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.

[for-q-clinton]

So Mac it’s not required (like it isn’t for windows) but if you want to take advantage of the full OS it is.

iPhone pretty much is required. And I know google is pretty much required for android.

[rktman]

Later.

[fireman15]

I'm still using Windows 7

I used Never 10 to keep Windows 7 from being updated for years. I still have a full-size tower desktop downstairs with Windows XP. I also have Windows 7 installed on virtual machines, along with Windows XP and even Windows 95 and Windows for Workgroups with MSDOS 6.22.

You can get a ton of vintage software and games for ancient operating systems. You might be able to impress some of your friends by running old programs on it. So I hate to tell you, but it is not a badge of courage at this point.

[Don W]

I have a printer that win11 does not support. I bought a ‘puter specifically to use win 10 for this printer, and MS is getting on my nerves constantly warning me about the loss of support in a few months.

[ConservativeMind]

I have my Windows 11 on a local account.

What Microsoft does to its users is sickening.

[skr]

I also prefer Windows 7 but had to put up with Windows 10 to get a particular notebook. Happily, I found out how to stop Microsoft from trying to upgrade it to 11.

[fireman15]

https://archive.org/details/vintagesoftware?tab=collection&query=windows

[dayglored]

> I’m still using Windows 7 Microsoft finally got H&R Block to make their tax preparation software non-compatible with 7. Full circle, back to pencil & paper for me.

I use H&R Block's tax software too, although on a Mac.

All things considered, blocking Win7 isn't that bad an idea. Win7 is dangerously insecure to use on the internet, and tax software needs to be connected to the internet for certain functions. So by continuing to support Win7 with the tax software, H&R Block would be implicitly supporting people who are likely to catch malware infections, etc. and their lawyers probably said to stop it.

That doesn't mean Microsoft didn't also apply pressure, of course.

There are days when pencil and paper look better and better.

[fireman15]

[Blue Highway]

Definitely the sign of the end times mate

[coloradan]

Looks like they want to have the ability to tie your social credit score to your operating system.

“I’m sorry Winston, you posted some wrongthink. You access to email and social media have been suspended, and your access to the web has been limited. . Please enjoy these various Democrat webpages.”

[Bob434]

There is another workaround already and it’s actually easier than the old workaround. I’ll get the link.

[fireman15]

I used Studio for a while but they got messed up for a while and I don't need all the video/audio creation apps anyway.

I use it specifically for the video/audio creation apps. The problem for me is that if you use it sporadically, the updates are actually as big a problem as the ones from Microsoft. And by the time get to the end of life with the release you started with... you are typically better off just starting over with a new installation. It is typically problems with all the updates that gets it messed up.

[Bob434]

Oh and there is a version of Linux, called wubuntu, which runs wine in background to run windows programs, and looks and feels a lot like,windows 11- might be worth a look for qthose who might be wanting to move on from windows, or perhaps even dual boot or triple boot even. Might even be able to run it from a usb

[Myrddin]

I have Fedora and Ubuntu Linux on two of my boxes. Windows 11 on two boxes. Windows 10 on two that don't meet hardware spec for Windows 11. My corporate laptop is Windows 11 with VMware Workstation Pro to run Linux and Windows VMs for customer targeted development. I'm not wedded to any particular platform. I use the platform that runs the tools/apps needed to do a particular task. My embedded systems were built/deployed on a stripped down Debian image. Disk space was at a premium. Most of the controllers were based on a PIC18F6680 reading switch closures, closing switches to activate motors, reading accelerometer and temperature data. The toolchain was exclusively Windows. The Linux box had a USB interface to a USB/CAN controllers to manage all of the devices. I started with QNX on the PC104 stack, but the licensing was too expensive for some of the necessary libraries, so it was necessary to rebuild the whole stack to use Debian Linux.

[CatOwner]

This leads to my biggest complaint about Linux: The lack of tax preparation software like TurboTax. And filing with the online version of TurboTax (or any other online service) is NOT an option.

[fireman15]

Looks like they want to have the ability to tie your social credit score to your operating system.

Probably. I have several Microsoft accounts, a bunch of Google accounts, even three different Facebook accounts which I hardly ever use. Not to mention dozens of email accounts from various providers and free ones from my own webpages. If you don't want big brother looking over your shoulder... sign up for so many accounts that even you have difficulty keeping track of them all.

[Drago]

“Full MacOS” is available on your Mac w/o an Apple ID login...Apple ID is required for iCloud services like sync, iCloud Drive, etc..

Technically you don’t need an Apple ID for an iPhone either (just a SIM/phone #)...it just makes it more “tied in” to the Apple ecosystem of your other devices if you do enter it in..

You can “De-Google” your Android phone...takes some work:

https://www.tomsguide.com/features/i-tried-de-googled-android-again-heres-how-that-went

https://itsfoss.com/android-distributions-roms/

[Bob434]

Here is a video on the workaround

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK75SWX4F2s

Basically you hit shift f10 to bring up command prompt just like before, but this time you type in the following

start ms-cxh:localonly

And hit enter

[catnipman]

“Microsoft finally got H&R Block to make their tax preparation software non-compatible with 7.”

H&R Block Deluxe+State 2024 installed and worked perfectly on my Windows 7 ... i just used it on Windows 7 to prepare my 2024 Fed and State taxes and file Fed online ...

i refuse to pay the xtra dough for online State filing or waste my time on the State’s crappy online website, so i mail the State paper ... probably costs them a fortune to process the return ... if everyone in the State did that, my state would be forced to pay H&R Block and Intuit to include free State filing ...

btw, newegg.com ALWAYS has the best deal on H&R Block, usually discounted at least 50%, and always cheaper than bought directly from H&R Block themselves ...