    Bought an old laptop for my daughter’s first computer. She’s going to just learn typing and some simple stuff. Not able to install Windows with a local account. Fedora KDE it is then.