Windows 11 @lemmy.world ??? @lemmy.world 1 yr. ago

I bought a new Lenovo with Windows 11 preinstalled and apparently if I want to use this laptop I need to have a Microsoft account

Is there any way around this? Why is Windows doing this? Don't get me wrong, I got the laptop to install a Linux distro anyway, but it's helpful for others (especially my older family members) to just use Windows when they need to print a paper or do a small task, so I would have liked to keep it. Microsoft really lost me here.

Edit:

Thanks everyone for the answers. For reasons I will not delve into now, I ended up installing Windows 10 from the official iso Image, then upgrading to Windows 11. This is the longest and shittiest way to avoid the login as it simply used the local account I created on Windows 10, and that's the road I took (not recommended). Also I ended up installing Mint with dual boot and I love it. I have windows on the smallest partition size possible (about 66G).

70 comments

Just type a user name without an @address and a password and click sign-in. When it fails you should have an option to proceed with a local account.
- This. If it is windows pro, you will need to select for personal use, and after entering something like a@gmail.com and a gibberish password it will prompt you for a local account.
Use the email "no@thankyou.com", and anything as the password. It'll reject it and give you a way to just use a local account instead of a Microsoft account.
- Ladies and gentlemen, my first bookmarked Lemmy comment
  
  You can't remember "no@thankyou.com"?
- You can also use test@test.com
  
  Or press shift+F10, which opens CMD, then type oobe\bypassnro which restarts windows installer and lets you use a local account
Disconnect from the internet and you get an option to use a local account.

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-windows-11-without-microsoft-account
- Windows is so quirky™
  
  She's not like other OS.
- We can do it the easy way or the Microsoft way.
  
  This will forever be their new advertising motto:
  We Can Do It The Easy Way Or The Microsoft Way.™
- Shit, you serious? Worth the attempt lol
  
  Yep, can't verify your ms account if the device doesn't have internet access.
- This is the answer
- This works! This is how I have my laptop and VMs setup.
Use:

a@a.com as email

Anything as password. (Just type 1 or something)

Press OK

You will get an error saying it doesnt work and you can continue by creating an offline account, inatead of logging in

Its the easiest way. You can also do some command prompt bullshit and restart etc but.. my trick is easier and faster.
- Every time I tell people about this I get downvoted and called an idiot.
  
  It seems to be an unreliable method, sometimes it works but sometimes you can do it a dozen times and it'll still just keep looping back on itself. Never figured out what the exact reason was but I think the looping is more common with laptops.
Yeah, but you can create local account.

Choose any of these 3 options:

A. Shift+F10 (opens cmd) > OOBE\BYPASSNRO

B. Continue until getting to creating account

B.1. Account > 123@123.com/test@test.com/a@b.com/1@1.ru/fuckoff@microsoft.com/a@outlook.com/d@d.d/na@na.com

B.2. Password > *enter any random password*

C. […] > How would you like to set up this device > Set up for work or school

With an existing system:

• CMD > net user /add *
- I honestly can't tell if this is how you actually set up a local account or if it's a joke about how ridiculously difficult everything is getting that is not exactly the Microsoft way
  
  I just bypass it by trying to log into 'my Microsoft account' of "fuck@you.com" and it's always jumped to the local account creation process.
  
  It is the actual way...I have to setup dozens of computers for my company with this method.
  
  If you have another computer you can use a win11 iso + Rufus to automatically create a local account but be aware it by default will have your password expire after 6 months. To fix this (requires 11 pro) go to start menu and type "lusrmgr.msc" find your account, right click "properties" and uncheck "password expires"
  
  Its not.
  
  how ridiculously difficult everything is getting that is not exactly the Microsoft way
  
  Always was.
- Just use option A. Shift+F10 (opens cmd) > OOBE\BYPASSNRO
  
  Then tell it you don’t have internet when it asks for an MS account.
Use email no@thankyou.com and gibberish password. It will bug out and you can make a local account.
- It's unfortunate we need to do this to create a local account instead. It's smells of Dark pattern.
  
  You still need to be watchfull. Windows will ask like 4 times or more to make an account because 'its better'
Leave cable unplugged and Wi-Fi off. Hit shift + F10 for a command prompt, type OOBE\BYPASSNR This removes the internet requirement and brings back the skip for now button. This is a new thing for Home edition in 22H2. I want to type out about how much I dislike both enterprise and consumer Microsoft products, but “if you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all” something something. Good luck with your new computer!
If you have another computer, download the Windows 11 iso from Microsoft.

Then download Rufus and use it to make a bootable USB key from the before mentioned Iso. It will ask if you want to disable Microsoft account requirement, as well as other things like TPM requirement and the likes.

Install Windows from that USB key
- Just a heads up, this probably won't work. I tried it recently.
  
  My Lenovo PC said "there's a media driver missing" after booting off a USB and wouldn't load any other file off any drive besides the one it booted off of.
  
  You need to get the Lenovo ISO with built in drivers and bloatware, which you will have to "order" a digital download for using your serial number to install Windows on.
  
  It's probably some DRM or forced spyware, because my USB drives had the drivers they needed to boot from but I was shut out of seeing any files (like a driver) on other devices.
  
  You're just missing a NVMe driver or something. Not that uncommon for systems that release after the OS did
There are workarounds but if you're not comfortable with them, you can create a "burner" account and then create a new Local Account from there. After that, you can delete the user linked with the M$ account.
Tricky, but yes:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-windows-11-without-microsoft-account
Permanently Deleted
You could just install the other OS
I absolutely hate Microsoft for this. It's been a thing since at least the middle part of Windows 10.
Teach your older family members to print and do small tasks on linux. KDE and Gnome are really beginner friendly.
Install Linux 😏
100% Inloggningsalternativ. Literally means "Alternative ways of login"
- Yes. Congrats, you now speak Swedish.
  
  Edit: Ah I realize what you meant. Sadly even that does not let you skip logging in. It's not a skip button, and it didn't work.
Dont connect it yet to the network/internet until you finish the whole configuration stuff.
Use no@thankyou.com as email
i imagine that you can't just never turn on windows? like boot from usb on first boot and wipe that thing off.
At the previous step you should have an option to set up for an organisation/school. Follow that route and you can find options to create a local account.
The disconnect from the interwebs trick and the other tips below should work. If you to install linux make sure to look up what is supported so far and what potentially needs work. Nowadays most things work OOTB save for some webcams with Windows Hello support :)
They want you to use their cloud services. I just make a microsoftsucksmamukildick@microshaft dot com and be done with it.
For anyone who struggles to get past the account creation email address, I've always entered "fuck@you.com" which isn't a valid email or is locked/banned.

Never caused me a problem, and I've even walked tech incompetent family members through that process.
Use the email address no@thankyou.com and a random password. It will fail but it will allow you to setup a local account instead
Sadly almost all of the answers below stopped working after updates closed those avenues of bypass. I'd just create a new account and ignore it.
You can set up offline account. Just search for it. In worst case, you can do it through command line.
I’m pretty sure you can just Alt+F4 that and it’ll let you create a local account. IIRC, that’s what I did on my W11 laptop.
[Skip for now]
- There’s nothing in the dialogue that says that.
  
  Inloggingsalternativs?
Install Linux from a usb key.

Install windows into a virtual machine.

You can get your windows product key from Linux by following this https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-find-windows-10-oem-product-key-command/
nixOS is great. It's got one additional step of difficulty from just pure Ubuntu, but it's designed to be as robust as possible and it's basically impossible to break.

Windows wise, there's some email address that you can type in to bypass the process. Beyond that as far as I know Windows 11 won't let you delay or skip this step, you have to have an account to install Windows 11 and it has to be a valid account that the OS can log in to. Maybe it's time to consider switching.
not if you install linux lol
- Yeah that was the plan. Turns out however that Ubuntu, Mint, and Arch and a bunch of other distros all recommend installing Windows first to avoid issues caused by Windows itself (so dual boot is the safest option).
  
  Sadly because I was so fucking pissed at this in the screenshot, I ended up trying to install Arch without setting up Windows first, fucked up my partitions, and spent this entire morning reinstalling Windows from an ISO Image (the Windows 10 worked but not 11 and this Lenovo doesn't have Audio or TouchPad drivers for Windows 10 so here I am wasting more of this mortal time I have to upgrade to Windows 11, make sure all drivers are working for the few occasions I will be forced to use Windows, and then reattempt to set up Arch Linux or Mint).
  
  Tl;dr: Best to install windows first, then Linux. And also fuck Microsoft.
  
  good god.
- Permanently Deleted
  
  i did not read the post 😎

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