Technology

I use that command partially because Microsoft accounts don't allow passwords as long as the password I like to use for my PC

Fuck Microsoft! Use Linux Mint

Just another reason to switch to Linux

A couple of years ago it took three tries to install windows without a bunch of junk added. Linux is the way my dudes and dudettes.

I still have an old copy of the installer with that command intact. Might be good to keep around.

I just bypass the requirement by installing Linux Mint instead

Never understood why that batch script even became popular.. its so much easier to just choose install for an organization, then just never domain join it. Makes a local account, and is much easier

So here we go. Kiosk machines with random Microsoft account and MFA to private phone numbers. Glad I don’t have to manage that pile of s**t.

The command (C:\Windows\System32\) OOBE\bypassnro (.cmd) one types into the command prompt (after opening it with Shift+F10) for the bypass is the location of a batch file they will be removing (the parenthesized parts are optional, implied by the command interpreter, and so is any capitalization). You can still do whatever it's doing (adding a registry key and restarting) by typing the command manually or providing a copy of the file on a USB drive. After a restart, the OS will check for the registry key AND lack of internet connection to provide the local account option.

For the record, the contents of the file are

@echo off
reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE /v BypassNRO /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
shutdown /r /t 0

The first line is optional, and so is the third if you're OK with restarting manually. If creating the file on Unix-based systems, make sure the newline sequence is CRLF (DOS/Windows standard).

Obligatory shoutout to literally any Linux distro, which does not need this workaround, and is usually easier to install and set up than debloating a fresh Windows 11 install.

How the hell are we supposed to install it without a Internet connection? I worked in a company that was so hard on security that only certified machines were allowed access to the net, so virtual machines were not allowed to access the LAN and therefore the Internet. Generally not a problem as we just used them to test software on different OS versions, so no Internet required.

This change disallows all offline installs. What is their gain? Are they that keen on our data or are they planning to use the connection to a Microsoft account for something even worse than just selling personal information? I could think of a few reasons and none are nice...

W10 LTSC has support until 2032 😎