No new local Windows installs?

Austinian · Oct 7, 2025

https://www.techspot.com/news/109763-microsoft-removing-ability-easily-install-windows-11-local.html

So far, only for Insiders, but for who knows how long?

"Microsoft tried to sweeten the hard-to-swallow pill by providing a new OOBE trick that lets Windows 11 place the online user account in a customized folder."

That does help somewhat; I hated the synthesized MS folder names. I want the same name on all my PC's user folders regardless of which MS account I used during setup, but still...too bad.

Also,

Microsoft kills more Microsoft Account bypasses in Windows 11

Microsoft is removing more methods that help users create local Windows accounts and bypass the Microsoft account requirement when installing Windows 11.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

ggeinec · Oct 7, 2025

So how does this affect the crowd who at some point will be upgrading their Windows 10 to Windows 11 on the same PC?

Austinian · Oct 7, 2025

ggeinec said:
So how does this affect the crowd who at some point will be upgrading their Windows 10 to Windows 11 on the same PC?

I know nothing about this beyond what's in those articles, but my guess is that if that's an upgrade rather than a clean install it shouldn't have any effect on the existing account type AFAIK.

Robert Zanatta · Oct 7, 2025

I was playing with this yesterday. Installed 25H2 on a VM using a local account. Looks like I should keep that ISO...

Austinian · Oct 7, 2025

Robert Zanatta said:
I was playing with this yesterday. Installed 25H2 on a VM using a local account. Looks like I should keep that ISO...

Indeed.

My last couple of Windows installs came from a Media Creation Tool's installer USB that predated some of the antitweaks; then an immediate update. That drive's getting slightly old, and the ISO sounds better for long-term usefulness, as who knows what MS might do to the MCT.

XiaoDeer · Oct 9, 2025

"All your base are belong to us."

rubank · Oct 9, 2025

Austinian said:
ggeinec said:

So how does this affect the crowd who at some point will be upgrading their Windows 10 to Windows 11 on the same PC?

Click to expand...

I know nothing about this beyond what's in those articles, but my guess is that if that's an upgrade rather than a clean install it shouldn't have any effect on the existing account type AFAIK.

FWIW,

I d/l the W11_25H2 ISO from MS and installed as W11Pro through Rufus on a USB-C stick , and it works without problems on a local account.

Installing "Classic Shell" makes it look just like you like it

XiaoDeer · Oct 9, 2025

rubank said:
I d/l the W11_25H2 ISO from MS and installed as W11Pro through Rufus on a USB-C stick , and it works without problems on a local account.

Excellent. That's exactly what I plan on doing next week

Austinian · Oct 9, 2025

rubank said:
Austinian said:

ggeinec said:

So how does this affect the crowd who at some point will be upgrading their Windows 10 to Windows 11 on the same PC?

Click to expand...

I know nothing about this beyond what's in those articles, but my guess is that if that's an upgrade rather than a clean install it shouldn't have any effect on the existing account type AFAIK.

Click to expand...

FWIW,

I d/l the W11_25H2 ISO from MS and installed as W11Pro through Rufus on a USB-C stick , and it works without problems on a local account.

Installing "Classic Shell" makes it look just like you like it

I've saved a 11 25H2 ISO, but I don't currently need to do an install; all the house PCs are already on local accounts, and OK as-is.

Ah, Classic Shell. Excellent software, I used that on older Windows for quite a while, but I seem to be one of the relatively few who's happy with the (tweaked) Windows 11 UI.

foot · Oct 9, 2025

Austinian said:
https://www.techspot.com/news/109763-microsoft-removing-ability-easily-install-windows-11-local.html

So far, only for Insiders, but for who knows how long?

"Microsoft tried to sweeten the hard-to-swallow pill by providing a new OOBE trick that lets Windows 11 place the online user account in a customized folder."

That does help somewhat; I hated the synthesized MS folder names. I want the same name on all my PC's user folders regardless of which MS account I used during setup, but still...too bad.

Also,

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...o-skip-microsoft-account-setup-in-windows-11/

once this becomes widely accepted, next comes required scans of gov issued IDs...

Google has this pretty soon...all app developers need to do that, with no side-loading of Apps, everything must go thru the Google play store...

Austinian · Oct 9, 2025

foot said:
Austinian said:

https://www.techspot.com/news/109763-microsoft-removing-ability-easily-install-windows-11-local.html

So far, only for Insiders, but for who knows how long?

"Microsoft tried to sweeten the hard-to-swallow pill by providing a new OOBE trick that lets Windows 11 place the online user account in a customized folder."

That does help somewhat; I hated the synthesized MS folder names. I want the same name on all my PC's user folders regardless of which MS account I used during setup, but still...too bad.

Also,

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...o-skip-microsoft-account-setup-in-windows-11/

Click to expand...

once this becomes widely accepted, next comes required scans of gov issued IDs...

I love a good conspiracy theory, but I don't see a connection there.

We may end up with required scans of gov issued IDs, given the current political climate, but I don't think Microsoft will ever have that much power. Too many other trillion-dollar corporations competing with it IMO.

Ron Poelman · Oct 9, 2025

Austinian said:
Ah, Classic Shell. Excellent software, I used that on older Windows for quite a while, but I seem to be one of the relatively few who's happy with the (tweaked) Windows 11 UI.

Maybe I should, just to see what it corrects (as well as the appearance).
Not really so far, so good, here; but I thought I'd at least try it stock.
Looks to be a mug's game, but. Everything you touch has been hamstrung.
Still going through the process of finding all the stuff hidden/obscured by Win 11.
It really is a mess for any experienced Windows user.
If I didn't need it for several Photo programs, it'd be back to Mint like a shot.

--
Ron.
Volunteer, what could possibly go wrong ?

Austinian · Oct 9, 2025

Ron Poelman said:
Austinian said:

Ah, Classic Shell. Excellent software, I used that on older Windows for quite a while, but I seem to be one of the relatively few who's happy with the (tweaked) Windows 11 UI.

Click to expand...

Maybe I should, just to see what it corrects (as well as the appearance).
Not really so far, so good, here; but I thought I'd at least try it stock.
Looks to be a mug's game, but. Everything you touch has been hamstrung.
Still going through the process of finding all the stuff hidden/obscured by Win 11.
It really is a mess for any experienced Windows user.

I find the tweaking to be kind of entertaining. I've used so many different OSs over the years that I'm used to spending a lot of time adjusting.

Ron Poelman said:
If I didn't need it for several Photo programs, it'd be back to Mint like a shot.

Yup, IMO it's all about the apps. The OSs I've used, whether home or work, were mainly dictated by the need to run particular applications.

XiaoDeer · Oct 9, 2025

Austinian said:
I find the tweaking to be kind of entertaining. I've used so many different OSs over the years that I'm used to spending a lot of time adjusting.

It was fun with the old Control Panel that was simple and logical enabling a lot of customization quickly and pain free.

The new Settings app is complex and badly organized. You can go round in infinite loops and it takes for ever to visit every screen.

And in a huge proportion of cases, the MS default is NOT what I want.

Who actually wants to share all of their information and activities with MS? Nobody. They just make it as difficult as possible to turn these things off so then they can claim you opted in. Yuck!

Austinian said:
Austinian said:

If I didn't need it for several Photo programs, it'd be back to Mint like a shot.

Click to expand...

Yup, IMO it's all about the apps. The OSs I've used, whether home or work, were mainly dictated by the need to run particular applications.

Yup, most people have a few critical apps that really dictate their OS choices.

But there are a lot of really good open source apps that are free and available on many platforms.

Interestingly, not one of my critical apps comes from MS. I much prefer Firefox over Edge, Thunderbird over Outlook, LibreOffice over Office, Qt over Visual Studio etc. And I've had so many serious issues with MS photo software that I won't touch any of it.

Billiam29 · Oct 9, 2025

I think it's reasonably safe to assume an overwhelming percentage of desktop Windows licenses in the corporate world are probably for the enterprise edition. Still, I would think that there are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of corporate desktops that are running licensed copies of pro edition.

What is Microsoft's response to this lesser but still high volume population? You need to make Microsoft accounts for your company if you want to reinstall the pro edition OS? You can't just say “you should be deploying corporate-customized images to your users with an imaging platform.” What about when I want to make a new clean image? I have to clean install the basic OS at some point.

foot · Oct 9, 2025

Austinian said:
foot said:

Austinian said:

https://www.techspot.com/news/109763-microsoft-removing-ability-easily-install-windows-11-local.html

So far, only for Insiders, but for who knows how long?

"Microsoft tried to sweeten the hard-to-swallow pill by providing a new OOBE trick that lets Windows 11 place the online user account in a customized folder."

That does help somewhat; I hated the synthesized MS folder names. I want the same name on all my PC's user folders regardless of which MS account I used during setup, but still...too bad.

Also,

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...o-skip-microsoft-account-setup-in-windows-11/

Click to expand...

once this becomes widely accepted, next comes required scans of gov issued IDs...

Click to expand...

I love a good conspiracy theory, but I don't see a connection there.

We may end up with required scans of gov issued IDs, given the current political climate, but I don't think Microsoft will ever have that much power. Too many other trillion-dollar corporations competing with it IMO.

the connection is that gradually user accounts are being driven to gov issued ID's.

True, Microsoft couldn't lead this movement but it will follow along with everybody else

There's just too much powerful interests, money and resources behind it

there's lots more but I'm avoiding politics...*sigh*

Ron Poelman · Oct 9, 2025

Austinian said:
I love a good conspiracy theory, but I don't see a connection there.

We may end up with required scans of gov issued IDs, given the current political climate, but I don't think Microsoft will ever have that much power. Too many other trillion-dollar corporations competing with it IMO.

Firmly on the Foot side, here.
The only funny thing about it is, it happened well before the current incumbent.
Where Microsoft ended and Guvmint began is now well blurred in all those outrageous server farms. Most of us feel they got the quid pro quo as Software of choice for providing a backdoor to your PC. Whatever, it's now so compromised, enmeshed and snared, it's just easier to call it Skynet. and wonder how much of runs it through the PRC.

Ron.
Volunteer, what could possibly go wrong ?

Austinian · Oct 9, 2025

foot said:
Austinian said:

foot said:

Austinian said:

https://www.techspot.com/news/109763-microsoft-removing-ability-easily-install-windows-11-local.html

So far, only for Insiders, but for who knows how long?

"Microsoft tried to sweeten the hard-to-swallow pill by providing a new OOBE trick that lets Windows 11 place the online user account in a customized folder."

That does help somewhat; I hated the synthesized MS folder names. I want the same name on all my PC's user folders regardless of which MS account I used during setup, but still...too bad.

Also,

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...o-skip-microsoft-account-setup-in-windows-11/

Click to expand...

once this becomes widely accepted, next comes required scans of gov issued IDs...

Click to expand...

I love a good conspiracy theory, but I don't see a connection there.

We may end up with required scans of gov issued IDs, given the current political climate, but I don't think Microsoft will ever have that much power. Too many other trillion-dollar corporations competing with it IMO.

Click to expand...

the connection is that gradually user accounts are being driven to gov issued ID's.

True, Microsoft couldn't lead this movement but it will follow along with everybody else

There's just too much powerful interests, money and resources behind it

there's lots more but I'm avoiding politics...*sigh*

Not easy to do that, with so much happening.

I'd best remove the temptation by locking this thread.

No new local Windows installs?

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