5 ms·

Microsoft makes it a pain, but you can still jump through some CLI hoops to use only a local user account to log in to Windows, rather than the cloud-conmected

Microsoft makes it a pain, but you can still jump through some CLI hoops to use only a local user account to log in to Windows, rather than the cloud-conmected Microsoft account they try to funnel you into. Not logging into a Microsoft account prevents OneDrive from doing anything other than spamming you with notifications about how great it would be if you logged in and started using it. And you can still uninstall OneDrive after every major OS update that brings it back.

hhh 2y ago
You can still use it offline without an account just fine with Pro SKUs and up.
- ranger_danger 2y ago
  that shouldn't be necessary though
- ziddoap 2y ago
  You can use offline accounts with Home as well.
- _carbyau_ 2y ago
  Installed Windows 11 Pro, had to do some CLI dickery to get the option for local only account.
  - hhh 2y ago
    here are the steps I just used a few minutes ago to use a local account. You can do it without leaving the OOBE, but you shouldn't have to go through so many steps to do it. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40781798 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40781798
  - justsomehnguy 2y ago
    ITT: people complain about 'CLI dickery' in Windows but arguing for Linux. *shrug_emoji*
    - Biganon 2y ago
      ...yes? Because on Windows, the CLI is used to circumvent the highly smelly patterns that Microsoft puts in your way to force you to act in a way that is financially interesting for them, even though you've paid for their shitty OS already On Linux, the CLI (in a similar scenario) is used to... install the software. And you can probably use a GUI package manager depending on your distro. Do you really not see the difference?
      - _carbyau_ 2y ago
        Not the person you are replying to but... They are different points of contention and I think both of your points are valid - though only really linked via "CLI dickery". You are correct that MS is being annoying, stupid and pushy and causes me to resort to CLI-dickery/regedit/service-disable/google-what-fucking-tickbox-to-untick-now to make it calm the farm. Linux doesn't try to mess with my farm. But I only get 80% - 90% of a farm to start with and have to google "How to do/fix [XYZ],[abc] and [123]" and the answer is always CLI dickery. Last night it was "Use Vim to edit [this] file." Great, then I had to google how to use Vim. But wait, I only want to edit a file so use any file editor! But now I need it to run under sudo... Both OSs have their issues and CLI dickery isn't going away. But with MS, I paid them so I feel entitled to have expectations as to product behaviour - especially when it keeps trying to change from what I bought.
      - justsomehnguy 2y ago
        > Because on Windows, the CLI is used to circumvent the highly smelly patterns And on Linux you use CLI to investigate why the hell a modern distro (Rocky 9) hangs up if you run anything more complex than a ping. Or just hangs up if you don't touch it at all, just a bit later. ANd it requires 9 hard resets (thankfully there WAS an option to do them, it wasn't some desktop class machine an ocean away) and digging and digging what is exactly happening, why it happens and what magik incantations needs to be CLI'ed on this exact version of the distro, because other versions are reporting what everything is correct... yet the machine still hangs. Source: just spent 4 hours in CLI dickery for that great, stable and unkillable operating system. But of course, if MS OS - it's 'CLI dickery' but if Linux - then the only time you touch CLI is to 'dnf install magic' And yes, the real difference is what for the most part you don't need 'CLI dickery' on Windows, so when someone argues for the Linux-like OSes as an a better alternative to Windows it doesn't sounds good.
- wtallis 2y ago
  I've definitely seen laptops from multiple OEMs with Pro edition pre-installed that still don't offer the local account route without first going through the CLI to bypass. I think the only other route remaining is to just not have any NIC that the installer can recognize.
- cjk2 2y ago
  Not by saying "no" you can't. You have to fuck around with shift+F10 and oobe stuff. This was tested on 23H2 yesterday.
  - hhh 2y ago
    Yes, you can. I just now downloaded a win11 23H2 iso and installed w11 pro without going outside of the OOBE. Sure, you shouldn't have to click 'domain join instead' etc, but you can absolutely do it without doing anything outside of the OOBE. Here are the exact steps I used: https://pastebin.com/nDnLBYg2 https://pastebin.com/nDnLBYg2
    - aidenn0 2y ago
      Does the "domain join" work even if you don't have an AD server setup to join to?
      - hhh 2y ago
        yes, it just sets up a local account
Waterluvian 2y ago
Inaccessible to 99% of users, but an escape hatch for the 1% who might make a useful fuss. Evil genius.
Dalewyn 2y ago
Additionally for those with Windows 11 Pro or higher, you can straight up block OneDrive and other cloud functions with Group Policy.
- metaphor 2y ago
  > ...you can straight up block OneDrive and other cloud functions with Group Policy. The world has certifiably lost its mind if this or any of the workarounds mentioned by the parent are acceptable to the baseline UX of a major paid OS.
Zardoz84 2y ago
Or just use a Linux distro and avoid all M$ shit
- Sayrus 2y ago
  Unfortunately the world runs on Word and Excel and unless you want the even worse Office 365 experience, you often do need some M$.
  - behnamoh 2y ago
    While I love Word for academic writing, I’ve found Apple’s Keynote and Google Sheets superior alternatives to PowerPoint and Excel.
    - EasyMark 2y ago
      Google sheets just is no way superior to excel. I’m not even sure how one can say it’s superior. Keynote is fine though. My presentations are just pictures and texts. I refuse to do transitions and all that other garbage.
  - bee_rider 2y ago
    For now. The kids (incoming college students over the last couple years) like Google’s office suite better as far as I’ve seen. Anyway, real documents are written in LaTeX. Windows lives in this in-between space where it isn’t as easy Google/Apple stuff, but it isn’t as good as Linux. That gap is always closing.
    - passwordoops 2y ago
      "real documents are written in LaTeX" Tell me you've never had a job in the real world without telling me you've never had a job in the real world
      - bee_rider 2y ago
        You should learn it, it produces much nicer looking documents. Anyway if you want to edit word documents properly you have to unzip them and then write XML (eww). So this is the easiest option.
esalman 2y ago
I was trying to install security updates into a ~8 years old laptop the other day. It's been updated to Windows 10 before. The updates were OTA, but after it completed there was no way to log into the local account without logging into a Microsoft account first (while it being connected to Wi-Fi). Here's the kicker, since this still being on the pre-login setup screen, there was no option to disable Wi-Fi either.
aceazzameen 2y ago
I'm working on a personal Win 11 Pro machine right now using a local account. I never made an online one. Also I wonder if I uninstalled OneDrive over a year ago, because I don't see OneDrive in File Explorer or Task Manager. I've had this laptop for over a year, so OneDrive has never returned in all the updates since.
behnamoh 2y ago
Most those changes will get reverted after the next Windows update…
bee_rider 2y ago
Hacks that require going to into a CLI are just not accessible to non-technical people. Switch to something user friendly like Linux. At least Gnome only gets screwed up once every decade or so.
- doublerabbit 2y ago
  > Switch to something user friendly like Linux. The same applies; are just not accessible to non-technical people.
  - TheRoque 2y ago
    The hardest thing is really just creating the media and booting on the key. Once that's done, it's smooth sailing for most user-friendly distro. I swear, I've had my parents install Linux on 50 computers for their school, and they are really non technical.
fencepost 2y ago
Or if ordering a new PC you can get one with Windows 11 Pro for a few $$ more, choose the option to domain join (during initial setup) to create a local account, and create user accounts with no Microsoft account. Makes it easier to do minor little things like drive encryption as well.
- wtallis 2y ago
  There are a surprising number of laptops where getting Pro edition simply isn't an option. Lots of brands no longer offer detailed build-to-order customization and instead only sell online the same three or four configurations per mdel that retailers stock.
  - inemesitaffia 2y ago
    Can't you upgrade post install anymore?
    - fencepost 2y ago
      You can but it's more expensive ($100 vs $35ish?) and is done through the Microsoft Store and a Microsoft account which is what some people are trying to move away from.
      - inemesitaffia 2y ago
        Absolutely disgusting
  - fencepost 2y ago
    That's likely more a question of sales channel and business vs consumer devices.
- thewebguyd 2y ago
  This. Way easier than any CLI workarounds, and pro is very available. Just don't buy your laptop from Best Buy and the likes. Stick to the better product lines. ThinkPad, XPS, Precision, Latitude, EliteBook, ProBook, Surface, etc. almost all come with pro as default or as an available option. Just stay away from the more consumer oriented product lines
EasyMark 2y ago
I consider myself fairly technically apt and I can google solutions with the best of them, but I gave up after windows 10, they are just data mining everything, being privacy hostile at every turn. I liked windows 10 as far as looks and usability, but eventually I just gave up and went to Mac and I’ve been a linux user as well (at home desktop)for 15+ years so it felt like home anyway. I requested a Mac laptop for work as well, and while I miss out on some resources at work (mostly limited IT support) because of it, it doesn’t hinder my work or get in the way.
Gazoche 2y ago
Who knows for how much longer this CLI escape hatch will exist though. Maybe at some point MS will implement mandatory online checks into their OS, similar to how some games DRM schemes work. Then you'll only be able to use "offline mode" if you connect to your account every XX days, or subscribe to a business plan for longer durations.

hhh 2y ago

You can still use it offline without an account just fine with Pro SKUs and up.

ranger_danger 2y ago
that shouldn't be necessary though
ziddoap 2y ago
You can use offline accounts with Home as well.
_carbyau_ 2y ago
Installed Windows 11 Pro, had to do some CLI dickery to get the option for local only account.
- hhh 2y ago
  here are the steps I just used a few minutes ago to use a local account. You can do it without leaving the OOBE, but you shouldn't have to go through so many steps to do it. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40781798 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40781798
- justsomehnguy 2y ago
  ITT: people complain about 'CLI dickery' in Windows but arguing for Linux. *shrug_emoji*
  - Biganon 2y ago
    ...yes? Because on Windows, the CLI is used to circumvent the highly smelly patterns that Microsoft puts in your way to force you to act in a way that is financially interesting for them, even though you've paid for their shitty OS already On Linux, the CLI (in a similar scenario) is used to... install the software. And you can probably use a GUI package manager depending on your distro. Do you really not see the difference?
    - _carbyau_ 2y ago
      Not the person you are replying to but... They are different points of contention and I think both of your points are valid - though only really linked via "CLI dickery". You are correct that MS is being annoying, stupid and pushy and causes me to resort to CLI-dickery/regedit/service-disable/google-what-fucking-tickbox-to-untick-now to make it calm the farm. Linux doesn't try to mess with my farm. But I only get 80% - 90% of a farm to start with and have to google "How to do/fix [XYZ],[abc] and [123]" and the answer is always CLI dickery. Last night it was "Use Vim to edit [this] file." Great, then I had to google how to use Vim. But wait, I only want to edit a file so use any file editor! But now I need it to run under sudo... Both OSs have their issues and CLI dickery isn't going away. But with MS, I paid them so I feel entitled to have expectations as to product behaviour - especially when it keeps trying to change from what I bought.
    - justsomehnguy 2y ago
      > Because on Windows, the CLI is used to circumvent the highly smelly patterns And on Linux you use CLI to investigate why the hell a modern distro (Rocky 9) hangs up if you run anything more complex than a ping. Or just hangs up if you don't touch it at all, just a bit later. ANd it requires 9 hard resets (thankfully there WAS an option to do them, it wasn't some desktop class machine an ocean away) and digging and digging what is exactly happening, why it happens and what magik incantations needs to be CLI'ed on this exact version of the distro, because other versions are reporting what everything is correct... yet the machine still hangs. Source: just spent 4 hours in CLI dickery for that great, stable and unkillable operating system. But of course, if MS OS - it's 'CLI dickery' but if Linux - then the only time you touch CLI is to 'dnf install magic' And yes, the real difference is what for the most part you don't need 'CLI dickery' on Windows, so when someone argues for the Linux-like OSes as an a better alternative to Windows it doesn't sounds good.
wtallis 2y ago
I've definitely seen laptops from multiple OEMs with Pro edition pre-installed that still don't offer the local account route without first going through the CLI to bypass. I think the only other route remaining is to just not have any NIC that the installer can recognize.
cjk2 2y ago
Not by saying "no" you can't. You have to fuck around with shift+F10 and oobe stuff. This was tested on 23H2 yesterday.
- hhh 2y ago
  Yes, you can. I just now downloaded a win11 23H2 iso and installed w11 pro without going outside of the OOBE. Sure, you shouldn't have to click 'domain join instead' etc, but you can absolutely do it without doing anything outside of the OOBE. Here are the exact steps I used: https://pastebin.com/nDnLBYg2 https://pastebin.com/nDnLBYg2
  - aidenn0 2y ago
    Does the "domain join" work even if you don't have an AD server setup to join to?
    - hhh 2y ago
      yes, it just sets up a local account

Waterluvian 2y ago

Inaccessible to 99% of users, but an escape hatch for the 1% who might make a useful fuss. Evil genius.

Dalewyn 2y ago

Additionally for those with Windows 11 Pro or higher, you can straight up block OneDrive and other cloud functions with Group Policy.

metaphor 2y ago
> ...you can straight up block OneDrive and other cloud functions with Group Policy. The world has certifiably lost its mind if this or any of the workarounds mentioned by the parent are acceptable to the baseline UX of a major paid OS.

Zardoz84 2y ago

Or just use a Linux distro and avoid all M$ shit

Sayrus 2y ago
Unfortunately the world runs on Word and Excel and unless you want the even worse Office 365 experience, you often do need some M$.
- behnamoh 2y ago
  While I love Word for academic writing, I’ve found Apple’s Keynote and Google Sheets superior alternatives to PowerPoint and Excel.
  - EasyMark 2y ago
    Google sheets just is no way superior to excel. I’m not even sure how one can say it’s superior. Keynote is fine though. My presentations are just pictures and texts. I refuse to do transitions and all that other garbage.
- bee_rider 2y ago
  For now. The kids (incoming college students over the last couple years) like Google’s office suite better as far as I’ve seen. Anyway, real documents are written in LaTeX. Windows lives in this in-between space where it isn’t as easy Google/Apple stuff, but it isn’t as good as Linux. That gap is always closing.
  - passwordoops 2y ago
    "real documents are written in LaTeX" Tell me you've never had a job in the real world without telling me you've never had a job in the real world
    - bee_rider 2y ago
      You should learn it, it produces much nicer looking documents. Anyway if you want to edit word documents properly you have to unzip them and then write XML (eww). So this is the easiest option.

esalman 2y ago

I was trying to install security updates into a ~8 years old laptop the other day. It's been updated to Windows 10 before. The updates were OTA, but after it completed there was no way to log into the local account without logging into a Microsoft account first (while it being connected to Wi-Fi). Here's the kicker, since this still being on the pre-login setup screen, there was no option to disable Wi-Fi either.

aceazzameen 2y ago

I'm working on a personal Win 11 Pro machine right now using a local account. I never made an online one. Also I wonder if I uninstalled OneDrive over a year ago, because I don't see OneDrive in File Explorer or Task Manager. I've had this laptop for over a year, so OneDrive has never returned in all the updates since.

behnamoh 2y ago

Most those changes will get reverted after the next Windows update…

bee_rider 2y ago

Hacks that require going to into a CLI are just not accessible to non-technical people. Switch to something user friendly like Linux. At least Gnome only gets screwed up once every decade or so.

doublerabbit 2y ago
> Switch to something user friendly like Linux. The same applies; are just not accessible to non-technical people.
- TheRoque 2y ago
  The hardest thing is really just creating the media and booting on the key. Once that's done, it's smooth sailing for most user-friendly distro. I swear, I've had my parents install Linux on 50 computers for their school, and they are really non technical.

fencepost 2y ago

Or if ordering a new PC you can get one with Windows 11 Pro for a few $$ more, choose the option to domain join (during initial setup) to create a local account, and create user accounts with no Microsoft account. Makes it easier to do minor little things like drive encryption as well.

wtallis 2y ago
There are a surprising number of laptops where getting Pro edition simply isn't an option. Lots of brands no longer offer detailed build-to-order customization and instead only sell online the same three or four configurations per mdel that retailers stock.
- inemesitaffia 2y ago
  Can't you upgrade post install anymore?
  - fencepost 2y ago
    You can but it's more expensive ($100 vs $35ish?) and is done through the Microsoft Store and a Microsoft account which is what some people are trying to move away from.
    - inemesitaffia 2y ago
      Absolutely disgusting
- fencepost 2y ago
  That's likely more a question of sales channel and business vs consumer devices.
thewebguyd 2y ago
This. Way easier than any CLI workarounds, and pro is very available. Just don't buy your laptop from Best Buy and the likes. Stick to the better product lines. ThinkPad, XPS, Precision, Latitude, EliteBook, ProBook, Surface, etc. almost all come with pro as default or as an available option. Just stay away from the more consumer oriented product lines

EasyMark 2y ago

I consider myself fairly technically apt and I can google solutions with the best of them, but I gave up after windows 10, they are just data mining everything, being privacy hostile at every turn. I liked windows 10 as far as looks and usability, but eventually I just gave up and went to Mac and I’ve been a linux user as well (at home desktop)for 15+ years so it felt like home anyway. I requested a Mac laptop for work as well, and while I miss out on some resources at work (mostly limited IT support) because of it, it doesn’t hinder my work or get in the way.

Gazoche 2y ago

Who knows for how much longer this CLI escape hatch will exist though. Maybe at some point MS will implement mandatory online checks into their OS, similar to how some games DRM schemes work. Then you'll only be able to use "offline mode" if you connect to your account every XX days, or subscribe to a business plan for longer durations.