News Elon Musk blasts Microsoft about Windows 11’s account requirement – takes several hours to bypass it

[Admin]

Tesla boss Elon Musk voiced his displeasure with a new laptop on Sunday evening. The issue was how the Windows 11 install on the portable PC was insisting on Musk signing in with a Microsoft account. He took several hours to bypass the requirement.

Elon Musk blasts Microsoft about Windows 11’s account requirement – takes several hours to bypass it : Read more

 

[COLGeek]

Please keep the "genius" and other conspiracy theories clean and light hearted. Nothing to take too seriously here.

 

[rluker5]

I can see why a guy who is in the spotlight would want to have PCs not on a shared MS account where PCs all want to sync and his use data is logged and potentially found. Especially with a push for an extra nosy AI.

I keep my PCs on my MS account, but I'm just some regular guy nobody is looking at.

 

[abufrejoval]

Please wake me when you can opt out of an online connection on a Tesla...

 

[PEnns]

So, in other words Mr. Genius doesn't know how to avoid having an MS account.

 

[Mindstab Thrull]

Regardless of what I think of Musk, he has a point:
One should not need a Microsoft account (or any other kind) or find "loopholes" (for lack of better wording) in order to install an OS on a personal computer. Is it a good idea? Perhaps. Recommended? Potentially, especially if you have more than one machine and want to keep everything seamless between them (say, a tower and a laptop). But should it be NEEDED? No.

 

[abufrejoval]

So, in other words Mr. Genius doesn't know how to avoid having an MS account.

This isn't a matter of him not knowing how to circumvent it.

He takes offence at Microsoft stripmining his genius to their benefit.

While he obviously doesn't look into the mirror and recognizeses that this is exactly what he has no qualms doing himself on the everybody-to-himself-driving vehicles he sells but never quite relinquieshes to their owners.

And like an aspiring junior politician who believes he is being victimized by everyone else, he's now looking for support.

Well all of you who tweet: please give him the regards his dual standards deserve!

 

[The TrippyHippie]

If they are giving you the O/S for free via a free licence while creating a microsoft account or through a free O/S upgrade option then I guess your at there mercy.
(Not including being forced to Upgrade to a totally new O/S from your current O/S if you paid for the licence your system is currenty using, because then that would mean Microsoft have taken your option to upgrade for free in to thier own hands and not give you the choice to upgrade your paid for licence to a free upgrade licence)

If you pay or have paid for a for Windows 8, 8.1, 10 or 11 licence then I personally think it's wrong to be forced in to having a Microsoft Account just to use the O/S you paid for unless you choose to upgrade your paid for licence to the free O/S upgrade path, which probs most people did back in the day, kinda feels sneaky looking back or a preemptive business move.

 

[RandomWan]

In all fairness, they don't make the option to create a local account readily apparent, even after removing the absolute requirement they had previously (this could be bypassed, but it took working outside default OOBE).

 

[ezst036]

Musk is not all that bright.

Doesn't he know that Microsoft is working toward a future where they can charge a subscription fee for the OS? Everybody knows that!

 

[garrett040]

In all fairness, they don't make the option to create a local account readily apparent, even after removing the absolute requirement they had previously (this could be bypassed, but it took working outside default OOBE).

I recall clearly when I was installing windows 11 that they have you connect to wifi first. And if you do connect (as elon had an open access point) you are not provided with the option to select "offline" or "limited" account. Its quite deceptive really. If you dont connect to any network then the option may be there.

 

[scottslayer]

Another slow news day.

 

[MisterZ]

I've never heard of a newly installed Windows PC automatically connecting to Wi-Fi. Does this really happen?

 

[USAFRet]

And the funniest part is that your "Microsoft account" does not have to be "microsoft".

Mine is a rarely used gmail address.

 

[JamesJones44]

The issue I've run into bypassing the MS account is that it will still ask to have me create a local PIN code when it wakes from sleep and the only way i've found around it is to reboot. I'm sure I could go spelunking through the registry and turn this off, but MS should give tools to easily bypass these things.

 

[JTWrenn]

I hate Elon, but he's got a point on this. It's still likely possible, but the attempted forcing and making harder is gross. Microsoft should allow users to do things the way they want and stop badgering people to use their Microsoft account. The AI thing is a little ridiculous though. I'm sure the AI in the newest windows 11 builds can happily report on you without a microsoft account.

 

[JTWrenn]

I've never heard of a newly installed Windows PC automatically connecting to Wi-Fi. Does this really happen?

I have never seen it but then again how often are you around a totally open wifi. If it does that it's a much bigger issue than the force to Microsoft Account. Starting off on an open wifi could easily expose you to viruses during setup and is a horrible idea.

As usually Elon probably connected it himself got pissed and is lying so he can complain without people telling him the easy answer. Liars dividend and all that.

 

[thisisaname]

At least he did thank the people who helped him.

 

[JamesJones44]

Yeah, but people keep telling me that he's a genius and invented so many things.

He's invested in a great many things that have become successful. How much he has done him self is debatable for sure. One thing I can say for sure because it's public record, he didn't come up with most of things that made Tesla, Tesla. The original founders did. Musk was the VC, but Musk was a smart VC and wrote the terms so that he could just whisk the company away from the founders if it became successful, and he did, thus getting all the credit because most people had no idea what Tesla was until after it took it over from the founders.

As for PayPal, as someone who grew up in that era, X.com was nothing special, Confinity on the hand could allow someone to setup payments to another person. This was a big deal back then. The reason for them merging made sense, but PayPal is much closer to what Confinity was than what X was. X.com was basically like logging into BoA today, plan, boring bank site (still a fair feat for back then).

For Space X I don't have information to draw on. It could be all him or could be him playing the typical VC role. There just isn't enough information out that (Patents can't tell you because the submitter can put there name on it. Look at what Edison did).

I won't take all the credit away from Musk however. VC vision plays an important role in technology development. However, he definitely gets credit for things that probably shouldn't get credit for.

 

[scottyctalk]

And yet I can't see someone's full X timeline without signing up for an account. Surely the most genius person in the world must understand why Microsoft does their best to get you signed up.

Plus, does he really think we believe Twitter isn't being used to train his Grok AI?

 

[vaporland]

In order to have Linux all a "normal person" has to do is buy a Steam Deck at retail. Boom, there's Linux. Plenty of "normal person"s are already doing what you deem impossible.

Besides, Microsoft has lost over 20% of its market share since the XP days. One in nearly 4 people are itching to get out and Microsoft has nothing to entice them back.

Musk is supposedly code-proficient (code reviews, etc), yet he doesn't run Linux by default?

Putting aside all the Linux bashing, Elon should fit the classic profile of a devoted Linux user.

He definitely fits the profile of a high-reward hacking victim, and Windows fits the profile of a breach vector.

 

[latoupie]

For windows 11 pro, choose "Set up for work and school" instead of "Set up for personnal use". Then you will be able to create a local account. I did it again 1 week ago. The previous ez way (Offline Account) disappeared for me.

 

[ekio]

It's only now he realizes Windows is total garbage ?
I mean,
-This crap doesn't even have a modern consistent UI, half of the UI is obsolete atrocity from Windows XP when it's not even earlier.
-It needs more than a GB to run empty.
-It's forcing and insisting on installing MS third party products more than shady second hand car reseller.
-It's still based on disgusting MSDOS tech 40 years later.

If I was that rich, I would pay to get a super Linux Distro made to match my tastes.

 

[AtrociKitty]

I've never heard of a newly installed Windows PC automatically connecting to Wi-Fi. Does this really happen?

I have never seen it but then again how often are you around a totally open wifi. If it does that it's a much bigger issue than the force to Microsoft Account. Starting off on an open wifi could easily expose you to viruses during setup and is a horrible idea.

There used to be a setting in 10 called Connect to suggested open hotspots. If enabled (and it was by default), it allowed, "Windows to automatically connect users to open hotspots it knows about by crowdsourcing networks that other people using Windows have connected to."

 

[stonecarver]

I have to wonder about it connecting to the internet issue he said happened.

I've been in homes out in Indian Wells at there largest country club they have out there. Not going to name it as I don't need guys with black suits and sun glasses give me a visit.

But security on there network are crazy tight. I was there fixing a personal computer and the cable TV guy was there at the same time.

So I could finish job it turned into a call from California to Texas and another to Connecticut all on the line with the owner of the company that was standing there with me " the house I was in" to give me the permissions I need to connect him to his own network.

If musk has things locked down security wise connecting the new laptop to network should have been a pain in the rear.

The reason I mentioned the cable guy being there too. He also had to do the calls to get the guys in corporate to give permissions so the clients home TV could get new cable package.