> all it takes to install Windows 11 without an account

Well, that does not really look very user-friendly, does it? Which probably only underlines the point of the parent.

We're on a tech-focused site where someone mentioned that they don't install windows, because they don't want to login with an online-account. i agree that my described work-around is not made for the common enduser and i hate that this feature is so hidden, but i think executing a single command you find after 30 seconds of googling is not too much to ask for from a tech-adjacent person :)

i see posts on here of people reverse-engineering firmwares, hacking together new things, finding and using exploits etc., not sure why installing a windows seems to be a huge topic, then.

Because they made it a worse product, they made it my job to fix it. That’s the point.

> but i think executing a single command you find after 30 seconds of googling is not too much to ask for from a tech-adjacent person

I would be very wary. That instruction sounds like an “unsupported” hack that’s likely to lead to future problems.

Why is this a hack? This just a toggle to disable the new “feature”.

It makes total sense for the Windows engineers to have this kind of feature flag.

And i dont think they are going to rip out the code that runs and supports local accounts.

it’s actually not even as “simple” as that comment they’ve changed it to be a bit more obtuse to get to the command part, exemplifying exactly why going along with it is a problem.

what do you mean? i did exactly this, two hours ago.

I wonder if 'OOBE\BYPASSNRO' will be the FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT... for the new generation of people entering the IT world.

Doubt it. Kids today are phoners who live on mobile devices.

At what point in time were “kids today” into computers? If it wasn’t phones, it was video games or comic books or serial Dickens. It’s always been a subset who want to play with the tech beneath.

it's certainly a step i teach to kids coming into the IT-space, right before teaching them about Mass Activation Scripts :)

Oh that's all? Just some obscure magical incantations which will probably be gone as soon as Microsoft management learns of it. Brilliant.

Microsoft knows about this. Its why they included the option in the command line. The fact that Massgavel's activation scripts still work on windows is telling of how much they'll care.

it's been confirmed that MS uses these scripts themselves, internally :)

sibling, we are on _hacker_ news. if a single command is too much to ask for, i don't know what to think.

ever installed Linux? takes exponentially more knowledge than this windows-local-only workaround.

i'm sure that management is aware of this feature, as it exists for years now and can be trivially found, it's not like this is hidden somewhere in a vault, you know. Same as MAS.

i'm not even a defender of Windows and only use it at home because i game, but if i see that someone has never installed a windows just because they don't want to give M$ their e-mail address (hope they don't have a github or linkedin account, but, you know...), then i want to give them the hint they need :) i use them same functionality to install windows for my parents etc., as they want to have local-only accounts as well. even without this weird work-around, i would still be the one installing windows. OS installation is not hard, but already too difficult or confusing for lots of endusers.

not sure why you chose to reply in such a snarky tone :(

I use linux because it's much easier than fixing Windows. I lost interest in tinkering with my computer years ago.

i understand that. i have a linux server at home and linux is my niche at work. the problem for me is that i game a lot of different games and although gaming on linux technically works, i got sick of debugging basically every game and loosing performance. thus, sadly, i am forced to use windows. of course with an offline account, debloated etc.

Step 1: add online login as an option

Step 2: make online login the default option

Step 3: make online login mandatory, leave an escape hatch for technical users

<we are here>

Step 4: remove the escape hatch

If I wanted to type in commands to install my OS I’d use Linux desktop.