It seems like Microsoft is continuing its quest to force Windows users to use Microsoft accounts instead of local accounts, despite the fact Microsoft accounts on Windows are half-baked and potentially incredibly dangerous. In the most recent Windows 11 Insider Preview Build (26220.6772), the company has closed a few more loopholes people were using to trick the Windows installer into allowing local user accounts.
We are removing known mechanisms for creating a local account in the Windows Setup experience (OOBE). 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. Users will need to complete OOBE with internet and a Microsoft account, to ensure device is setup correctly.
↫ Amanda Langowski at the Windows Blogs
It seems that the specific workaround removed with this change is executing the command “start ms-cxh:localonly” in the command prompt during the installation process (you can access cmd.exe by pressing shift+F10 during installation). Several other workarounds have also been removed in recent years, making it ever harder for people forced to use Windows 11 to use a local account, like the gods intended.
The only reason Microsoft is pushing online accounts this hard is that it makes it much, much easier for them to collect your data and wrestle control over your installation away from you. A regular, proper local account with additional online accounts for various services would work just as well for users, allowing them to mix and match exactly what kind of cloud services they want integrated into their operating system. However, leaving this choice to the user invariably means people aren’t going to be using whatever trash services Microsoft offers. And so, Microsoft will make that choice for you, whether you like it or not.
There are a million reasons to stay away from the Windows version that must be making Dave Cutler cry, and the insistence on online accounts is but one of them. It’s a perfect example of how Microsoft developers Windows not to make it better for its users, but to make it better for its bottom line. I wonder how much more Microsoft can squeeze its users before we see some sort of actual revolt.
Windows used to just lack taste. These days, it’s also actively hostile.
If you must use Windows 11, use the last Windows 11 ISO that allows creation of a local account (via the “start ms-cxh:localonly” commmand), then let Windows Update do its thing.
8 years from now. when Windows 11 goes EOL and we’ll be forced to Windows 12, we’ll reminisce about how this was possible.
Eight years from now the local Windows installation will be an immutable stub baked into the EFI area of the PC, and it will download the full OS onto the drive for actual use, but not until you sign into the stub with your Microsoft account. And if you ever do anything to piss off Microsoft and they ban your account, your machine will be rendered useless as it is forever tied to that account and you can’t install Linux or any other OS to get around it. This is the end goal for Microsoft, to provide the OS as a service and lock down the hardware as if it were a game console.
A few weeks ago, I bought a fantastic N150 mini PC, and luckily, I was able to install Win10 on it despite the manufacturer’s claim of “lack of support.” I’m increasingly convinced that Win10 will be like Win7 for me—I stopped using Win7 as my primary non-Linux system less than two years ago.
I switched to all Apple products last November. I tried Windows 11 but it was awful. The locking down of Android is also quite distasteful. If the big tech companies are going to spy on me and force me to live in a walled garden, I might as well live in the best walled garden.
All of my non-Apple tech purchases are whatever is currently the most open source friendly (accessories, smart light bulbs, etc). My next big tech purchase is going to be the Steam Deck 2. My old gaming laptop is slightly more powerful than the current Steam Deck so I might as well wait until I can get a full upgrade before I spend money.
So you went to another super-closed system escaping Windows?
It won’t happen under the current USA administration, but sooner or later this abuse of monopoly status will need to be stopped.
We are losing the very freedom that the personal computer revolution gave us: The right to control and manage our own computing and data.