It's so stupid that we need to resort to these tricks and workarounds. Local account should be the first, default option. Using a Microsoft account should be a secondary opt-in option, only for that strange minority of people who would actually want to do such a thing on purpose.
Save us European Union!
I wish. It's one thing with hardware, since multiple designs are expensive to produce side by side. But not so with software. If they are forced to comply with some EU standard, they'll just make one EU compliant version and continue to fuck over the rest of the world with unregulated bullshit.
You say this like they haven’t already done so https://windowsreport.com/windows-11-pro-vs-pro-n/
We must save ourselfs and resist using those things.
Im already Daveing my self.
Any time I log with my Microsoft account on a Windows computer it also butchers my name and uses just some letters from it when creating folders and stuff like that. It's something that is stored somewhere only this specific action reads from, but it's happening for over a decade already with no idea how to fix.
Between that and the fact that windows now creates the Documents folder inside of OneDrive directly and gets all messed up if you move it out, I ended up buying windows Pro just to get back to an offline account.
DON'T CONNECT TO WI-FI
Shit+F10 (you might need to hit Fn+Shift+F10) will open up command prompt
OOBE\BYPASSNRO
It should now reboot and give you the option to make a local account in the fine print
This is the way! I did this recently with a recent Win11 Pro installation.
This is also the proper way to name the user’s folder yourself instead of letting Microsoft decide. The auto namer often makes poor choices and renaming it breaks a lot of stuff unless you wipe and reinstall.
Never mind
Is a requirement for getting hired at Microsoft the ability so show utter contempt for your users? Sure seems like it.
Another way that I became quite fond of using is Rufus.
When creating a distro it allows you to customize it. Set up language beforehand, a local account, remove hardware requirements and data collection by simply checking some boxes.
It's a very handy tool, saves a lot of headache with this bloody install.
Same here, and additionally NTLite.
Having the ability to build custom Windows installations, including 'in-place' editing, and the ability to update Windows without Microsoft silently reinstalling shit I don't want or need, with NTLite's 'Host Update' wizard, it has been well worth the 40€ for each version (no subscription too!)
I really don't want to sound like an ad, though NTLite has really made Windows a decent operating system again.
It certainly notable that Windows, once all of Microsoft's crud is stripped out, doesn't touch the CPU at idle, whereas a fresh install of Windows without customisation always consumed 2-3% of the CPU at idle.
useradd -m username
passwd username
net user username password /ADD
"User rhymes with loser, and a loser always comes last."
Sorry. I'm just too used to adduser.
You don’t even have to do any of that, when it prompts for a Microsoft account put in nonsense, like fart@outmybutt.com Then whatever for password. Keep trying to sign in with it until should prompt you to put in a name instead and set up a local account.
The article does it right: test@test.com and other similar things (e.g: a@a.com) will throw an error the first time you put in a password and it'll proceed to create an offline account.
The people that go through the steps like commands and disabling internet are making too much work for themselves.
I use no@thankyou.com. Works like a charm.
If you don't want a Microsoft account, at this point you should really consider switching to Linux.
I have a Microsoft account for my Xbox and for certifications but I have zero intention of ever using it to login to Windows.
Fair point but my games only run on windows.
Try a little Proton. There's also Lutris. There hasn't been a game I own that I haven't been able to play on Linux.
Unfortunately, two of my most played games (R6:Siege and Cod MW2) can't run on linux, and last time I checked Visual Studio also.
Proton is amazing as long as you don't get bit by anticheat, which thankfully is getting better.
Thankfully I don't play many games with anticheat so almost the entirety of my game library runs on my Linux install.
Same I just had this conversation last week with a coworker
Subnautica multiplayer mod nitrox :( Ik its a reach to support but its literally the only thing holding me to windows
Yeah, that sucks. I'm not much of a gamer myself. I know there are workarounds, but I probably would stay with Windows for games too if that was the case.
I’ll probably install a second SSD for Linux so I can dual boot for development.
Humorous, but I don't think that really applies here.
I recently noticed the tool Rufus has the ability to make a local account as part of the image
Heh, I made the mistake of connecting to the internet, which removes the option for a local account. Even after quitting the setup and restarting the machine, it would skip the wifi question and ask for a Microsoft account.
I ended up using hotkeys to open console and using a command to disable the wifi adaptor, then another to reboot the machine.
After that it suddenly allowed a local account.
Whereupon I learned that there was no way to force it to use the dedicated GPU, win11 only allows you to enable it per program. Otherwise it decides when you need it.
I have installed win10 for now, but the writing is on the wall. When win10 is no longer supported we will finally make the switch to Linux.
During setup, tell it you want to join a domain. This brings you to local account creation. Way easier than what the article says. They keep moving that around to make it harder to find though.
It should be noted that you only get a domain join option with the Pro version.
On Pro you can select English (World) as the region and you don't get Windows Store and other crap installed. Just a nice clean Windows install. Haven't got a Home ISO to spin up a VM to test if that skips the online account creation/login though but I'll suspect it does.
Gentoo is easier than this
I mean, technically it's only difficult because Microsoft doesn't want you to make a local account anymore.
The difficulty is by no means necessary.
Yes. I thought it was an obvious joke that it shouldn't be this difficult and that there are privacy-respecting operating systems out there.
Sure, but that shouldn't be surprising. Gentoo isn't trying to intentionally make the process harder. I haven't installed it for years but even then it was fairly streamlined and easy for what you're doing.
tldr; select personal account, use a@a.com and any password
I just did this the other day. For figure c you'll see sign in options. With that you have the option for domain join. Do that and it simply runs you through creating a local user. No domain join or MS account needed.
This was done on W11 Pro so your mileage may vary on W11Home
Thanks all. The shift+F10 trick worked, despite my attempts at mistyping the command.
Slipstream
Or the old school offline setup
Omg guys I am also a part of linux community and asked them a distro for window user. They recommended zorin and pop OS. If you're a window user and scared of coding and terminal then those two distro are for you. There's an app store to install apps and the UI is better than windows. Do check it out, I am using it and love it.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
