How to set up Windows 10 without a Microsoft account | Hacker News Reader

How to set up Windows 10 without a Microsoft account

pcadvisor.co.uk

64 pointsjanyao50 comments

I have been using Windows 10 since before it released in 2015 and there was always an option to use a local account right in the installer.

Yes. It's even made more obvious than in Windows 8

I know this is about Microsoft but Apple and Google have been performing this tomfoolery as well - basically trying to trick/force people into creating an online account.

Google should be particularly called out for this dickish behavior - for forcing people to have a Google Account just to create a local ChromeOS account. (Hopefully, this has changed.)

You can do this? I always though your ChromeOS login was your Google account login, like I thought that was part of the point of a "cloud based OS" or however they classify it.

I thought this to, turns out you can enable it in chrome:flags

https://www.chromestory.com/2013/02/how-to-add-locally-manag...

So they still haven't turned it on after all this time? I was under the impression that they were going to roll it out.

I just bought my first smartphone running Andriod, and it's essentially useless as a smartphone unless I sign into the Google store with an email address. I can't download a single App.

So far, I have resisted, just using it to tether.

had the same issue, apkpure to the rescue

There are good 3rd-party app stores you can use instead if you're committing to that. F-droid for OSS, Amazon for other stuff, Humble bundle for cheap games.

Yalp Store lets you download from Google Play without an account:

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.github.yerio...

Does it still download from Google or somewhere else? This might be really useful for me here in China if it uses another source.

> Does it still download from Google

Yes it does

not sure if they download directly or could act as proxy for you

if you are in China coolapk.com should be pretty safe and they have English UI app or you can just use some apk downloader as apkpure if yalp would not work

Try F-Droid! Not only does it need no account, but it's got a decent amount of software specifically designed to let you get around meeting Google (ex. syncing against *DAV).

variety of software on fdroid is very small, fdroid is ok for few apps but anyway very soon you will find out you need either yalp store or other apk downloader

My brief experience with smartphones a few years ago is that you could just download the .apk elsewhere and copy it to the phone to install, like the good old days... or have Google thoroughly locked down that route too now?

(It does take longer and more effort, but IMHO you should really be doing more research on each piece of software you decide to use, than just reading a description in an app store.)

There's always been an option (in recent years at least) in security that allows installation from other sources.

You can still do that pretty easily, but most software doesn't release as separate apks outside of an app store (and particularly the Google store).

There are websites that provide apks, but I'm not sure of the legality there, and I'm not positive that they're unmodified versions of the software.

There's not any useful UI on android, but apks are signed (at least the jar is) by the developer, so you could check if it had been modified if you get the signing certificate from a Google Play install and see if that's the same certificate that signed the apk you download from who knows where.

You still have a potential issue if there's native code: Google Play makes it possible to build separate apks to support the different flavors of native code, so you need to grab the right apk for your phone, if the developers don't provide a web download with all the native code in one package.

Actually I have a old phone right now that I've factory reset and have no Google account set up on.

I've still managed to install a few APKs I've downloaded via Chrome (for Android). One time I had to download one with my laptop because I kept getting an incomplete file otherwise but I think that was server issue.

You can install F-Droid, which lets you download open source apps.

At startup, there's an option to register with Google, which you can skip. It will keep popping up until you disable the "Google one-time startup" app. Also, without a Google account, voice input and voice dialing won't work; Google deliberately broke that about two years ago. There are alternatives, such as Samsung S-Voice, but it's hard to find a good one that isn't just a front end to Google's system.

http://www.apkmirror.com/

Yalp store

Plenty of people (in my experience, mostly older people) use smartphones without even knowing what an app is. Between the inbuilt browser, camera, email, IM and phone functions, a massive amount of functionality is covered off for a heap of people.

It came with a ton of pre-insalled apps, all of which say "This app is now too old, and you must download a new one".

Also downloading apps uses a massive amount of cellular data which is not cheap. WiFi not an option in West Africa.

I think Apple doesn't try to hide the skip option too much: http://hintdesk.com/Pics/2017%20-%2007/HintDesk%2028.07.2016...

You gotta look the first time you install it cause they hide it in the setup process somewhere unclear. It's kind of sad they make it less apparent, I wish they would make both options clear so people KNOW they have options and Microsoft isn't full on sucking them into their ecosystem.

If they want to leave an image that they're not trying to force themselves on everyone it would be a good start at Windows first time setup to provide clear options. Same with Cortana, people are struck by technophobia of being watched constantly, Cortana, Siri, etc they don't help this sadly.

I appreciate the work Microsoft does, but Windows 10 has it's ups and downs for everyone.

I think that's the point, you can't hide your true intentions. At the end Microsoft wants to be the Google of the operating system. They want to take everything Google has done on the web and copy it their operating system. With all the privacy can eat my shorts implications that go with it.

It is far from hidden, bottom left says "skip" then the next screen lets you create a local account and even if you didn't see this you can simple go to settings > account and change it to a local account with no issues at all.

Just because people do not read everything on the screen doesn't mean it is "hidden"

They make it harder to find with every new version of the installer. I'd say they have reached a point where you can call it a dark pattern.

> you can call it a dark pattern.

Exactly. Putting a button that advances the process in the lower left hand corner is Wrong in every UI convention... ever? Seriously, I've used a lot of historical and exotic operating systems and tool kits, and I'm not aware of anybody ever making something like that acceptable behavior.

Never the less the button is still there and easy to see if you bother to look. You could argue that the left side is better to place it as most cultures read left to right

No, you couldn't argue that. You'd have to overthrow the entirety of UI design since forever to be able to argue that. Not to mention that you should first read what you're responding to and then click on buttons, therefore even with the left-to-right logic, the button belongs on the right side.

I recall installing a fresh install of Windows. I was prompted with a login to Microsoft account screen. The only way to "skip" it was click the "I don't have a Microsoft account" link at the bottom (which isn't true, I DO have a Microsoft account, I just don't want to use it for this PC). That brings you to a "Create a new Microsoft account" screen, and at the bottom of that was a small text link that says "I don't want to create one now" (or similar).

Considering I had to lie during the install by claiming I didn't have a Microsoft account just to get the option to proceed without one is pretty bad UX in my opinion.

This is what I meant by they hide it in the setup process somewhere unclear. It really should be outlined as such:

* Login

* Create a new Microsoft Account

* Use / Create a Local Account

And for a new PC, local account is the only option if you don't have network access during the OOBE wizard.

Your username is ironic given the circumstances. Are there any disadvantages to having the box offline for the install?

You don't get given the option to sign in or create a microsoft account and with the new installer cortana wouldn't work.

Sounds like a win to me.

I've done a few Creator's update installs over the last few days and it is much easier to skip the MS account now. Iirc there is a button on the account screen for it.

I was kind of surprised the in-place upgrade doesn't nag you about it, either. Only the OOBE.

I did this at first, but caved and logged in to my account in order to tie my serial to my Microsoft account. If I replace my motherboard now, I won't have to get a new license (I'm no longer at university, so I don't have dreamspark anymore).

The thing that bothers me the most about using a microsoft account is that your user folder is named by truncating your email to five characters. Yes you read that correctly. The name of your user folder under C:\Users\ will be no more than five characters long. Of course if you don't use a microsoft account it will be longer.

Are you saying that Microsoft offers no collision protection in situations where two user's email have the same first 5 characters?

If not then what is the problem?

Maybe [s]he complaints that the username is arbitrarily truncated.

But why is that a problem? That isn't the name used to login and would only be visible if you navigated the file system via console or went into c:\users\. File explorer abstracts that folder name away and in scripts it should be referenced via the environment variable.

So it shouldn't actually be an issue.

I do both of those things on a daily basis. And when I have to type it someplace that doesn't have tab completion I don't want to have to count the letters in my own name. It should just be my name. In 2017 why is seven characters too many?

When your first name is truncated it just looks wrong and arbitrary. I get sick of seeing C:\Users\Matth when I would rather see C:\Users\Matthew.

It's easier now, for a while you had to unplug the network during setup.

You have always been able to make a local account during Windows 10 setup however it was not so obvious how to find the option in earlier versions.

While we're on the subject: I'd like to restrict some accounts to only a certain a mount of time per day, can this be done without using Microsoft accounts?

I'd be okay with paying a bit for this feature if it means I can do it without "Microsoft family".

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