This might be relevant to those who wish / have to use Windows 11:

This week, Microsoft made it very clear that it wants to block the popular BYPASSNRO workaround, used to skip the internet and Microsoft Account requirement checks during the Windows 11 installation OOBE (initial setup), although thankfully, the script can still be created using Registry edits.

A 7 step guide.

  • Eugene V. Debs' Ghost@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    7 days ago

    “Linux is far too complex for the common person to use.”

    Installing windows without your data being harvested: 7 steps, then editing registry files, uninstalling most of the programs that come with it and get reinstalled with every update, use this command prompt, download this program from a random website you’ve never heard of before…

    Installing Linux without your data being harvested: Click continue.

    Linux is so difficult you guys, no one could possibly learn the command line.

    • utopiah@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Linux is so difficult you guys, no one could possibly learn the command line.

      In the vast VAST majority of “normal” use cases, which I’d argue for most people it’s :

      • Web browsing
      • watching videos or listening to music
      • editing text documents, spreadsheets, presentations
      • playing video games
      • managing files, e.g. moving them in directories, compressing them, etc
      • keeping the system up to date
      • using a printer

      there are reliable ways to use a GUI. So… even though IMHO the command line is absolutely worth learning, one can perfectly use Linux my “just” clicking their way around.

    • chaogomu@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      I’ve swapped back and forth between Linux and Windows a half dozen times now, and I can honestly say, both are a bitch to set up from a clean install.

      Even with guides and autoloading scripts and whatnot, it’s still going to be a few days of pain while you try to figure out what else needs to be installed to use the computer the way you want to use it.

      Or that’s how it works for me.

      I mostly just wish more games were linux native.

      • loiakdsf@discuss.tchncs.de
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        6 days ago

        can you explain why it takes you that long to set up a new linux install? for me a fresh install with a (really not complex) script to install my required software and copying over config files takes maybe one hour (excluding game downloads of course).

        genuinely interested if your setup is that much more complex or where the difference comes from.

        • chaogomu@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          I’m counting game installations. Then there’s the fact that NoScript seems to reset every time I swap operating systems, so now I have to figure out what I’ve allowed and blocked before…

          Then there’s the pruning of random shit that was auto installed. Some of that shit can take days to find.

          But most of the pain is when I try to do X, and need to find a program that will do it. This happens in Windows and Linux, and either will have programs that work, but then I have to find the program and learn it, and then let enough time pass where I have to do it all over again.

          The most recent example was a map making program for my Table Top RPG obsession. One program that’s a go-to under Windows (with possible Linux capability?) is called AutoRealm. Which hasn’t updated since 2013… But it’s still one of the most powerful fractal mapping programs I’ve ever lightly used.

    • Maalus@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Orrrrrr, hear me out, just click once and get an online account because you don’t care.

      And yes, the command line is an issue to most regular users. My parents don’t grasp the concept of keyboard shortcuts for copying and pasting. I get a phone call every time they try to attach a file to an email, where they say the steps when they are doing it so they don’t fuck it up. If you use the computer to access a single webpage that’s bookmarked, youtube and ebay, maybe an hour every week at most, expecting them to have to learn a new system and a command line isn’t feasible. People like icons and clicking. If you managed to get rid of a keyboard and maintain functionality, they’d switch in a heartbeat. That’s why smartphones are so popular. That’s why kids preffer touchscreen over controller, and are basically unable to play keyboard and mouse anymore.

      • amzd@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        If you use the computer to access a single webpage that’s bookmarked, youtube and ebay, maybe an hour every week at most, expecting them to have to learn a new system and a command line isn’t feasible.

        You don’t need to access the command line (nor even the system really) to do browsing. The same browser you use on windows is gonna work on Linux.

  • banazir@lemmy.ml
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    5 days ago

    Honestly, guys, gals and others, Microsoft is making it crystal clear they don’t want you to use their OS. It’s not your OS, it’s theirs. Stop trying mangle it into something it is not. If you need registry edits just to make the OS usable, it’s not worth it. It’s not for you. Please, please, please look at alternatives that respect you, your intelligence, your privacy and your data. One day Microsoft will push an update that will lock you out of your machine unless you create an account. Jumping through these hoops is just delaying the inevitable. Using an OS is not worth all this effort and stress.

    • neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      7 days ago

      I use linux for everything except for one critical app that does not yet work on linux outside of a virtual machine. But, my computer is not powerful enough to run it in a virtual machine.

      There are also no alternatives to it either. So, I have a second computer to use windows for just that, but the day it works on linux is the day I say bye to windows forever.

  • kemsat@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    As a civilization, we need to accept that we can no longer continue to depend on Microsoft Windows to use our computers. Hopefully the transition will go through without Microsoft having the opportunity to try to save themselves.

    • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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      7 days ago

      I don’t think we are even close to getting critical mass but there gamers can be converted pretty easily now.

      Each time micro-shit does a thing, Linux gets more users.

      Prolly will take another decade or two but Linux will hit that critical mass.

      Every day more people find out that Linux is part of the freedom tool set.

  • tvbusy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 days ago

    Bought an old laptop for my daughter’s first computer. She’s going to just learn typing and some simple stuff. Not able to install Windows with a local account. Fedora KDE it is then.

  • Cossty@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    People who can’t or don’t want to use Linux should just use Windows LTSC or IOT. It’s honestly the next best thing. I just set it up for my brother. When you open up the start menu on the fresh install and there is nothing there out of the box, it’s such a nice feeling. No ads, no games, no onedrive, nothing. The only thing LTSC has is Microsoft Edge but even that one you can uninstall.

    Licenses are expensive, but you can easily activate it with mas.

    • kalpol@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      How expensive is expensive? And you usually can’t just buy a single license, right? You have to have an enterprise agreement and buy some minimum number.

      • Cossty@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Enterprise is a bit funny with how it works, there is a 5 license minimum, but they don’t all need to be Enterprise. You can get 1 LTSC upgrade license (±$300), then on top of that get 4 of the one user Microsoft Identity Manager CALs to become compliant (4x ±$10). This also still requires you to have a Professional (not Home) license already as it is an upgrade.

        Microsoft is not selling the licences to individuals, you need to buy it as a business, or buy it somewhere else. You can try this. https://www.cdw.com/search/?key=ltsc Idk if or how it works. I just install iso, and use mas command, and it is activated. I don’t care that I “stole” from microsoft.

  • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Looks better than my solution which was to join the machine to a domain then add a local account after. I always add a local account of my machines then add them to a domain. Simple fact is they want to trap people in their walled garden and it isn’t going that well for them.

    • dan1101@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      I’m sure it’s going really well because the vast majority probably just give in.

    • jasoman@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      You can’t join a domain with home, and win 11pro has You create a local account first before joining domain.

      • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        I know. All machines I purchase are pro machines. The only home machine a laptop we installed linux on it and just kept going.

    • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      No, it’ll always exist because corporate and government contracts are not putting up with a requirement to have a Microsoft account.

      That’s only something that poor people have to do.

  • MacStache@sopuli.xyz
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    7 days ago

    I don’t really get it why people jump through these major hoops just to get Windows working the way they want it to. Just ditch the problem.

    • Lucky_777@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Sure that’s ok for your personal machine. Now convince leadership that your 500 machine fleet needs to be switched over to Linux.

      • MacStache@sopuli.xyz
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        6 days ago

        Well, if a company with 500 machines need to go through a process like in the op to get rid of an unwanted login feature then my guess is that Microsoft isn’t the right partner for them or something else is wrong with the IT department.

      • Shanmugha@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        Well, if a company has 500 machines and all of them having microsoft online accounts raises no security questions, I ain’t working there, simple as that

    • RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      7 days ago

      It takes me 10 seconds to remove internet access from yet another windows process, it takes weeks if not months to re-download the 2 point something TB of games I have installed.

      People who have a real internet connection need another excuse but my internet isnt good for 2005, let alone 2025.

  • VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    7 days ago

    Recently needed to set up a Win11 VM. It worked after removing the network adaptor from the VM setup, and then using the bypassnro command.

    Fucking Microsoft.

  • nexguy@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Question: what is the downside of making a throwaway ms account upon install and never touching that account again?

    • squishy@lemmy.zip
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      6 days ago

      The unacceptable thing for me is that it requires internet access to use the operating system. That seems completely unnecessary.

      • nexguy@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Ah so after install and throwaway account is set up, you can’t log in to the computer if your internet is down or turned off?

        • squishy@lemmy.zip
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          5 days ago

          No it’s that it won’t let you install and set up unless it can access the internet and you create or login to an account.

  • utopiah@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Meta : I’d be curious to know the ratio of people downvoting the “Linux!” suggestion who actually do so from Windows.