At this point they’ll restrict access to the registry.
i wonder if they could make a read-only config partition like with macos
Linux, your time has finally come
Here’s your bypass:
In OOBE, go through MS account creation. Tell it you were born today. It’ll let you set a password for the MS account before rejecting you due to COPA requirements. At this point, you can make an offline account without having even created an MS account, let alone having to use one.
This will not go away - it’s a legal thing. MS doesn’t want to deal with COPA stuff for very young kids, so this flow exists. Enjoy.
This is the rule for any account or mobile game, too - if it asks your age before asking for consent to farm, put any age below 13. It’ll either not farm you because it’s illegal or it’ll kick you out. If the latter, good riddance really
I’ve always done 1/1/1984 for obvious reasons but this is a good tip
I’ve used 1/1/70 since it’s the unix epoc, what’s 1/1/84?
If that actually becomes a thing people do, that could prompt MS to start to require either submitting to a face scan or showing some government ID just to install Windows, though, if the way Google’s handling KYC on YT if your account gets flagged as underage, and soon Android app dev, as well as KYC going out across other sites, is any indication.
I’m pretty sure having to KYC just to install an OS is the last thing people want right now.
Let them. The entire world is slowly migrating to Mac and Linux. I haven’t even had the option of windows at my last 3 jobs. (To be fair, I’ve never had the option of desktop Linux, but this last one said pick a computer—I’m not positive that they would’ve balked at Linux.) That said, idk what’s so great about Mac over Linux, but I guess it’s not corporate friendly.
I’m trying to think of which MS products we even have in our ecosystem. Office, I guess. Corporate world will never wean themselves off of Excel.
“The entire world” lol. I applaud your optimism.
My go to is to pop open the console and run “ipconfig /release” right before you create an account. Win 11 will have you set up a local account if you don’t have a network connection.
Doesnt work on these newest versions anymore.
OOBE\BYPASSNRO has been off and on for me, but so far nuking the network connection has always worked for me. I’m setting up a few new computers tomorrow, it will be interesting to see what tricks still work.
Yes please let us know. Wont know till we order another batch of newer computers in a few weeks.
I guess i could download the latest test build on a test machine and reset it and try.
Inconclusive. Re-used machines instead of new computers. Systems did have Windows 11 on them. OOBE\BypassNRO worked, but they may have pending updates.
Edit: one machine would not let me skip MS account sign in with OOBE\BypassNRO. IPConfig /Release immediately let me set up a local account.
Do you normally connect your machines to the internet during setup? Or is this solely without any connection?
Avoid it like the plague. Once you admit you have Internet, Microsoft never forgets.
What if they just ask your age as step 1 of the setup?
From the other time this was posted:
95 is the stick, and ME is the stick up someone’s butt.
I will be switching to Linux once my laptop is obsolete!!! I will only be getting Linux stuff from there on in!!! :-)
Why wait? Linux Mint will run the shit out of your laptop right now.
You’re going to immediately wonder why you waited so long.
“While these mechanisms were often used to bypass Microsoft account setup, they also inadvertently skip critical setup screens, potentially causing users to exit OOBE with a device that is not fully configured for use.”
Lol sure. If that was the real reason they’d simply let you create a local account. The audacious lying is just insulting.
It’s not lying if what they mean by “not fully configured for use” is that the private data being captured and sent to their servers is not fully matched to a personal identity in their systems.
After all, they didn’t say whose “use” that device would not be configured for.
I despise that I have to use this OS at work. I would never run windows on my own computer again. Its just insanity. Next they’ll require a credit card to make a Microsoft account.
Switched to Linux full time at the start of 2025 and haven’t looked back. I fully intend to go the rest of my life without using windows again.
If I was still a solo sysadmin, today I would be reevaluating the feasibility of dumping Windows altogether.
Do custom installation (ISO) creation utilities like NTLite still allow you to remove the requirement?
Dump windows. These megacorps need to fail.
I installed windows 11 a dozen time at work (never at home) and I just click on “domain login”, it just creates a local account and then after the install I have to manually join the domain. No Microsoft account enforcement at all.
It’s regular Windows 11, not Enterprise, we are a small company.
But I’m wondering, this bypass is too easy, is it because it sees that the DNS server is also an active directory server, so it allows that, or the trick is that you tell him you want to join a domain?
Or maybe it’s a domain enrollment bug because we’re using samba 4 under Debian as active directory server and not Windows server/entra id/whatever they call it this month?
I just click on “domain login”
It’s regular Windows 11, not Enterprise
You need to have 11 Pro or better to domain join a computer.
Your computer would also need to be joined to your domain to allow the login, so there is definitely some config going on that is not available to the typical home user.
I don’t think they ever said they plan to require it for Windows Pro or above skus. It’s only home (you know the one business shouldn’t be using anyway) that they said they wanted to enforce it on.
They actually did a lot of mess with Pro as well. There has been a “watering down” of Pro since Windows 10 to make sure that they can still do their anticonsumer crap to users. I imagine they also are trying to push businesses to get Enterprise instead of picking up relatively easy/inexpensive Pro licenses.
I don’t know why it was so easy for you, but the last four Windows 11 machines I set up over the last two years definitely required increasingly complicated hacks just to not create an online account.
The hole they will never plug: Not using Windows.
In a few years If authoritarian shitholes keep fucking getting their way I can see using an “unverified/ untraceable OS” to be a “national security violation”
In theory Pluton enforcement platform-wide, which also includes forced SecureBoot without the ability to install user-signed keys, as well as OTA updates for that super-TPM, could block alt OSes on PC though.
Fortunately, Pluton never caught on and that hasn’t happened so far.
I’m gonna need an explanation how anything could prevent me from just formatting the drive and doing what I want, barring the use of proprietary hardware. I only understood SecureBoot in that paragraph.
Forced SecureBoot with only MS keys and no way to install user-signed keys and no Linux shim would block non-Windows OSes from booting.
Basically, Pluton functions similar to how mobile devices function in terms of locked bootloaders.
AFAIK the only devices currently produced which actually use Pluton are Surface devices though, and if it’s not being implemented as intended, it’s just seen as a generic TPM by other OSes.
For anyone wondering what Pluton is: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/hardware-security/pluton/microsoft-pluton-security-processor
Pluton as TPM: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/hardware-security/pluton/pluton-as-tpm
just give 'em time. it’s still a bit early in the game for that play
The Enterprise/IoT SKUs, which of course include LTSC, still let you use a local account, for now…
I won’t be surprised if they plug that at some point way down the line too though given they’re already playing with Windows on the Cloud in the enterprise sector.
Lol.
I remember having to disable internet when installing windows 10 so I’m not forced to make a micro$hit account.
They really don’t care at all about users. It’s all about abuse at this point.
Had to do that with Doom III in 2004. Old news.
It’s not really a big deal, unless you’re used to the freedom of Linux, which comes with it’s own issues. If M$ ever truly forces me into a corner, I’m out. And they won’t. Like Adobe allowing low-key piracy, they know they need the vast user base to remain relevant.
