My computer has accumulated some cruft that’s making it hard to manage, and resetting the PC seems like the most straightforward way to deal with it. I already have all my important files saved elsewhere. I also wanted to see if I could kill two birds with one stone and rid myself of the dependence on an MS account. I’ve seen there’s some terminal stuff you can do when installing Windows fresh that bypasses the mandatory account creation, but does that still work when resetting? Especially when resetting from the cloud?
And because someone is going to say “Just use Linux”, believe me, I’d love to, but the user experience sucks for literally anyone who isn’t a software developer and the accessibility has actually gotten worse over the 15 years I’ve tried to use it.
And because someone is going to say “Just use Linux”, believe me, I’d love to, but the user experience sucks for literally anyone who isn’t a software developer and the accessibility has actually gotten worse over the 15 years I’ve tried to use it.
Don’t listen to people who suggest Ubuntu (or its downstreams) and the clownshow GNOME desktop environment.
If you have a spare USB lying around, try this live (without installing) to see if you like it and please do share your feedback: https://fedoraproject.org/kde/
Or even just your general gripes with Linux. I had the same outlook when I first tried Ubuntu but I didn’t realize it was just Ubuntu and GNOME being really crappy until I tried a different distro and DE.
but does that still work when resetting?
Yeah, once you reach the setup screen and it asks you to connect to the internet, hit Shift + F10 (sometimes CTRL + Shift + F10) and it’ll pop open a CMD window in which you want to type in “oobe\bypassnro” and hit enter. PC should restart and when you reach the internet screen again, there should be an option that says “I don’t have internet”. Click that and make your local account.
If it doesn’t work, sometimes you have to do it twice. Just did it yesterday on a real machine and it worked first try, but every VM I’ve made had me do it twice.
Ubuntu is super easy
No, no, the Linux USB stick can be inserted before you turn it off. That way windows knows what’s coming. Maybe leave it in there and go to their page to ask “how do you boot from Linux USB” microslop loves that.
I just set up a Windows 11 PC this week for testing (did it through a USB installer upgrading from Windows 10 Pro) and I was able to use the bypass OOBE/BYPASSNRO in command prompt and was able to create using a local account. I kept it offline without connecting to the internet during setup into getting to the desktop. This was using the latest Windows ISO on Microsoft’s website.
Safe to say, I think it still is doable even going the reset method in Windows. Just keep it offline during initial setup.
Reset, once it’s done downloading (if you go cloud), pull your network cable. When it gets to “let’s get you online” hit shift f-10 which pulls up the terminal window. Type oobe\bypassnro and hit enter. Stay offline, and get back to the same spot in the install process but this time you’ll have a “I don’t have internet” link as an option. It’ll protest, but you can then move forward with a local account. I literally did it yesterday.
Once you have a local account built, Windows will give you “sign in” alerts in settings and in security.
Just for the record, I use Linux. I do however work in a Windows shop and understand that “just use Linux” isn’t at all helpful when someone asks a Windows question.
BypassNRO was removed from system files in 25H2 last year, unless you happened to be served an old ISO this won’t work anymore.
This is what I’ve been using since:
- Complete the initial Windows 11 install and restart your PC.
- When you reach the Secondary Keyboard Layout screen (before the Microsoft Account sign-up stage), press Shift + F10
- In the console, type the command: start ms-cxh:localonly
- Hit Enter, then press Escape to close the console.
You can also use Rufus to make a setup drive which preconfigures the local account. This method and others are described in this article.
PS: It still works if you copy the BypassNRO.cmd file from an old system to a new one when you’re in OOBE mode (Ctrl+Shift+F3) during setup. It’s just a powershell command that sets a registery key and reboots.
Thanks, have an upvote :)
I want to reiterate the importance of the “pull the network cable” part. If you fail to unplug the cable before the setup wizard detects that there is the possibility of a network connection, on some systems it will actually prevent you from making a local account altogether, as it will force you to connect to a network which will skip the shift-f10 step.
We had this issue setting up demo models on laptops for awhile, if you didn’t disable the wifi adapter before it saw there was networks available(even if they were password protected) it would require a second factory reset to even get to the point where it would let you setup a local account.
I always disable the card in the BIOS before I do anything that requires it to be disconnected. In this case I had both an Ethernet adapter and WiFi radio. Both were disabled and I’m currently typing from my newly decrappified and locally managed system.
Here are my exact steps:
- go to “reset this PC”
- select the cloud install
- select the option to erase everything
- wait for the installer to download. The machine will restart. In my case my Windows bootloader is broken and it tries to boot using GRUB. I haven’t figured out how to fix it including “fix boot” or whatever the recovery option is, but that’s neither here nor there. I rebooted from GRUB, went into the BIOS, and disabled all networking hardware (Ethernet and WiFi).
- Rebooted again (I have to manually go into the one time boot menu every time) and go into Windows. Once it gets to the “Let’s get you connected” screen, I pressed
shift+F10, then enteredoobe\bypassnro. - The computer immediately rebooted and started the install wizard again (asking about keyboard layouts and such).
- On the “Let’s get you connected” screen, there was now a tiny unhighlighted option
I don't have internet. I clicked it and it let me create a local account.
If it is “Pro” version of Windows then you don’t need an account.
You should never not buy the pro version.
Group policies does a good job at keeping setting off when MS decides to shuffle them in their broken setting UI
You should never not buy the pro version.
Counterargument: 🏴☠️ 🦜
They don’t have a parrot version. Not much of a counter argument against pro version there mate.
It was against the buying part.
And the parrot isn’t downloaded, it’s earned. When you’ve flown the jolly Roger long enough, a parrot will start visiting you and a big hairy guy with a peg leg and eyepatch declares “Yer a pirate, Harry!”
You have to boot without network access then do the terminal command.
What distro of Linux did you use that was so difficult? Something like Mint is very entry level and intuitive. You don’t have to run any terminal commands if you don’t want to, and the out of box configuration is good enough that you don’t have to modify anything for a stable, up to date system.
What distro of Linux did you use that was so difficult? Something like Mint is very entry level and intuitive. You don’t have to run any terminal commands if you don’t want to, and the out of box configuration is good enough that you don’t have to modify anything for a stable, up to date system.
I started with Ubuntu 8.10 in early 2009. From there I’ve tried mostly Ubuntu but have explored other distros. My usage pattern usually goes like this. I get sick of some Windows BS or just want to convince myself I’m a competent IT industry professional. I install some Linux distro on a separate SSD and only boot into that for as long as I can. The phase usually lasts from a week to about 2 or 3 months. My longest I think was between November 2023 and March of 2024 where I used Mint. I’ve tried all the various *buntus, Pop!_OS, CentOS (RIP). I’ve even used Arch btw, installed it myself and everything. In the end I either run into something that simply doesn’t exist on Linux or get sick of arcane kludges for things that just work on Windows and then come crawling back to Bill feeling defeated. This happens at least once a year but usually more.
Non-existent accessibility is the biggest hurdle, and I have zero faith that it will improve. Accessibility is an afterthought even for huge companies with the resources to devote to it, and you can forget about it for the comparatively smaller loose associations of developers contributing to the software stack that is a typical Linux distro. I was there for the transition from GNOME 2 to Unity and eventually to GNOME 3, as well as from X to Wayland, and it’s just been downhill each time. Orca simply doesn’t work, period. Magnification, if present at all, is glitchy and prone to freezing or crashing. The best I can do is a workaround using espeak and xclip to speak text copied to the clipboard, which, yes, involves the terminal. Is it cool that that’s possible? sure. But I have to put an alias into my .bashrc and constantly tab back and forth between whatever I’m reading and the terminal. Not a big deal if you’re only doing it once or twice, but I have to do it hundreds of times a day. If you encounter a little issue that often it’s no longer little. On windows it’s just ctrl+alt+LMB that’s it.
I find it’s really hard to impress upon sighted users why this is a problem. Imagine someone hands you a laptop, but the monitor either doesn’t work or shuts off at random. Then when you complain, you’re told “It works for me” or “That’s not my problem” or “I don’t know how to help you” or if you’re lucky, a half-dismissive “We’re working on it.” That’s Linux when you’re blind. Can you live with a non working display? Would you call an OS like that ready to ship? Yes this is a problem with commercial software as well, but it’s orders of magnitude worse with Linux.
Mint requires running a terminal command to disable the stupid printer notification.
It also doesn’t support Logitech mice out of the box, you have to search for the solution, which is a third party app to support a 10 year old (or brand new) mouse.
Stop acting like it’s a direct swap and people will be less hesitant to switch.
Be open and honest that not everything is an easy transition, there will be hiccups, and there may be some things for which an easy solution simply doesn’t exist.
If you use Excel every day, switching is likely not pragmatic, as the OSS solutions simply don’t compare yet and will always fall short if you use tables (about 90% of the spreadsheets I’ve ever been sent).
Also, did you even listen to OP? Linux isn’t an option. Wow.
What do you mean by “support” here? I’m pretty sure Logitech mice will work fine, but you might need a tool to change on-device settings.
100%.
Logitech mice work fine out of the box as a generic mouse. You only need third party software if you want to mess around with the Logitech special-sauce stuff.
Neither Windows or Mac have ‘support’ for that either, until you install Logitech’s software. Of course, Logitech as a company don’t provide any software for Linux.
So if anything, it’s not that “Linux doesn’t support Logitech” it’s that Logitech doesn’t Support Linux.
I asked what they have tried, I didn’t say they have to switch. I was providing some information that perhaps they didn’t have. You don’t have to be a righteous butthole about it.
If you use Excel every day, switching is likely not pragmatic, as the OSS solutions simply don’t compare yet and will always fall short if you use tables (about 90% of the spreadsheets I’ve ever been sent).
thisthisthisthis. I use Excel tables constantly. It’s a common theme with LibreOffice. Got something simple, maybe a doc with a few headers? Great, no problem, you can interoperate just fine. But go off the beaten path and you inevitably run into trouble. If I were sharing documents with exactly nobody I could happily switch, but the reality is I have to work with other people. And Windows/Office is what other people use. This is what I mean when I say Linux only works if you’re a dev. There’s lots of excellent text editors and IDEs and compilers and the like, but outside of that verdant oasis it’s a desert of broken non-options.
Regarding Mint, Bluetooth is maddeningly inconsistent. I’ve had stuff that works perfectly… exactly once, then never ever again, no matter what unspeakable tortures I inflict on the Bluetooth settings or what arcane wizardry I attempt in the terminal.
I’m not a software developer and Linux has been fantastically easy for me to understand and use on my personal machine. Especially easier than windows 11 that my employer installed on my work machine.
I would suggest that it would be more accurate if you would focus on your own experiences and difficulties with Linux instead of bringing up “anyone who isn’t a software developer”.
OP is (presumably) vision impaired and accessibility still sucks on Linux.
Just pull the network cable/disable wifi
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What has your own research found?
