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

[35below0]

Increasing deceptive manipulation like this from Microsoft is why all my Windows machines are shifting to dual boot Linux. When I finish getting virtual machines working well on Linux, I'm done with Windows forever. It's a screwy platform.

Windows has *always* been a screwy platform. Also the one everything you want to run actually runs on. Linux has strengths but it cannot run everything. Linux also has it's own idiocies. Overall it's not worth putting up with imo. Windows is mostly harmless these days. I just let it do it's thing and it mostly stays out of my way. Been that way since 7.

Like i said, i don't use it for Windows, i use it for everything that runs on Windows. And that is a lot of software. A lot of software and a lot of choice to give up in order to enjoy ... ? What does Linux do better? I used microLinux, Ubuntu and Debian. At the time security was much better on Linux and viruses were mostly not a thing.
Whatever Linux can offer, it's not for me mang.

Microsoft always acted this way. I don't defend them nor do i like what they do (though whisper it but Win 11 is kinda nice), but theirs is the OS that makes everything i want possible.

 

[USAFRet]

Like i said, i don't use it for Windows, i use it for everything that runs on Windows. And that is a lot of software.

QFT

 

[phxrider]

Easy to do during setup, with Pro it's an option (log in with work account), with Home you can download the ISO from Microsoft (publicly available), download Rufus to write it to a USB, Rufus will prompt you for some special goodies, one of which is to bypass requirement for a MS account (also works on Home version).

Rufus can also modify the ISO to bypass some of the older system and VM blocks like TPM requirements, prevent BitLocker, automatically set the time zone to match the PC writing the USB, and create a local account for you.

 

[blppt]

I think Musk knew how to use google to find out how to get around this in like 2 seconds.

As usual, he's just trolling to get views on his money pit of a social network.

 

[Allever]

The writer of this article, Mark Tyson, attempts to go after Elon Musk and his "fans" lost to his political bias and most regrettably to common sense. Musk does have a legit point. Most people besides nerds don't know of a "bypass technique" to bypass this account requirement prompt. So these people are more likely to provide their email to create and account to be able to proceed. Who would've though there would be a "bypass" technique and/or trickery here anyways?

 

[luissantos]

The writer of this article, Mark Tyson, attempts to go after Elon Musk and his "fans" lost to his political bias and most regrettably to common sense. Musk does have a legit point. Most people besides nerds don't know of a "bypass technique" to bypass this account requirement prompt. So these people are more likely to provide their email to create and account to be able to proceed. Who would've though there would be a "bypass" technique and/or trickery here anyways?

Musk WOULD have a point if his companies did not employ similar practices. As it stands, this is nothing more than the kettle calling the pot black. And doing so as publicly as possible just to garner attention, when he could've easily found the solution with a simple online search query.

 

[luissantos]

Did you know how to do anything, before someone taught you how? He never encountered this issue before, so of course, he doesn't know how to bypass it.

"Genius" refers to high intelligence, not high knowledge. In today's world it is becoming less and less relevant whether you have knowledge, because information is easier to access. However, you require intelligence to figure out how to access that information and to prune potential misinformation.

In others words: the issue wasn't that he didn't know. The issue was that he couldn't figure it out easily on his own by searching the internet.

 

[derekullo]

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

How else will Elon know where to send your gifts on your birthday?

 

[Timmy!]

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!

I'm sure that big tech doesn't just monetise individual genius. The analytics from platforms like Facebook would have helped them identify growth companies which they could buy for a lower price than in if their competitors had access to the same analytics that they did.

There would be other aspects of surveillance capitalism which which enriches big tech to the detriment of society. Hopefully the EU can tame big tech on this front and make that the standard around the world as a result.

 

[excalibur1814]

Username/email: admin
Pass: admin
Error. Lets you continue.

?

 

[everygamer]

It takes 5 minutes to setup win11 without a login. During the install process just say you don't have internet, and it let's you setup a local account, then once you get into windows just connect to the internet and never sign in with a Microsoft account.

The main downside to this is that your windows license for the machine won't be associated to your online account. If you ever have to reinstall windows (say due to a ssd replacement) you might not be able to use the same license.

You could login during the machine setup and switch to a local account afterwards, and sign out of the machine and get the best of both worlds.

 

[popatim]

Just another "Genius" that can't figure out how to turn off the boats engine (Einstein). LoL

And to think I just installed it without an MS account while connected to wifi and still was able to skip creating an MS account all using a freshly created official MS Creation tool flash drive.

Come to think of it, this was on an i5-6500 which isn't even a supported processor. WTG MS!!

 

[CmdrShepard]

It takes 5 minutes to setup win11 without a login.

For tech-savvy people yes.

During the install process just say you don't have internet, and it let's you setup a local account, then once you get into windows just connect to the internet and never sign in with a Microsoft account.

The problem here was Windows auto-connecting to a passwordless free Wi-Fi.

Than in itself is a WTF, someone can setup a free unprotected Wi-Fi AP and steal your MS account credentials right there along with anything else you access while setting up such as email, cloud drives, etc.

The OS should never auto-connect to anything unless you tell it to do so.

You could login during the machine setup and switch to a local account afterwards, and sign out of the machine and get the best of both worlds.

The problem with that is that out-of-the-box, Windows is configured to syphon up literally EVERYTHING you do including individual key presses and send it all to Microsoft, not to mention it's going to install a <Mod Edit>load of shovelware as soon as it gets the chance.

The only safe way to install Windows nowadays is to have a Windows Server running as a domain controller and a well-defined GPO that clamps down on privacy violations and security weaknesses in the default "user friendly" OOBE configuration.

 

[PEnns]

Did you know how to do anything, before someone taught you how? He never encountered this issue before, so of course, he doesn't know how to bypass it.

And you know for a fact that he never, ever had a Windows PC before? Is he an 8 year old?

Well then, tech newbie Musk could have visited such a forum instead of bellyaching and blowing hot air, as usual.

 

[BillyBuerger]

It takes 5 minutes to setup win11 without a login. During the install process just say you don't have internet, and it let's you setup a local account, then once you get into windows just connect to the internet and never sign in with a Microsoft account.

This is how it used to be on Win10. But on every Win11 install I've done, it doesn't give you the option to skip the internet setup and continue. You have to use the command line oobe\bypassnro or use a bad email account that causes it to error and then continue with a local account. Although I feel like that's been hit or miss for me. I always use the bypassnro option.

 

[gernstsmit]

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

I do a clean install with a flash disk that is created with Rufus. When creating the bootable installer flash disk, Rufus gives you the option to create an offline account. Thanks for that otherwise I would have been lost too.

 

[RandomWan]

This is how it used to be on Win10. But on every Win11 install I've done, it doesn't give you the option to skip the internet setup and continue. You have to use the command line oobe\bypassnro or use a bad email account that causes it to error and then continue with a local account. Although I feel like that's been hit or miss for me. I always use the bypassnro option.

They've changed it so it doesn't force a connection to proceed. You still need to tell it to go the route of Domain setup to get to making a local account. It doesn't highlight that you can avoid the MS account.

 

[BillyBuerger]

They've changed it so it doesn't force a connection to proceed. You still need to tell it to go the route of Domain setup to get to making a local account. It doesn't highlight that you can avoid the MS account.

Oh yeah, the fact that it doesn't let me skip the network setup had me going directly to bypassnro. But I just did a test with a fresh Win 11 23H2 install media and after connecting to wifi and then giving a crap email address that failed, it went directly to a local account. Good to know. Still sucks that I had to give a crap email address first instead of letting me pick a local account from the start. But this is with Win home. Next time I'm doing a Pro install I'll have to see if it lets me do a domain join or local account directly.

 

[Allever]

Musk WOULD have a point if his companies did not employ similar practices. As it stands, this is nothing more than the kettle calling the pot black. And doing so as publicly as possible just to garner attention, when he could've easily found the solution with a simple online search query.

This is not correct. The practices are NOT similar. From day one, you would've known the requirements with/for a Tesla, SpaceX, etc. just like if it were for your mobile carrier, internet provider, etc.

Microsoft Windows OS never required an internet connection to be able to complete installing the OS, up until Windows 10 and Windows 11 where they started forcing it. They started by offering an offline solution to create a local account if you didn't want an MS account. Most recently, they have removed this option and force you to create a Microsoft account to be able to proceed with the installation. That someone found a "bypass" method doesn't change the fact that most joes wouldn't know about it. And this "bypass" can be patched anytime they want.. They probably won't patch it anytime soon, as the majority of installations provide this information.

 

[dalauder]

Windows has *always* been a screwy platform. Also the one everything you want to run actually runs on. Linux has strengths but it cannot run everything. Linux also has it's own idiocies. Overall it's not worth putting up with imo. Windows is mostly harmless these days. I just let it do it's thing and it mostly stays out of my way. Been that way since 7.

Like i said, i don't use it for Windows, i use it for everything that runs on Windows. And that is a lot of software. A lot of software and a lot of choice to give up in order to enjoy ... ? What does Linux do better? I used microLinux, Ubuntu and Debian. At the time security was much better on Linux and viruses were mostly not a thing.
Whatever Linux can offer, it's not for me mang.

Microsoft always acted this way. I don't defend them nor do i like what they do (though whisper it but Win 11 is kinda nice), but theirs is the OS that makes everything i want possible.

I've been using Linux Mint off and on the last couple of months. It runs almost everything I need. VirtualBox SHOULD run the other stuff. I don't think my kids need Windows for anything, so I'm probably going to put Linux on their computers.

Windows didn't used to use the Internet. It was less intrusive then. I first started using Windows 95 because it played nicely with DOS software.

Windows is intentionally becoming more and more intrusive. I'm not a fan.

 

[JTWrenn]

Kind of funny considering how many things I can't see now without having a Twixxer account first. Just sayin.

 

[Allever]

Kind of funny considering how many things I can't see now without having a Twixxer account first. Just sayin.

What can't you see now that you could before?

 

[Joseph_138]

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!

A billionaire, who launches rockets into space, and you think he's not all that bright. You don't get to where he is by being dumb.

 

[Joseph_138]

And you know for a fact that he never, ever had a Windows PC before? Is he an 8 year old?

Well then, tech newbie Musk could have visited such a forum instead of bellyaching and blowing hot air, as usual.

I never said he never had a Windows PC before. When did I ever say that? I said he never encountered the issue of being forced to create a Microsoft account to do a clean install before, which is very likely, since most people buy PC's preconfigured, and never have to do a clean install.

 

[Joseph_138]

Kind of funny considering how many things I can't see now without having a Twixxer account first. Just sayin.

Being able to see content on someone else's website, is not the same thing as installing an operating system on your PC. The New York Times has a paywall on their website, which is OK, because I'm not trying to install software written by them on my PC. The two should not be dependent on each other.