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Comment by throwaway0x7E6 | Hacker News Reader

even with the cable unplugged and no wifi module?

Yes, can confirm I was installing Win11 on my brother-in-law's new PC that I built last week and there were no default drivers for the USB wifi adapter I had attempted to reuse from his old machine. The entire process was roadblocked wanting me to plug into Ethernet until I researched the secret keyboard combination that allows you to shell out and then restart with the ability to do a network-free install.

I was using a Win 11 Pro installer stick on a Surface 4 the other day paired with a USB Ethernet interface. Aside from the fact that keyboard and mouse don’t work, because Windows doesn’t have drivers for a Microsoft Surface during install, I was able to convince Microsoft that I have no connection by unplugging the Ethernet cable right before the Microsoft account login prompt. Maybe I was lucky? Or really old installer? (Got it from Amazon Japan)

It’s definitely not an OS I would like to make my daily driver. I just hope Apple won’t go down that road with macOS.

If I've been following tech news, Pro lets you move on with a local account, but Home might not.

Iirc it is not the case anymore even for pro in 22h2. But bypassnro works for both home and pro.

That clears it up! Thanks!

> I researched the secret keyboard combination that allows you to shell out and then restart with the ability to do a network-free install.

What is the secret keyboard combination?

https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-11-set-up-without-internet...

Madness

I ran into this a few weeks ago with an Intel 12th Gen NUC. The Windows 11 install media does not have drivers for the LAN nor the WiFi so it just sits there saying you need to connect to a network to complete setup.

How on earth did Microsoft okay releasing a Professional version of their OS that offers no suggestion on how to finish the install when no network devices are detected?

A simple Google found me the answer but it is piss poor UX to offer zero options when it knows there is no network interface to enable.

People like to joke that you need the Terminal in Linux still and yet I couldn't even install the brand new Windows 11 on a computer without needing to open a command prompt using a keyboard shortcut and enter some cryptic command which rebooted my machine and enabled some hidden option.

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