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I had to install Windows 11 on a laptop last year, for the first time since win2k. I managed to dodge the online Microsoft account and create a local account, a

by driggs 2y ago

I had to install Windows 11 on a laptop last year, for the first time since win2k. I managed to dodge the online Microsoft account and create a local account, and was proud of myself... And the installer asks "Enter your name", so I enter "Firstname Lastname". Now my $HOME directory is `C:\Users\Firstname Lastname` with a space character in it! Ironically, the whole point of the Windows machine was to install ESRI's ArcGIS Pro, which literally cannot handle spaces in filepaths in the year 2025, so I can't reference data or projects from my user's home directory.

zamalek 2y ago
My AD account has parenthesis in it for my short name, guess how much fun that is.
cstrahan 2y ago
I have a personal “Windows install / configuration playbook” so I don’t fall into these types of pitfalls for the Nth time (including the very example you give). Some fun ones: windows defaults to storing the hardware clock time as a time-zone local offset, so whenever it syncs time with network servers, it messes up your time in other OSes (in multi-boot setups). You have to set the RealTimeIsUniversal registry key to make Windows behave. What made me figure this out? Another pair of issues: the XBox/gaming app/overlay would give nonspecific errors, or at best not let my party hear me, when I’d try to join my brother’s party when playing games. Eventually connected the dots: I would reboot into Windows after working in Linux, the time would be messed up, and the Windows gaming overlay’s party stuff would be broken, suggesting the local time is used in some way for the chat/voice protocol, but of course they don’t tell you that. I initially scoured pages, and pages of Google search results, leading to countless MS forums and Reddit posts, none of which pointed out the importance of the system time. This wouldn’t be as much of an issue if Windows would more regularly sync the system time, or at least do so upon booting, but of course there isn’t a first-party way to do that, either — the best I could do without installing crap was go into the time settings and unset then set the option for syncing time automatically, coercing it into updating the time right then and there — at least, until I sorted out why the time was all messed up when rebooting after running Linux. Now with the ads and forced online account creation, it’s only becoming more of a dumpster fire than it already was.

by driggs 2y ago

zamalek 2y ago

My AD account has parenthesis in it for my short name, guess how much fun that is.

cstrahan 2y ago

I have a personal “Windows install / configuration playbook” so I don’t fall into these types of pitfalls for the Nth time (including the very example you give). Some fun ones: windows defaults to storing the hardware clock time as a time-zone local offset, so whenever it syncs time with network servers, it messes up your time in other OSes (in multi-boot setups). You have to set the RealTimeIsUniversal registry key to make Windows behave. What made me figure this out? Another pair of issues: the XBox/gaming app/overlay would give nonspecific errors, or at best not let my party hear me, when I’d try to join my brother’s party when playing games. Eventually connected the dots: I would reboot into Windows after working in Linux, the time would be messed up, and the Windows gaming overlay’s party stuff would be broken, suggesting the local time is used in some way for the chat/voice protocol, but of course they don’t tell you that. I initially scoured pages, and pages of Google search results, leading to countless MS forums and Reddit posts, none of which pointed out the importance of the system time. This wouldn’t be as much of an issue if Windows would more regularly sync the system time, or at least do so upon booting, but of course there isn’t a first-party way to do that, either — the best I could do without installing crap was go into the time settings and unset then set the option for syncing time automatically, coercing it into updating the time right then and there — at least, until I sorted out why the time was all messed up when rebooting after running Linux. Now with the ads and forced online account creation, it’s only becoming more of a dumpster fire than it already was.