- cross-posted to:
- hackernews
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews
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Here’s your bypass:
In OOBE, go through MS account creation. Tell it you were born today. It’ll let you set a password for the MS account before rejecting you due to COPA requirements. At this point, you can make an offline account without having even created an MS account, let alone having to use one.
This will not go away - it’s a legal thing. MS doesn’t want to deal with COPA stuff for very young kids, so this flow exists. Enjoy.
Rufus can be used to disable account creation along with other settings.
rufus doesn’t help with preloads that you don’t want to or can’t, for whatever reason, overwrite with a ‘clean’ install.
If os can’t be installed off a usb then that means linux can’t either, which makes it a pretty sad machine to spend money on.
So it must be a work or school device then? Which users wouldn’t be installing OS on anyways with it being handled through IT.
There are plenty that will boot/install Linux just fine but won’t do a nice clean install of Windows 11.
Modern Thinkpad E16 (AMD) is one of them, a clean USB won’t work, it will always stick at not finding required drivers.
You need to inevitably create a USB install from the MS USB Media Creation tool, running on the machine itself from the included crapware Windows - to get an installer USB that will work.
Different if you’re just pushing a wim over the network from endpoint/scm, but it’s basically broken for local users.
I had this issue at work, I was able to fix it by using the windows media creation tool instead of just writing the iso to the drive. Not sure why that worked, but it has every time so far.
That’s unfortunate. Looks like thinkpads aren’t worth getting. I generally do not trust manfucturer preinstalled OS.
Only if you want to run Windows on that model I guess. My kid has an E16 AMD and installed Fedora Linux from a USB no problem.
I generally do not trust manfucturer preinstalled OS.
Especially pertinent for Lenovo.
I would still get a ThinkPad, but then, I would never be putting Windows on it anyway.
Do you have more info regarding that ThinkPad E16?
I’m mostly working with T series laptops and haven’t had the problem, but always good to know if or when an E16 shows up.Usually all ThinkPads work mostly the same regarding Linux support (bar the usual Nvidia driver shenanigans if you ever trip that), but I’d be concerned about the E-series themselves. If you want a cheaper than T-series ThinkPad you should get an L-series one. Not as expensive as the T-ones, but still retains some usable chassis durability, double replaceable memory slots, replaceable keyboard, etc.
I’ve started calling the E-series as E-waste.
Just install it in a VM. I’ve done this before to force Windows 10 to install on a USB stick, you can pass a VM an entire physical drive to use instead of a virtual hard disk and install to that SSD directly from the VM (just kill the VM and reboot into the windows partition when the VM tries to reboot to the windows installation). I’m sure if you passed the VM a USB created with Rufus you could install from that as well.
This is the rule for any account or mobile game, too - if it asks your age before asking for consent to farm, put any age below 13. It’ll either not farm you because it’s illegal or it’ll kick you out. If the latter, good riddance really
I’ve always done 1/1/1984 for obvious reasons but this is a good tip
I’ve used 1/1/70 since it’s the unix epoc, what’s 1/1/84?
Thank you both for telling me the answers to your security questions.
Don’t worry, Lemmy censors security information and passwords automatically, see: ******
hunter2
*******
Why are people just replying with asrerisks?
12345
That didn’t work. Maybe it doesn’t realize that’s the combination to my suitcase?
oh no, dude, why did you publish my credit card pin code!?
Back in my day, we had to make ourselves looks older online to get things, not younger! hehe
My go to is to pop open the console and run “ipconfig /release” right before you create an account. Win 11 will have you set up a local account if you don’t have a network connection.
Doesnt work on these newest versions anymore.
OOBE\BYPASSNRO has been off and on for me, but so far nuking the network connection has always worked for me. I’m setting up a few new computers tomorrow, it will be interesting to see what tricks still work.
Yes please let us know. Wont know till we order another batch of newer computers in a few weeks.
I guess i could download the latest test build on a test machine and reset it and try.
Inconclusive. Re-used machines instead of new computers. Systems did have Windows 11 on them. OOBE\BypassNRO worked, but they may have pending updates.
Edit: one machine would not let me skip MS account sign in with OOBE\BypassNRO. IPConfig /Release immediately let me set up a local account.
Do you normally connect your machines to the internet during setup? Or is this solely without any connection?
Avoid it like the plague. Once you admit you have Internet, Microsoft never forgets.
What if they just ask your age as step 1 of the setup?
Same thing, that doesn’t change anything.
From the other time this was posted:
95 is the stick, and ME is the stick up someone’s butt.
NT?
Solid, for its time but lacking USB support. But that made sense (at the time); a server OS didn’t need ISB support yet.
Win2k?
In my humble opinion that was probably the best windows of its era. Windows XP sp2 was the most important change with its own firewall.
Windows 2000 was the hammer. Windows XP was the hammer dressed as a Teletubby, with a 6-inch chain attaching it to an activation anvil.
Where is Windows ME?
It repeatedly crashed for me.
GoodAwful times.Don’t know. I use Win 9
“While these mechanisms were often used to bypass Microsoft account setup, they also inadvertently skip critical setup screens, potentially causing users to exit OOBE with a device that is not fully configured for use.”
Lol sure. If that was the real reason they’d simply let you create a local account. The audacious lying is just insulting.
potentially causing users to exit OOBE with a device that is not fully configured for use
Oh no, onedrive not working or the office nagging screen missing in the start menu, how will we cope.
How will I survive without my doom dark ages ad in start menu and lock screen?
It’s not lying if what they mean by “not fully configured for use” is that the private data being captured and sent to their servers is not fully matched to a personal identity in their systems.
After all, they didn’t say whose “use” that device would not be configured for.
Still, if they were actually being honest, this would be easily solved if they showed those “critical setup screens” BEFORE asking to create the account, and based on what the user selected then they would allow (or not) the creation of a local account…
“It would bypass critical steps…”
Which step is that, data collection? Shoving OneDrive down my throat by putting my Desktop in it with no way to easily remove it?
collecting data, and training AI of course.
Don’t plug to many, otherwise people might start jumping ship!
just making it easier to act like they don’t even exist. I’ll never, EVER get an account for MY computer.
There’s no online accounts needed for Linux.
exactly
Same, I refuse to have my OS linked to anything other then a local account.
Especially since most email accounts now need cell phone numbers, and home addresses.
I am horrified by what computers have become, from expensive magical tools to solve real problems, to ubiquitous shit-shoveling malware appliances controlled by some of the worst elements of society.
Those kinds of computers still exist, it’s called Linux.
I’ve never been more appreciative than I am now of the decades of effort that have gone into building this free and open-source operating system.
Imagine if we were here in 2025, with all the incumbent operating systems going to shit, but in a world where Linux didn’t exist and there was no alternative that wasn’t owned by a tech giant.
I don’t even want to imagine.
Don’t forget to donate to your favorite distro (and other open source projects) to help them keep the lights on.
Gotta do our part to fight the massive mega corps from devouring every aspect of our lives.
The alternative alternative existed before Linux and still exists today: BSD
In a world without Linus Torvalds, all those people who have devoted time and effort into Linux might well have found themselves working / hobbying in the BSD ecosystems instead.
I think it’s almost certain that Linux’s niche would have been taken by it. It worked for Apple, after all.
Or, who knows, maybe GNU Hurd might have become viable.
Sure, if it wasn’t Linux then another project may have got the love and attention.
I’m not glad it was Linux specifically, just glad there is a credible FOSS alternative of some kind, and in our universe that’s Linux.
You might think there’s no such world where we wouldn’t have had some credible alternative, and as reasonable as that is - because freedom and independence are things people intrinsically want - I’m sure if you flap the butterfly wings enough times there’d be a universe where we all just collectively decided that commercial operating systems were the answer.
Glad I don’t live there.
Yeah. Look at the shitheap we had to settle with when Reddit enshittified beyond redemption. We’re really lucky to have such a well-polished alternative to Windows right now, and I think a lot of it boils down to the fact that Windows was awful from the beginning. If a halfway-decent operating system like OS/2 had become the default then we might be really scrambling right now.
I mean, we already do live in that universe, just for the mobile space.
I find this alternate timeline incredibly likely. I had a friend in college who was all about SCO Unix back before they went evil, even when Slackware was the go-to distro. We would have a lot more BSD forks out here now, although NextStep (and maybe even OSX) would probably still emerge as one of the better commercial ones.
As an aside: what I find amusing is that Homebrew is basically BSD Ports, served from a git repo. In 2025, it’s a completely insane way to ship OS software to a single platform, but it does work.
Yes, competition is good.
It is just a problem when the competition is big tech and can ignore everybody else as they get even more money from somewhere else like Azure.
to ubiquitous shit-shoveling malware appliances controlled by some of the worst elements of society.
Hmmm, I wonder which background economical system we all live in that could explain why every single technology ends up controlled by the top 1% to make our lives more miserable and their profits higher…
The future was here, once upon a time.
🎶 The dream of the 90’s is alive in Linux🎶
and still expensive
Removed by mod
Why wait? Linux Mint will run the shit out of your laptop right now.
Not OP, but I have to keep one Windows PC around. My favorite mod for my favorite 20 year old 4x game will not run on Linux, even though the game itself will.
The rest of my PCs are running either Mint or Xubuntu.
Qemu vm not option? Try virt-manager or similar. If 20 year old game performance impact probably not bad.
virt-manager
You think that will work even if Proton doesn’t?
Proton not virtual machine. Virtual machine emulate hardware for os to run like on pc. That also cause performance loss, but for 20 yo game probably not important.
I can add that in my experience, switching to Linux tends to have a positive impact on performance and keep the laptop usable for longer, I highly recommend you try it with your current laptop.
I’ve got machines that are obsolete for even Windows 10 that run Linux just fine. The best time to start is now.
what desktop environment do you run there? I guess that machine does not have much ram, so it must be something memory efficient
I’ve got an old desktop with a Core I7 with a 3 digit model number and 12GB of DDR3 RAM, it’s running Mint Cinnamon. I’ve got a Lenovo x86 tablet thing with 8GB of RAM and a Pentium processor, it’s currently running Fedora GNOME. I’ve run Ubuntu MATE on a Pi 4 as a desktop PC for about a year.
Most distros of Linux will run very well on a machine that ever ran Windows 7 acceptably. Prior to that, you start running into the “we’re discontinuing 32-bit support” problem.
well I assumed your devices have 4 and such GB of RAM, but yeah at 8 GB memory efficiency is not a pressing problem.
like I have a laptop with 2 GB that runs windows 10 acceptably, there was a time when that was my main on-the-go setup. that memory is almost completely used up by just logging in to kde plasma. memory compression is of course not a choice with the cpu it has though
If you have a drive where you can back up your stuff before installing a new OS, there’s no need to wait.
Try Pop OS Cosmic (Like MacOS) and Linux Mint Cinnamon (Like Windows) they are both amazing. They are both customizable to look however you want too
Im running cosmic desktop on arch, its actually very good! I have enabled automatic tiling of windows and its just super convenient. Like a tiling window manager but with all the stuff most people want built-in (top bar, notifications, screenshots, screen sharing etc).
You cant customize it as much as a real tiling window manager but if all you want is for your windows to tile, its awesome.
You’re going to immediately wonder why you waited so long.
I’m waiting for actual fire to start in my laptop before switching. I’ve had to do so many tricks to keep Win 7 going that I’m invested in keeping this thing going as long as possible. Plus all my porn is on it.
I despise that I have to use this OS at work. I would never run windows on my own computer again. Its just insanity. Next they’ll require a credit card to make a Microsoft account.
I could see them requiring government-issued ID. The age verification laws coming into effect in various states and countries make this a logical step for Microsoft. They might even start their own age verification service where you give them your ID and they vouch for your age with the sites you visit in Edge. Of course it would have the totally accidental side effect that everything you do on your computer could be monitored and legally tied to your identity.
The only thing you should give Microsoft is the finger.
The bird bird bird, the bird is the word.
its on our work computers, i believe windows 11 with all the BLOAT too.
Switched to Linux full time at the start of 2025 and haven’t looked back. I fully intend to go the rest of my life without using windows again.
I’ve been using Linux exclusively for more than ten years. You’ve made the right choice. As if you needed anyone to tell you 😆
Same, I made the switch about 9 years ago when I was self-employed. Then I took a job with a small company running windows and it sucked. Now I’m 6 years in with my current, a mega corp, and they are all in on Microsoft. I’ve been so aggravated with the limitations of Microsoft products when I could get things done with a FOSS product in no time. Of course IT blocks FOSS installs because of corporate policy…🤬
If I was still a solo sysadmin, today I would be reevaluating the feasibility of dumping Windows altogether.
Technically it possible with using windows server edition ,clean no bloatware ,minimum processes Legally cost a lot not available for usual users only in crack way
Honestly I’m using Windows Enterprise. Local accounts, GPOs to get rid of all the telemetry and other bullshit. Never seen an ad in the start menu or any other place. Just nice clean windows. Basically it’s what companies use so that Microsoft doesn’t piss them off.
I wish the IT company we work with used enterprise edition, instead I have to deal with a ton of fuckery that is professional edition in an org with 50 employees, and I do not have the schooling necessary to take over fully.
Really wish we could just ditch windows altogether every time I find another computer that is using a local login instead of an AD login because they couldn’t be bothered to set shit up properly
Well I tried exactly server edition and for me it would be the best one edition comparing with all modern windows very few network requests only security updates ,predictable behavior of system,start up and shut down of system during 6 seconds.I tested on thinkpad t430 windown server 2025 ,CPU literally chilling 0-5% usage in idle
While yes, licensing them is a bitch, but a terminal server is a viable option
This “subscription” mentality is ruining value for a lot of society but, holy shit, do you ever rake in those huge amounts of monthly cash, for very little work.
It’s not our mentality, it’s their strategy.
Wars breed new strategies.
Sometimes it’s free trade as a carrot and embargo as a stick, like with, well, one can try to nail it to Napoleonic wars, but as old as life. Sometimes it’s mass production and standardization and ergonomics and scientific industrial design, one can try to nail these to WWII, but also as old as life. And sometimes it’s controlled escalation as a way to reach your goals without triggering nuclear response, which one can nail to the Cold War.
American strategy of the Cold War is being used against world markets, ladies and gentlemen. Together with the previous two strategies mentioned.
The Soviet one was the opposite, to try to make even the smallest transgression cause firmly the same response, so that controlled escalation wouldn’t work, but unfortunately one is founded in human psychology (plus game theory) and the other in rational knowledge (just game theory), the latter always loses. It was called scientific-technical revolution and meant literally its name - instead of gradual escalation, which favors the stronger side, you should create technical means to punch a fatal wound, nothing gradual.
So - the subscriptions themselves matter very little, they are just slowly transitioning everything big to dependence upon remote components available over the Internet.
It’s funny, actually, so much gradual work, and in the end it’ll be just wasted time - even making computers is not magic. State of the art processes could as well be that for most of humanity, but for many purposes Pentium MMX is a good enough computer, and such are not magic.
And especially making computer software of the kind that’s being “metropolized” like this is not magic. Most of it is complex simply because of legacy, backwards compatibility and as a barrier for competitors making alternative implementations.
Lol it’s been great getting off of Windows over the last few months.
I thought I would miss it, but Proton in Steam has been amazing on Ubuntu, with some exceptions (Stupid EA crap from skate. 2025).
Dual booting for now is OK, but gaming is pretty garbage anyway, so I will probably abandon Windows entirely soon. Definitely my last version of it. Feel so liberated having hobbies off computer anyway, and now using my computers with Ubuntu is actually enjoyable again instead of driving an expensive spy machine.
:)
I had no clue skate didn’t work for Linux until I went to play it :'( it was installed and everything. Bummer.
It shows as installable on Ubuntu in Steam, so I hilariously found out after installing Ubuntu and skate on my gf’s computer only to not be able to play it 😆
That sucks! I wish there was some connection between Steam and areweanticheatyet.com so we could know if it’ll run before we install it
I am never abandoning you, Linux
Dump windows. These megacorps need to fail.
Edit: I have only been using Linux for less than a year now, and right now, really is the perfect time to switch. I only held onto windows for gaming, and now I use bazzite. There are some games that don’t have steam backup, but with the games that do, I can play the same save between my steamdeck and bazzite.
There is so much more you can do with linux and all it’s distros. I’ve messed around with linux in the past, but never was patient enough to deal with it. Now it’s really that easy.
Tbh I’m hoping the AI crash permanently kills most of the larger tech corps.
