New Windows 11 trick lets you bypass Microsoft Account requirement
bleepingcomputer.com
bleepingcomputer.com
> At this prompt, type start ms-cxh:localonly and press Enter
Please Microsoft, just let me use a local account on my PC. Either leave this workaround in place, or better yet, just let people make a local account without a workaround. It's pretty clear the demand is there, considering how many posts there are asking/telling about the workarounds.
I can't help but think of the common n-gate phrase: "Microsoft continues the war against it's own users".
- Skip the microsoft account step entirely
- Skip stupid "compatibility checks" (I have a garbage tower PC from 2012 that runs 11 just fine on my workbench)
- Automatically create a local account with full privileges
- Skip the long and drawn out setup procedure
And none of this is using any injected or cracked software as far as I know. It's just using group policy stuff in the installer that's normally used in corporate environments.
Why would I want to be locked out of my own PC if I have an extended internet outage and the cached credential expires? What if Microsoft bans my Microsoft account? Note that I also refuse to set up a login "pin" which reduces security to bypass my proper password.
Also, and picking at nits at this point, I hate how it takes the username@outlook.com account name and creates a profile directory with a truncated version of that. It's just always rubbed me the wrong way as well.
I guess I should say - I'm just picky about things on my PC so I tend not to automatically embrace every change Microsoft makes unless there is a clear benefit to me to do so.
Until they remedy this, Microsoft deserves some disdain. Even Apple gives us the choice with macOS.
I'm sure MS sees a future where Windows is free and if you don't have an account, they can't monetize you at all. At that point, you are no longer a customer so there isn't much point in them continuing to support you.
I don't mean to be rude, but when has that writing not been on the wall? You can find scripts to activate Windows on fucking github. Like maybe people would be less apt to steal it if it wasn't so insanely simple to do that you could automate the process in a bat file?!
Add to it, I'd bet money the VAST majority of the time, people are using those things to install Windows to devices that already had Windows installed legally from the factory, with a legal license purchased by the OEM, that Microsoft refuses to, and has refused to permit users to reinstall with since I was a young bab in 1999, despite the fact that my GRANDMOTHER knows that the longer you run an install of Windows, the worse it performs, because it's poorly engineered.
Personally, I'd be fine paying for Windows if I could buy perpetual, permanent licenses for it that I could install with repeatedly, and that the OS wasn't constantly shoving ads in my face, haranguing me about using a stupid Microsoft account, and using enough telemetry to enable identity theft. But Windows licensing has always, always been exclusively the domain of PC manufacturers and corporations. Microsoft refuses to make it even slightly better to use for users, which is why users by and large just crack it and get on with their lives. $200 for a key you can use three times is fucking absurd.
How easy it is to steal something isn't really a good measure here. First, the vast majority of MS customers can not find a script on GitHub and run it and most don't have a desire too. MS is likely willing to live with some level of piracy as stamping it out would cause larger revenue loses than accepting it. That doesn't tell us anything about their strategy or the market.
As to the OEMs, MS is essentially doing what you suggest and offering a tiered model. If you buy Windows yourself at full price, then you can re-install it, change hardware, etc. If you get it through an OEM (where MS is selling that license at a massive discount) you don't have those rights. I'm not saying I love these choices - especially the BS about limited installs and hidden licenses - just that the choice does exist. (We can have a reasonable argument about the Windows tax - less important now, but still a thing).
If we're right about the future, MS has to replace that $24B somehow. Their current plan is services so they need to tie MS users to MS services and monetize those. In this case, it seems that MS doesn't believe that there are enough folks like you who are willing to pay > $100 for a license so they are pursuing this path.
Good news is - unlike the 1990's, we have multiple, credible alternatives so you can pick non-Windows systems.
As it is now, Microsoft gives everyone below Enterprise the same bad ad-cluttered, zero-privacy experience. There's no motivation for an individual to spend more.
(Maybe I need to clarify that this isn't sarcasm? If I could run QuickBooks and SolidWorks on Linux, I would be switching several dozen PCs to Linux)
My job used to be (not anymore) Tech Support Specialist, and I needed to use Zoom most of the time to take control of the device and make the changes. We also used heavily the voice call feature so I was able to give instructions. Other software like TeamViewer had pricing that did not make sense to us, and other tech support software did not have voice call support, so it made assistance less straightforward.
Well, back then (2016-2018), I tried Ubuntu, and the Zoom client was not as polished as it was on Windows. It got in the way by confusing my keystrokes with meeting controls, and it was just very quirky in general.
Maybe today is different, but I'm not a Tech Support Specialist anymore. However, I feel very comfortable using Windows. I don't feel compelled to make the change to Linux, where other software I use could be a quirky experience again.
Well QuickBooks is moving everything online and their backend stuff looks like it can run on Linux. For CAD it looks like OnShape and not much else - FreeCAD just IMHO isn't up to par for commercial use yet.
I feel like Redhat or some other distro should have a small business variant that comes with some options for the common business stuff. Someone needs to flesh out finance, CRM, HR, inventory, purchasing, and payroll software or do a decent integration of FLOSS options. Maybe include some online services as options where the free stuff isn't there yet.
- selecting 1 out 100 possible Linux variants, an effortless task for the average computer user
- creating a hard drive partition, mere child's play
- creating a USB image, booting from that USB, installing to the blank partition
- and then loading the desktop environment, where immediately the audio drivers, wireless cards/NICs don't work and battery life is cut in half.
Battery life is fine, no partioning required. As far as selecting a distro goes, yeah, there's a lot of choice but it's not hard to find which ones are the mainstream ones.
Edit: maybe the average computer user would find that difficult too, but they would find installing Windows similarly difficult (if not more so).