News Instead of spending time bugfixing Win11, MS again tries to stop MS account bypasses during setup

[mikeymikec]

Microsoft Blocks Online Account Bypass on Windows 11

Microsoft has released its latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.6772 (KB5065797) in the Dev Channel. While it introduces some new Copilot-powered features and updates to Windows Hello, it also rings a death sentence to bypassing Microsoft Online Account, which is now mandatory for...

www.techpowerup.com

Hopefully OEMs will stick with 24H2 images for a long time yet!

 

[Steltek]

There is another workaround now you can use to install without a Microsoft account:

If they hold to form, I suspect the next thing Microsoft will do is disable the ability to open a command prompt during installation.

 

[mikeymikec]

There is another workaround now you can use to install without a Microsoft account:

If they hold to form, I suspect the next thing Microsoft will do is disable the ability to open a command prompt during installation.

I want to know where these workarounds keep coming from. The guy in your video seems likely to have mixed basic techniques (NET USER) with a bit of sleuthing re the OOBE registry key structure (kudos to him), but IMO some of the previous techniques probably had inside help. Someone at MS who can't stand the idea of MS account integration, or perhaps they just have a chaotic alignment

 

[Steltek]

I've seen a couple of Youtube creators the last few days (one of which was the one I linked above) who have reported that they have gotten community strikes and had videos removed that are related to installing Windows 11 while bypassing local accounts.

Disturbing trend. Sounds like, worst case, Youtube's AI watchdog is getting even more dysfunctional.

I suspect they are training their model on Microsoft PR.

 

[mikeymikec]

I've seen a couple of Youtube creators the last few days (one of which was the one I linked above) who have reported that they have gotten community strikes and had videos removed that are related to installing Windows 11 while bypassing local accounts.

Disturbing trend. Sounds like, worst case, Youtube's AI watchdog is getting even more dysfunctional.

I suspect they are training their model on Microsoft PR.

Thanks for the tip. I've copypasta'd that guy's instructions in case this video disappears.

 

[bba-tcg]

oobe\bypassnro still works with 25H2.

 

[Zepp]

a few days ago I made a win11 install USB with rufus and for the first time it didnt give me the popup options before starting with all the check-boxes to bypass TPM requirements, skip bitlocker, create local account, ect. 🤔

 

[bba-tcg]

Hmmm

a few days ago I made a win11 install USB with rufus and for the first time it didnt give me the popup options before starting with all the check-boxes to bypass TPM requirements, skip bitlocker, create local account, ect. 🤔

Hmmm. I made a 25H2 win 11 flash drive and it did present me with those options.

 

[Zepp]

I will try grabbing the newest version of rufus and see if it works, it was just strange that I always got that popup before. google AI had suggested that newer ISO's don't allow it, but I doubted that was the case.

 

[In2Photos]

I just made a 25H2 USB with Rufus recently as well and got the pop up. Used it to upgrade 4 older laptops and worked perfectly.

 

[bba-tcg]

I will try grabbing the newest version of rufus and see if it works, it was just strange that I always got that popup before. google AI had suggested that newer ISO's don't allow it, but I doubted that was the case.

Yes, it was with the latest version of Rufus. I make sure I'm using the latest portable version whenever I make a new install USB drive.

 

[gorobei]

Thanks for the tip. I've copypasta'd that guy's instructions in case this video disappears.

he got hit with a content strike. he's going to wait the 90 days but there is some uncertainty about the future of his channel as he cant get a non-ai response from yt on what part is 'dangerous'.

 

[Steltek]

he got hit with a content strike. he's going to wait the 90 days but there is some uncertainty about the future of his channel as he cant get a non-ai response from yt on what part is 'dangerous'.

He is not the only one they are doing this to:

This creator has previously had a community strike for a video on how to install Windows 11 without a Microsoft Account. Youtube now also just removed another video he posted on how to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. He indicated that he cannot speak to anyone at Youtube and cannot receive notice as to exactly why they are doing this. As a result, he indicates he is now going to post all future videos related to these things on other platforms like Rumble or Twitter.

This is only the start.

The only solution will require either a Youtube competitor or a class action lawsuit that nobody affected can afford to fight on their own (assuming such a lawsuit is possible, given how most user agreements now require arbitration).

So, not happening.

 

[gorobei]

we really do need a 2nd party media platform not so in bed with corporate interests. but that supposes that a central video repository is a public right.

people could make their own websites and post this sort of stuff, but it is the discoverability of YT replacing paying to advertise your content/site that is seemingly too hard to pass up.

the biggest problem is YT process is designed to quell/discourage fighting for fair-use or free speech disputes. threatening the content creator with lack of income during the contesting of the claim favors the big corp.

all monetization of a video should be held in escrow until both sides have taken the issue to court. but YT automatically sides with the claimant, and music lic trolls and corpos abuse it pre-emptively without even submitting evidence or a written out basis of the claim.

 

[lxskllr]

There's peertube, but freedom isn't free. Hosting video costs real money, and users that can pay, should. Not like you aren't paying with "free/gratis" platforms. The currency is your privacy, and sometimes your sanity.

PeerTube - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Steltek]

Well, one of the creators was finally successful in getting his videos restored and strike removed.

Haven't heard anything from the other one on the subject.

 

[mikeymikec]

El Reg covered the topic on Friday:

YouTube's AI moderator pulls Windows 11 workaround videos

: Creators baffled as videos on local accounts, unsupported PCs vanish under ‘harmful acts’ rule

www.theregister.com

The one-minute-later "appeal denied" decision is "impressive" though...

My take-away from all of this is that Microsoft's data mining is worth way more money to them to justify the expense that they go to in their anti-local-account efforts.

 

[Stiff Clamp]

El Reg covered the topic on Friday:

YouTube's AI moderator pulls Windows 11 workaround videos

: Creators baffled as videos on local accounts, unsupported PCs vanish under ‘harmful acts’ rule

www.theregister.com

The one-minute-later "appeal denied" decision is "impressive" though...

My take-away from all of this is that Microsoft's data mining is worth way more money to them to justify the expense that they go to in their anti-local-account efforts.

Automated, I reckon. I think you have appeal more than once on YT to get any actual person to look into your content.

 

[Steltek]

Automated, I reckon. I think you have appeal more than once on YT to get any actual person to look into your content.

Problem is, as the creators involved learned, AI is clearly deciding the appeals too and it is virtually impossible to speak to a living, breathing person at Youtube.

This has been amply documented to be the case by creators that have suffered other suspensions in other content areas too (specifically, fair use in music and investigative content).

It seems that speaking to living people at Youtube is limited to individuals that can create content suficient to embarrass Youtube enough (with enough views) to actually need to involve their PR department.

 

[WelshBloke]

I was installing a Windows VM today to see what the state of Windows bloat is if you just let it do its thing and was surprised by this...



I don't own and have never owned or used a Microsoft passkey! In fact I didn't know that they were a thing!

 

[mikeymikec]

I was installing a Windows VM today to see what the state of Windows bloat is if you just let it do its thing and was surprised by this...

View attachment 134224

I don't own and have never owned or used a Microsoft passkey! In fact I didn't know that they were a thing!

Maybe there's a VMware setting that's encouraging this to happen? Virtualbox 7x did some interesting stuff to a clean Win11 VM I created a while ago, which was kind of irritating because half the reason for me creating Windows VMs is that I want to see how x version of Windows behaves by default, not because of some specialised settings that Virtualbox came up with...

 

[WelshBloke]

Maybe there's a VMware setting that's encouraging this to happen? Virtualbox 7x did some interesting stuff to a clean Win11 VM I created a while ago, which was kind of irritating because half the reason for me creating Windows VMs is that I want to see how x version of Windows behaves by default, not because of some specialised settings that Virtualbox came up with...

VMware does have a guided install thing for supported OSs, I don't use it because it never works that well! And weirdly it didn't recognise this Win11 Iso that I'd just downloaded fresh from Microsoft!

The request for a passkey wasn't a hard block, after clicking cancel it let me jump through a bunch of two factor hoops and then installed. They should probably add the "try another way" box instead of just a "cancel" one though.

 

[WelshBloke]

Honestly though anyone who says Linux is hard to install hasn't installed either Windows or Linux on a bare SSD in awhile! Mainstream Linux distros are way easier to install!

They should be made to install Gentoo as a punishment!

 

[Zepp]

I went ahead an downloaded a windows 10 LTSC iso. I will end up putting it on an older unused laptop for those few uses I need a windows app or to make windows installer USBs for friends/family with Rufus. chatgpt says it will still get security updates even if you never activate the install.

Honestly though anyone who says Linux is hard to install hasn't installed either Windows or Linux on a bare SSD in awhile! Mainstream Linux distros are way easier to install!

true, as long as they dont try to install something like Devuan. I gave up.

 

[Steltek]

Honestly though anyone who says Linux is hard to install hasn't installed either Windows or Linux on a bare SSD in awhile! Mainstream Linux distros are way easier to install!

They should be made to install Gentoo as a punishment!

This is so true it isn't funny. 20 years ago, installing Linux was a pain. Not so any more.

Over the last couple years, I've installed like 75 different distros downloaded via DistroWatch (in both virtual machines and on bare metal hardware) to play around with them. I can literally count the number of times I had problems on one hand with fingers remaining.

Can't say the same for Windows in any way, shape, or form....