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Microsoft taking another whack at requiring an account linked to their Windows system

P

pshufd

macrumors G4
Original poster
Oct 24, 2013
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New Hampshire
It's described at

Microsoft has always wanted you to have a Microsoft account to use with Windows. I often create throwaway or temporary Windows virtual machines and do not like to link an online account to Windows installations so I use one of the hacks to get around it.

Microsoft wants to really get serious on this though. So they could make this a pain in the neck again.

I'll keep my eye open for it.
 
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What
pshufd said:
I often create throwaway or temporary Windows virtual machines and do not like to link an online account to Windows installations so I use one of the hacks to get around it.
Click to expand...
What I've always done:
- create the virtual machine without a network adapter
- install Windows, no hacks required
- add a network adapter to the virtual machine
 
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does this imperialism demand one phone number as  quests?

I remember open both Asus Zenbook and Dell XPS without entering a Microsoft persona; account
only using an edge or outlook user name/password.

meanwhile el_crapitan, Sigh Hierra and Mojave demanded iCloud activation during install Saturday
as my MacBook Air 2010 is still stuck logging in to iCrud fully as that won't go past step 5 on the iPad.
aaah, Cupertino at it best!
 
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MBAir2010 said:
does this imperialism demand one phone number as  quests?

I remember open both Asus Zenbook and Dell XPS without entering a Microsoft persona; account
only using an edge or outlook user name/password.

meanwhile el_crapitan, Sigh Hierra and Mojave demanded iCloud activation during install Saturday
as my MacBook Air 2010 is still stuck logging in to iCrud fully as that won't go past step 5 on the iPad.
aaah, Cupertino at it best!
Click to expand...

I haven’t installed those versions for a couple of years but you haven’t needed to use an iCloud account to install for many releases. Apple gives you an option to skip it right on the form.
 
maflynn said:
I don't think you'll be able to do that anymore.

The question is, can you create a local account after installation? If so, then maybe I'll just use a throw away account, create a local after the fact.

This is one of the biggest reasons why I walked away from PCs
Click to expand...

This will likely be for new installations sometime in the future. One solution would be to export a VM without one and save it on my DAS for the future.
 
pshufd said:
This will likely be for new installations sometime in the future.
Click to expand...
I'm rethinking my long term plans for PC replacement. I'm getting nearly everything I need and want out of my Mac. I'm seeing less and less reasons for my use of windows.

Push comes to shove, maybe linux or getting a steam deck
 
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pshufd said:
This will likely be for new installations sometime in the future. One solution would be to export a VM without one and save it on my DAS for the future.
Click to expand...
Just have to keep an older ISO/USB key around. Chances are the change would come with a Fall or Spring update (though it seems like they are only doing H2 updates these days). Alternatively domain joined systems don't have to have a MS account either. I think the Enterprise edition also skips the account requirement.
 
diamond.g said:
Just have to keep an older ISO/USB key around. Chances are the change would come with a Fall or Spring update (though it seems like they are only doing H2 updates these days). Alternatively domain joined systems don't have to have a MS account either. I think the Enterprise edition also skips the account requirement.
Click to expand...

I have W10 and W11 kits on my DAS but I have the tendency to update the kits and only save the latest. Perhaps I should save individual versions. I'm pretty sure that I have H2 saved right now.

I have macOS kits saved going back to around El Capitan. It's easier to spot the macOS versions with the names.

They mucked with H2 to try to discourage not having an account linked but that just meant that you had to use a new approach to bypass it.

There are so many people out there that don't want to link an account and I don't know why Microsoft insists on having an account.
 
pshufd said:
I have W10 and W11 kits on my DAS but I have the tendency to update the kits and only save the latest. Perhaps I should save individual versions. I'm pretty sure that I have H2 saved right now.

I have macOS kits saved going back to around El Capitan. It's easier to spot the macOS versions with the names.

They mucked with H2 to try to discourage not having an account linked but that just meant that you had to use a new approach to bypass it.

There are so many people out there that don't want to link an account and I don't know why Microsoft insists on having an account.
Click to expand...
Telemetry.... Data aggregation is big business now (I guess it may always have been).
 
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maflynn said:
I'm rethinking my long term plans for PC replacement. I'm getting nearly everything I need and want out of my Mac. I'm seeing less and less reasons for my use of windows.

Push comes to shove, maybe linux or getting a steam deck
Click to expand...
A long-time Linux and MacOS /OS X/macOS user here. While Linux is certainly more private than Windows or macOS, it has its issues too. Besides lack of hardware support (yes, even in 2025), corporate interests heavily affect the Linux kernel's development and unwanted changes are often forced on users who can't / won't configure and recompile their own kernels. This is why I've mostly turned my back on Linux (except for development / testing purposes).

Yeah, I get it - macOS can be a privacy nightmare, but at this stage in my life, I want something with great features, doesn't have adverts in the Settings screen, isn't constantly nagging you to log in and can run GarageBand and iMovie. I no longer feel like being a 'rebel' and using Linux full-time. As long as I have Homebrew, Cyberduck and Geany, macOS is just fine for me. 👍
 
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No hack required for Windows 11 Enterprise VL Insider Preview - Build 27924 English x64
Windows11_InsiderPreview_EnterpriseVL_x64_en-us_27924.iso from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windowsinsiderpreviewiso
"I don't have Internet"
Idonthaveinternet.jpg
Windows11_27924.jpg
 
bogdanw said:
No hack required for Windows 11 Enterprise VL Insider Preview - Build 27924 English x64
Windows11_InsiderPreview_EnterpriseVL_x64_en-us_27924.iso from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windowsinsiderpreviewiso
"I don't have Internet"
View attachment 2567742
View attachment 2567745
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly Enterprise editions won't force you to use a MS account even if you have internet access. You can just tell it you are connecting to a domain (even if you don't) and skip through.
 
I created a Windows VM on my trip and the bypassnro hack worked. So the old workarounds are still good.

The getting rid of the old hacks is in the beta versions but there are hacks for the new versions too.
 
pshufd said:
Microsoft has always wanted you to have a Microsoft account to use with Windows.
Click to expand...
Windows as a Service was announced some decade ago. They were serious back then. I’m bound by NDA but we did work for them in the past on one of their popular games. The initial discovery meeting was 1h of 4 of their VPs talking about generating FOMO around their MS Account login, which they also wanted revised and the child accounts improved as it took a long time for parents to set them, leading to most parents simply making adult ones.

That was about 4 years ago.

Their end game is to weave Windows around a completely online backbone. They want every single thing you have on their. Their telemetry codebase is probably bigger than the windows kernel and subsystems at this point.
 
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maflynn said:
Yep, and they're continuing that push, I read that word is basically going to be saving to your one drive and not local storage.
Microsoft Word forcing you to save new files to the cloud? Here's how to stop it

I'm actually ready to give up on my Office subscription for a few reasons, this is one of my motivations
Click to expand...

I've used Growly Notes since 2008 for local, encrypted storage of notes. I stored all of my engineering notebooks in it and it has served me well. It's the most convenient program that I've found where you don't have to manually decrypt and re-encrypt to edit your documents.

For stuff that doesn't have to be secure, I use LibreOffice and just store files locally.

But I use iCloud Notes for a huge amount of stuff. It is just really convenient for stuff that doesn't need to be encrypted.
 
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