Microsoft looks to be making a big change to how you install and log in to Windows 11

Tech Radar ^ | 03-31-2025 | Darren Allan

[fireman15]

Never mind blocking workarounds to sign in with a local account, just give us a straightforward choice in the installation process.

Microsoft just blocked a popular workaround to install Windows 11 with a local account

Some people like to avoid having a Microsoft account linked to the OS due to privacy (or other) concerns

While alternative workarounds remain, it’s likely they could be cut off too – and Microsoft is very much going down the wrong path here

Microsoft appears to be moving to block Windows 11 users who want to install the operating system using a local account, meaning that they want to avoid having to use a Microsoft account (and be online) when setting up the OS.

Not everyone wants to tie their copy of Windows 11 directly to their Microsoft Account – or they may not even have such an account at all – and those are the folks who want to just use a local account (only tied to the PC itself).

While Microsoft officially removed this choice from Windows 11’s setup experience some time ago, there was a commonly-used workaround – but the software giant has just blocked this.

[norwaypinesavage]

I switched from Turbo Tax to H&R Block when TurboTax would no longer work on Windows 7. I’ve stayed with Block ever since, even though I’ve occasionally updated Windows. I’m still on Win 10.

Block has become quite tedious. It has many pages that are mostly blank white screens, sometimes with only 1 entry. They are also written in tiny gray letters that can’t easily be enlarged. I have to poke my nose into the monitor to read them with my bifocals. The Windows Ctrl-Scroll to change font size doesn’t change their size. It’s quite frustrating to be staring at multiple pages on a mostly white monitor, with a few tiny gray letters that I can’t read. I’ll likely change back to TurboTax next year on Windows 11.

[Bob434]

There’s gotta be a screen overlay which magnifies the screen- if not there should be- different strengths would be nice 5oo.

[Bob434]

I got the name of the “windows linux” wrong- it is,called Winux- here’s a link to it f9r more info

https://winuxos.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=53

“Winux is a super secure Linux operating system that is completely inspired by Microsoft Windows, but does not require any special hardware requirements and can be installed on any device. With Winux you can maintain your workflow or games without worrying about having to relearn computing”

[Bob434]

Hmm, i had it right- there is a wubuntu as well- several windows linux os’s now

“Windows Ubuntu”
“Windows Linux”
“Winux”
“Windows Linux With Copilot”
“LinuxFX”

[dennisw]

This is much ado about nothing. You go get a fresh new MS outlook mailbox (burner phone type of mailbox) and account and install Windows 11 with it.

This outlook mailbox is your new MS account to install Win 11. For example this one is fresh>>>> JOHNXYZ909@outlook.com ...... I did not complete my “taking” of this outlook name.

[Cold Heart]

The Trump post card filing would make life easier:)

[Bob434]

I am thinking about gett8ng a really cheap refurbished laptop just for experimenting with different os’s like Winux (Note, I meant to suggest Winux, not Wubuntu, although both exist and look and feel a lot like windows apparently. There are some other Linux os’s that do similar- I listed a few in previous post) I likely though will dualboot with windows 10 and something like Winux just to try out windows program compatibility on Linux with wine.

[Bob434]

I think it’s just aggravating to those who like to just turn on their computer and not have to log in their microsoft everytime- al5hough im not sure if going with a Microsoft account can do autologins or not? I never installed with a Microsoft account. Also, folks want to keep ms as much out of their computing as possible, but it’s getting tougher to do these days. It is all just so intrusive these days. But that is the nature of the beast I guess.

[Myrddin]

My early days included building my Heathkit H-8 computer from bits, designing and building custom boards and writing devices drivers for the new hardware. The Radio Shack Color Computer gave me an excuse to wrangle my 6809 assembler skills. Doing a screen dump to a color printer using the Radio Shack BASIC utility took 20 minutes. My assembly language version dumped in 2 seconds. The slow place in the chain was the physical printer. When my PC motherboards get "orphaned" by Windows, I put Linux on them. The device drivers have "caught up" by then. I have had motherboards that lost Ethernet driver support from Linux. That required going back to the chip manufacturer and recreating a Linux kernel device driver. Failing that, a USB to Ethernet adapter is a fair rescue. It helps to have experience writing device drivers for operating systems against hardware. That has been a mainstay of my career. Most of the serious work can be done with little more than a vt100 serial terminal. I do enjoy a fine environment like Visual Studio Code, but it is just driving a Lamborghini vs a VW Bug. Both get you to your destination.

[Taxman]

Thank you both!

I’ll let you know the results of my research!

[fireman15]

My early days included building my Heathkit H-8 computer from bits, designing and building custom boards and writing devices drivers for the new hardware.

You were definitely further along than I was during that era. But, I have purchased and put together quite a few electronics kits over the years. Before that I loved books by Alfred P. Morgan which were mostly published before the electronics age. I put together quite a few interesting electrical projects from his books.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Boy_Electrician/6tYyAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA1&printsec=frontcover

Most of the kits I put together required soldering components onto a pcb, a couple were from Heathkit. But my first “digital” kit was given to me by a teacher when I was in the 5th grade and required no soldering. Unfortunately, I have had multiple head injuries in my life so I am having a hard time remembering the specifics, but I believe that it's highlights were some type of crude IC chip and an LED array that could form a digit.

My parents gave me a "64 in 1" kit about the same time where the components were attached to a piece of cardboard and you could assemble a radio, a siren, a metal detector, and a bunch of other interesting little tidbits by wiring from one spring to another. I went through them pretty fast so they bought me a "200 in 1" kit and then a better “digital” kit that what my teacher had given me.

Of course after that I began collecting electronic "breadboards" and components to experiment with which could be easily pulled back apart and repurposed when I lost interest in a project.

I was able to play a very little bit with computers owned by friends in the early days of "home computers", but the first actual computer that I purchased was a Texas Instruments TI/994A home computer when they went on sale at Kmart one Christmas.

[Myrddin]

Morgan's books were some of my first serious reading in 2nd grade. I had a basic grasp of bell/battery/switch circuits for "show and tell" in 1st grade, but no access to a library. The bookshelf was well stocked with books on electricity and electronics by 2nd grade. Morgan's books were a good start on reading schematics and understanding simple tube circuits including amplifiers and oscillators. My 3rd grade library was less well stocked, but Morgan's books were still there. 4th grade I returned to the same school in Chula Vista as 2nd grade. I was digging into Tesla's writings. Moving onward to 7th grade, I was in Boy Scouts. Naturally, I zipped through the Electricity, Radio, Electronics and Signalling merit badges. By then I had mastered the solid state components and some basic integrated circuits. I didn't do a lot of electronics again until college physics ignited my interest again. At that point, I grabbed the AMECO theory/test prep books and earned an amateur radio Tech class license, then 2nd class Radiotelephone. I upgraded those over time to First Class Radiotelephone with Ship's Radar endorsement and Amateur Extra Class. The latter licenses were my excuse to work in marine electronics for a few years. Good hands-on experience with radar, sonar, VHF FM radio, SSB radio, fax, satellite navigation, telephone systems and PA systems.

All of that started with curiosity, a library and parents who made available some electronics kits when I was very young. I think we were fortunate to grow up at a time when the resources were there to build a breadth of skills.

[fireman15]

I can’t tell you how many days I spent typing in programs from books and magazines and saving them to cassette tapes for that TI-99/4A. I of course spent a lot of time working on what I thought at the time were important programs in TI-Basic and Extended Basic.

Of course, I ditched the TI and bought a Commodore 64 when they became available with a disk drive for a reasonable price. But I still have a TI expansion box that originally cost a small fortune. And then I ditched the Commodore 64 after I put together my first IBM PC Compatible computer. But fear not... I have always had a lot of storage space, so I still have a huge collection of vintage hardware.

[fireman15]

All of that started with curiosity, a library and parents who made available some electronics kits when I was very young. I think we were fortunate to grow up at a time when the resources were there to build a breadth of skills.

I used my bicycle to visit every library within about 10 miles of our home. My interest was mostly in technical books. I read so much that the standardized tests they gave us back then indicated that I was reading at high school level while I was still in elementary school.

One of my grandsons has many characteristics, both positive and negative that are similar to my own. He is not all that sociable, so when he comes over for Christmas or his birthday I often hand him a kit to put together. He almost always has them put together before we start eating. When he was a toddler, he was completely fascinated by automatic doors when we took him to a restaurant. His dad was annoyed with this, but I correctly assumed that his curiosity at such an early age was an indication of intelligence.

His older brother is now an adult but always had more interest in mechanical processes. I had him weld his name on a steel plate with a MIG welder when he was eight. I just told him it was like drawing with a crayon only you had to keep the flame slightly above the surface of the metal. Our daughter was of course horrified but was pretty amazed by his aptitude.

[Myrddin]

I still have a Vic-20. Purchased mostly as a gaming box for the kids. By 1993, I had networked PCs in the house with coax based Ethernet. When "doom" was released as a networked game, I modified it to include "pink bunny" characters before letting my sons play the networked version. They enjoyed it. I was using the networked machines as a software development platform for work.

I was really wanting a hard disk for the old H-8 computer, but just as I was ready to buy the drive and XEBEC controller, my clutch needed replacing. It never came to be.

[Myrddin]

I used my bicycle to visit every library within about 10 miles of our home. My interest was mostly in technical books. I read so much that the standardized tests they gave us back then indicated that I was reading at high school level while I was still in elementary school.

I wasn't allowed a bicycle until age 10. I just walked. I had a similar experience in 2nd grade after all the copious reading. I wasn't informed of the purpose of the testing and after almost 4 hours of what I interpreted as "badgering", I shut it down with the spoken word "chilly". I very well knew that chilly, Chile, chile and chili were 4 alternative words with different meaning, but I was just tired of the badgering. I was reading at 7th grade level. Perhaps if they had explained the intent, I would have gone beyond that. No big deal.

I think you made some good choices for your grandsons. I'll be entirely missing the grandparent experience. Life just worked out that way.

[fireman15]

I wasn't allowed a bicycle until age 10. I just walked.

Now I am going to go completely off subject. We had acreage on the edge of town. We had a 7-11 two miles in one direction and a burger joint with great ice cream cones about a mile and a half in the other. We used to ride our horses to one or the other. We used our bicycles primarily for going over some incredible jumps across the street. I always was banged up from falling off of horses or bicycles. My teachers used to pull me out of class because they thought that my dad was beating me.

My uncle went to Europe for a few months and he left his nice Fuji bicycle. It was way too big for me, but I found out that it was excellent transportation, and safer than a horse. I bought my first 10 speed when I turned 13. The next day I told my dad I was going to ride my bicycle to Mt. Rainier which was over 50 miles away. He chuckled and told me to have fun.

I left early in the morning with a map, some sandwiches and a couple of dollars. I got lost, I ran out of food and money and was bitten by a junk yard dog. But I was a very stubborn kid. I made it to a campground in Mt. Rainier National Park and then rode back. I didn't get home until about midnight. My parents were not waiting up. My dad asked me how my ride was the next morning.

Things were a lot different back then than they are now. My parents gave me a lot of free reign. This got me started on my first great distraction... bicycle racing. I eventually became state champion and was nationally ranked. I raced all over the country. To get to races I was mostly riding around with a bunch of older guys who had beards and hair down to their butts in a beat-up VW Campervan when we went.

I rode my bikes about 10,000 miles a year rain or shine, sometimes I got so cold that I couldn't feel my hands or my feet. My story is almost Forrest Gump like with a bicycle and without the low IQ. I even had a small entourage at times, most other cyclists called my crazy.

[Myrddin]

Bicycling was clearly your forte. It became mine to a lesser extent once I had one. I routinely made forays 50 miles from home on the weekend. Not really into racing, but lots of good endurance to travel where I wanted. One of my favorite haunts was the Heathkit store in La Mesa, CA. I lived in Chula Vista and often pedaled out to the store to peruse and buy stuff.

When I was 8 years old, I lived in Federal Way, WA. My house was at 30003 4th Ave SW. I attended Adelaide Elementary school. I walked to Mirror Lake often to swim with my dog in tow. Other days, down to Redondo Beach to checkout the fishing pier. I only dared to wade into Puget Sound once. Way too cold. Mom would drive us out to Steel Lake to swim in the Summer. On select school nights, we went rollerskating. The old rink eventually burned down. It was the year in Federal Way that drew me back to the northwest to settle in Pocatello, ID.

Are you still riding your bikes? I'm waiting for some warmer weather to switch my motorcycle insurance back on and ride my bikes.

[fireman15]

I attended Adelaide Elementary school.

I am very familiar with area and I know where the school is at. My friends and I used to ride across the Tacoma Tide Flats on 11th St. turn left on Marine View Drive, and ride through Browns Point.

When you enter King County the name of the road changes to SW Dash Point Road. It goes past Dash Point and eventually turns right and goes up the hill to Lakota Park which is the play field for Lakota Middle School; Adelaide Elementary School is just a few blocks away West of Dash Point Road as it winds its way to the North East and eventually intersects with “Old 99”. Mirror Lake is a little past where the Elementary School is on the opposite side of SW Dash Point Road just off of 312th Street.

There used to be a convenience store at the intersection with 99 that we used to stop at and sometimes get slurpies or cold drinks at in the summer. We typically turned right on Redondo Way S to avoid riding on 99. Then we turned down 312th to and went past Mirror Lake to get back to Dash Point Road. It was one of our favorite routes because of the hills and the windiness. Back then it felt kind of rural most of the way from the Tacoma Tide Flats up to 99. The traffic these days is wall to wall cars on Dash Point Road because of all the new houses and apartments.

My wife and I still ride tandem bicycles, but during the winter we use a computer trainer mostly using a program called Rouvy which shows video of Italy or any place in the world while you are riding. It gets harder when you are climbing, and you can coast when you are going downhill if you want to. The traffic has gotten so bad here that even though we live in an outlying area we usually drive to one of our favorite bike paths. We were actually hit once on the road. I didn't get hurt but my wife's foot was crushed, and she had to have surgery.

I am sure that Southern California was a great place to ride when you were growing up. My wife and I were roller coaster fanatics for a while in the 1990s and we used to fly our small plane to Southern California frequently. We have a tandem that folds up and fits behind the rear seat. We used to love to ride in Southern California at that time. I am afraid that it probably is not as good for riding these days.

When my brother was flying for a commuter airline long ago he lived in Pocatello and he loved it there. My wife and I are going to have to move to a cheaper part of the country because my retirement has been severely impacted by the inflation of the Biden years.

[Myrddin]

When my brother was flying for a commuter airline long ago he lived in Pocatello and he loved it there. My wife and I are going to have to move to a cheaper part of the country because my retirement has been severely impacted by the inflation of the Biden years.

You clearly have knowledge of the area where I lived in Federal Way. I have purchased drinks at the very same convenience store on my travels to Mirror Lake.

I did my flying out of the Flying J FBO at Brown Field. It was owned by a family whose sons and daughters were my classmates. I started with the Aeronca Champ and shifted to a Cessna 150 for my solo and subsequent check ride. My first round of cancer in 1985 smashed future options to continue flying.

When I started work at Pacific Telephone in 1980, one of the senior employees on the floor was lining up retirement. He was investigation Idaho because his pension was pretty limited. In 1999, I was interested in getting out of California with a wild anti-gun regulations and out of control electrical utilities rates. My short list included Washington, Idaho and Colorado. I rapidly scratched off Washington and Colorado due to the Kalifornication of both states. Idaho got a closer look. Eastern Idaho in particular. I found a house I liked in Chubbuck. The city is run by fiscal conservatives vs Pocatello run by tax and spend democrats. I made an offer in August 2000 and we moved in December 2000. I will retire here. The cost of living fits fine with my retirement assets and (unfortunately) fairly short life expectancy.