Appears no way to startup a new out of box laptop without logging into MSFT

GON

GON

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Purchased a new Lenovo laptop today from COSTCO with Windows 11 home. Goal is to not ever log into MSFT. There were workarounds on the out of box setup, primarily to press SHIFT and F10 to get a command prompt, and enter a line that lets a user bypass MSFT login.

Doing some reading, it appears a SEP 2024 Windows 11 update prevents the SHIFT/ F10 workaround.

Blows my mind how much effort MSFT puts in to making sure they have access to our systems and information. How sad...

PXL_20240926_234251289.webp
 
Whoa, does pretty crazy. I never used an Apple Computer but considering buying a low entry one just to try out a different system.
 
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LazyDog said:
Whoa, does pretty crazy. I never used an Apple Computer but considering buying a low entry one just to try out a different system.
Click to expand...
Apple has their own "Apple ID" setup and I'm not sure how limited things are if you don't login. You definitely won't be able to download apps from the App Store without logging in. I'd hope you can download OS updates without one though.
 
In the fall of 2022 I bought a couple of HP-slim PC's. They were refurbs, came with Win-10 home pre-installed and ready to activate on first run. I wiped the hard drives and downloaded Win-10 pro 2022 H2 ISO, burned that to a thumb drive and booted it, installed what would become the last version of Win-10.

I installed it without having an M$ account, without it being connected to the internet. It was a battle. I was able to install it because the PC's SLIC or MSDM tables had built-in Win-10 product keys. Does Lenovo have that?

Anyways, I heavily modified my install, it does not check for updates, it has never done an update since I installed it.
 
The latest iteration of Office apps require you to be logged into Microsoft to use them if internet is available.
Microsoft is becoming worse than the Borg, pardon me, Apple about sucking you into their eco system. The end result is their "seamless" Onedrive cloud is incomprehensibly convoluted, and you don't know where to look for your files when you can't find them.
 
Add it to the list of super helpful Windows 11 "features". My favourite is how it reverts the default .pdf program to Edge with every update. A close second is the simplification the the right-click menu. Who needs the Properties or Rename options to be easily accessible? Me. Every. Day.

And no, I don't have access to alter the registry at work.
 
What's the problem with just creating a microsoft email account with a random name not associated with you, and log in using that email? And you don't have to save anything to onedrive, you can still save all your files locally.
 
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wavinwayne said:
What's the problem with just creating a microsoft email account with a random name not associated with you, and log in using that email? And you don't have to save anything to onedrive, you can still save all your files locally.
Click to expand...
The principal of it. I shouldn’t have to tie ANYTHING “personal” to it if I don’t want too. Especially if I’m paying money for it.
 
GON said:
Purchased a new Lenovo laptop today from COSTCO with Windows 11 home. Goal is to not ever log into MSFT. There were workarounds on the out of box setup, primarily to press SHIFT and F10 to get a command prompt, and enter a line that lets a user bypass MSFT login.

Doing some reading, it appears a SEP 2024 Windows 11 update prevents the SHIFT/ F10 workaround.

Blows my mind how much effort MSFT puts in to making sure they have access to our systems and information. How sad...

View attachment 242344
Click to expand...

Have you tried putting in a dummy mail adress? that worked for me. But then you can't set a pin afterwards and need internet for the login to appear.
 
GON said:
Purchased a new Lenovo laptop today from COSTCO with Windows 11 home. Goal is to not ever log into MSFT. There were workarounds on the out of box setup, primarily to press SHIFT and F10 to get a command prompt, and enter a line that lets a user bypass MSFT login.

Doing some reading, it appears a SEP 2024 Windows 11 update prevents the SHIFT/ F10 workaround.

Blows my mind how much effort MSFT puts in to making sure they have access to our systems and information. How sad...

View attachment 242344
Click to expand...
Boot into the bios and disable uefi secure boot. If not I have a couple of suggestions for a work around.
 
wavinwayne said:
What's the problem with just creating a microsoft email account with a random name not associated with you, and log in using that email? And you don't have to save anything to onedrive, you can still save all your files locally.
Click to expand...
Great question.

OOA three years ago I had a Lenovo laptop fail under warranty. When the laptop was repaired and returned, the hard drive was bitlocker encrypted. The "key" to unencrypt was under the control of MSFT. I had no idea MSFT was doing this.

Next, MSFT wants your documents at any cost. Even with a fake account, MSFT will have defaults to forever transmit and store your documents at MSFT, regardless of how you configure your machine. This results in documents you thought you stored locally, instead stored at MSFT.
 
Tomioka said:
He meant by skipping the 'Connect to the Internet' prompt. Click 'I do not have Internet' and "Continue with limited setup'. Then it will take you to prompt to create a local account.
Click to expand...
MSFT no longer offers the "continue with limited setup". Can't connect to the internet, MSFT prevents the setup from continuing.
 
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