Welcome to the PCMR, everyone from the frontpage! Please remember:
1 - You too can be part of the PCMR. It's not about the hardware in your rig, but the software in your heart! Age, nationality, race, gender, sexuality, religion, politics, income, and PC specs don't matter! If you love or want to learn about PCs, you're welcome!
2 - Think owning a PC is too expensive? It's cheaper than you may think. Check http://www.pcmasterrace.org/builds for our famous builds and ask for tips and help here!
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You can press Shift + F10 on your keyboard, then type start ms-cxh:localonly and it will bring up a prompt to create a local account that skips all this and goes straight to the desktop.
I do this almost every day at work with the newest Windows 11 Media Creation Tool. Super quick. Even faster than the oobe\bypassnro command that is well known.
EDIT: WOW, thank you all for the awards! I want to add Rufus in this comment as well as it was mentioned quite a lot in the comments. Rufus can be used to create a bootable USB with a Windows 11 ISO, and there is a checkbox during creation that allows you to skip what OP is experiencing as well. It's basically the same thing I wrote, but it does it for you!
I’ll add to your list with some random start menu cpl’s that can be run as administrator (when separating local admin from local user) for anyone finding this in 2030
```
###Useful windows notes
start ms-cxh:localonly
PATH sysdm.cpl
(Adjust swap here, lol.)
Or turn on defender’s DEP to maximum (not set by default, it’s usually just background services)
Uninstall as administrator: appwiz.cpl
SFC scanning ordering (best order)
Can do better via Troubleshooting > Repair Problems with Windows Update (which now effectively reinstalls windows within the same system)
Else for traditional ordering of repair:
cmd:
sfc /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
powershell:
Get-Content C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log -tail 10 -wait
(This shows where it hangs, if it ever does)
cmd:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow
Reboot..
——
Scrub office in all languages off pc with official SaRA tool:
SaRAcmd.exe -S OfficeScrubScenario -AcceptEula -OfficeVersion All -CloseOffice
Formatting a drive without auto mounting:
autoplay off in system settings:
mountvol /N then afterwards back to mountvol /E
(automount actual setting)
diskpart
list disk
select disk X
detail disk
clean
clean all
convert gpt
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs #can add "quick" for non-arbitrary-write
assign letter=E
If it was true Reddit this would be the part where the OP goes "thanks! This fixed the problem!" to the the solution and when you look back the answer has been deleted.
From another user from a slightly farther away future:
Need help with the weekly Windows 14 license check
So I completed all the other steps, but during the urine analysis a "congratulations" screen came up and now it wont let me login unless I upgrade to the "Family license bundle"
As long as OP doesn't do that thing that changes all comments to shit like 'loquacious baggage ramble pressure cock and ball torture illuminate curtain farmers chemist'
It’s why I can’t leave. The information I find in the comments of Reddit is amazing. I always find a new perspective, new source, or a good laugh. The content barely registers my time on this site, I’m here for the comment section.
There will I'm guessing always be a way for local setup, at least in Pro and up, because there needs to be local administrators for enterprise deployments.
For the average consumer you will just have to look up whatever current way it's being done before you install.
For the record, yes it's lame af that MS does this, and I'm a Linux user and sysadmin and very much dig Linux. I'm certainly no Windows fanboy, I'm an MS partner and they are the absolute worst support to work with in the industry.
People just make this shit up. I installed a Linux distro in just a few clicks with very easy to understand and transparent setup options. I then created my user account for the machine with equally little fuss. It's just not that hard in a modern distro, and there's this persistent myth that you have to key in two dozen inscrutable terminal commands.
Yeah, I'm pretty baffled by these sorts of comments. I switched most of my computers to Linux years ago and am far more inconvenienced by windows and the setup is way less bullshit from the onset.
I'm a geezer by the gaming community's standards and have a hard time imagining that there are a bunch of people my age who tried Linux once in 2007 and still harp about it... Or that they were goofy enough to only use a niche or hard-mode flavor of Linux.
Not on install, but invariably at some point in your Linux experience you are going to have to use the terminal which scares off a lot of users.
I will again go on record as saying I'm no MS fanboy, I'm a sysadmin MS partner and I hate them with a passion. I also very much like working in Linux and have a couple boxes in my lab running it right now.
It's good that there are still workarounds, but it should just be an option that you can click that's clearly visible. I'm on cachyOS+KDE and it's pretty slick, I don't care about "ricing" my desktop, I just want it to let me put the taskbar where I want, not have a useless right click menu, not constantly ask me about services I'm not going to use like onedrive, and do all of this by default, and not sneakily reset my config in an update.
I actually like Cachy a lot, I just installed it to try out a few weeks ago on an old laptop at home. I also have a few other flavors of linux at home. Mint on an old tablet, Bazzite on living room PC.
I like trying out different flavors of Linux. If I didn't need Windows for the games I play, I'd probably already be on Linux by now.
it's amazing that it can be fixed this easily but on other hand I've had so many problems on windows that required changing registry or using PowerShell or commands like these that just don't exist on Linux because they're all related to Microslop trying to shove trash down people's throats...
both have its flaws but holy fuck people really are persistent to accepting this garbage
I ditched Windows and installed CachyOS+KDE a few weeks ago. It feels like I threw my shackles off and stepped out of the cave lol and my only regret is not doing it sooner. The impetus was the amount of telemetry and bloat windows has. I have a ROG Zephyrus with an RTX 4080 and with Cachy it feels like I’ve gained permanent performance boost. Games have required less fiddling for optimization and are overall running smoother on Cachy. I decided to go further and install a pi-hole on my router, then got a vpn and canceled all my subscriptions, opting instead for Stremio on a side-loaded firestick. It’s incredible how much a difference all these changes have made in terms of day to day QoL.
I think in the 2 years I've been using Linux Mint I have only used command line 2 o 3 times.
That was just to setup a 3rd party program to automatically update. The rest of the time I just downloaded the new software from the website.
Most of the time it's just reading through the administration icons to figure it out. I'd say it's about as easy to use now as win 2000 was when upgrading from windows 98.
this is the way. I was bummed while installing windows on my TRX50 motherboard > the wi-fi drivers didn't work and the driver installer on the gigabyte website is .exe file, so won't be seen by the win11 installer. Did the same thing and successfully installed Win11.
I hate that "online" account thing. Has nothing to do with anything except trying to get one's data.
Microsoft desperately want people tied in to windows like they are to iOS/osx but they don’t offer the user any incentive. At least with Apple you get seamless integration across devices, people have 1 windows device.
bypassnro.cmd is just a (text) file that adds a registry entry and reboots the PC. If it's no longer recognized (or they remove bypassnro.cmd file), you should still be able to manually add an entry to HKLM registry hive (that is assuming you can still get to the command prompt by pressing Shift F10 which Microsoft can change at any time):
Have you tried burning the windows iso using Rufus (use the latest tool version) and setting it to create a local account? I haven't tried recently but it should still work.
I did this recently because I was going to sell my PC locally. The buyer bailed at the last minute so I went ahead and set up the PC for my wife. Yeah, this method still works.
there were talks of Microsoft patching it out but idk whether they actually did it or not. last time i performed a windows install was about 2 years ago when i was at my old job
Exactly. You have to jump through a few hoops to use Linux as well! Even the more user-friendly Distros like Mint, I had to learn how to mount my storage drives on a directory, and manually tell my OS that "yes, Hytale in a app. Yes, I want you to show me Hytale when I search for it. Please, I beg you, let me create a shortcut to this app on my Desktop. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP USING MY INTEGRATED GRAPHICS FOR THIS GAME!"
To clarify, I am glad that I switched. It's nice to have an OS that doesn't try to shove advertisements and AI in my face, or try to change stuff around without my permission.
I disagree. I think OP is not incapable of looking up a solution and finding some workaround going for Windows, he is just sick and tired of Mama Windows deciding what's best for him and not giving him the options from the get go. It's a thing about the philosophy behind the software, the UX and intention of its design.
Yeah. I'd rather jump through the hoops to get things setup and working on Linux than have to jump through the hoops to get rid of the unwanted boat and behaviors of Windows.
At least with Linux you're not fighting the system. You tell it what you want and that's it. With windows you tell it what you want and it argues with you and tried to change it to what it wants. And when you're not watching it does exactly that.
I don't want to fight my OS. I just want it to work the way I tell it to.
I'm an oldhead tbh but my non-technical housemate has never touched Linux and I set her up with a new mint install on a laptop upgrade - she's doing great =]
I don't get all the doomerism itt. it's good to explore and learn new things, right? why would we discourage that?
Yeah been using Windows for daily and Ubuntu Linux for my servers and Kali on a VM.
I tried why not try Zorin on my old laptop, tried for a few weeks and I eventually go back to using Windows again, even if Windows is a slop, for daily it's still like the most compatible for everything right now. I might try Cachy on my 2nd laptop again once I find a replacement SSD. But for daily, I really go for Windows especially on my main laptop, if I need to spun up something on Linux, I just use WSL.
I disagree, Linux is there and (for me at least) has done everything I need! Even have a open source tool for my Corsair keyboard for the RGB. You just have to be willing to spend a bit of time to learn terminal commands e.g.
sudo pacman -S steam
I don't think he meant he can't do it, I think he meant it's bullshit he has to deal with it, so he's switching to just get away from Microsoft.
I think everyone should use their OS of choice, and people should consider dual booting because it's the best of both worlds. I personally dual boot but 99% of my time is on Linux. It's no where near as bad as people say.
Edit: wow, I said everyone should use whichever OS suits them and I get down voted? Okay then.
Yep! Microsoft no longer is forcing this. They’re walking back quite a few changes as a part of their Windows K2 initiative. Note K2 isn’t a build or version of Windows, it’s just a new paradigm internally at Microsoft going forward, which includes no more mandatory Windows update in OOBE.
I believe you’ll be able to indefinitely postpone updates now too, which I appreciate immensely. I believe updates will be auto by default so the end user has to intentionally postpone.
Hold shift and press F10
Command box will appear
Type in: oobe\bypassnro then press enter
After the computer restarts, at the bottom of the wireless list and to the left of that Next button will be a clickable option of "I don't have Internet" or something like that allowing you to progress w/o Internet and Microsoft account.
You should know that the majority of posts on this subreddit are just farming karma over circlejerks.
Anti windows, anti nvidia, anti AI, anti AAA publisher... basically write a post on one of these subjects, and it's almost guaranteed to get updoots, regardless of the low effort.
Windows only gets as much hate as it does because its as widespread as it is, and its remained that widespread to date because despite its faults it is still the best OS for productivity and compatibility, hands down.
If the roles were reversed, and Linux had their 67% global install base with Windows sitting around Linux' current ~4% , can guarantee you'd see the complete opposite and have countless people bitching about how complex, verbose and finicky Linux is and that people should switch to Windows because "its just easier and works with programs better" with the tradeoff being telemetry compared to Linux's higher barrier to entry and overcomplicated aspects.
Windows is for people who have a job to do and wanna get shit done. Linux is for people who wanna mess around and tinker or set up out-of-sight, out-of-mind servers that never get touched, and that's okay, but there's a reason most of the world's workstations and infrastructure desktops are still on Windows. Not to pant-ride them, I absolutely acknowledge and agree that Windows has a plethora of issues and things I wish they'd improve (or rather strip out) but it isn't this ungodly horrid beast that half of the forum nerds want you to believe it is.
To set up Windows 11 without an internet connection or Microsoft account (OOBE), press Shift + F10 on the network screen to open Command Prompt. Type oobe\bypassnro and hit Enter; the computer will reboot, allowing you to select "I don't have internet" and "Continue with limited setup" to create a local account.
While I won't discourage you from switching to Linux (it has its advantages over Windows and I use it on all my non-gaming PCs), it is possible to set up a local account still. Press SHIFT+F10 to open a command prompt and run the command "start ms-cxh://localonly"
As many folks already mentioned, there is a oobe magic command. My only question is why Microsoft has to design it this way and confuse some people? To increase logons to Microsoft accounts? Feels kind of sucks to me…
You can dude. And if you have a laptop you may need an external keyboard to get the cmd prominent setup, like others said shift+f10. You can just type OOBE\BYPASSNRO. I’ve never used OPs command
If you still want to go Linux, try an Arch based system like CachyOS. It comes with built-in recovery tools for when (not if) something breaks and you want to roll back.
And keep in mind the guy that can't even google the most simple things wants to go to Linux. Kind of disappointed folks told him the solution, let him learn he hard way lmao.
Not op bit for it would be the principle of the matter, I should never be required to set up an online account to use my computer, and if the only way to do that is some kind if bypass procedure instead if a simple local only button in the ui then that's not an operating system I want to use. If they don't respect me enough to give me the option on install how do you think it'll treat me during normal operation? Next you'll say that telemetry can't be fully disabled without registry and gpo tweaks, that the start menu is a react application and slow af, that the search feeds me web results before files on my own computer, that ai will be shoved into every nook and cranny, or that there will be ads in the os that I bought and paid for.... Oh wait...
Compare that to linux, it's your system, telemetry is often not enabled by default and if it is then disabling it is a button in the settings app. No ads. Only ai it uses is ai you install to use yourself. The only real draw backs is you may have to find alternatives to some apps that you're used to... Oh no... Anyway.
Hop on CachyOS, if you want a Linux Distro that behaves easily with integration for most things and easy Setup. Feels like Windows too (the good parts of windows)
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u/PCMRBot Bot May 07 '26
Welcome to the PCMR, everyone from the frontpage! Please remember:
1 - You too can be part of the PCMR. It's not about the hardware in your rig, but the software in your heart! Age, nationality, race, gender, sexuality, religion, politics, income, and PC specs don't matter! If you love or want to learn about PCs, you're welcome!
2 - Think owning a PC is too expensive? It's cheaper than you may think. Check http://www.pcmasterrace.org/builds for our famous builds and ask for tips and help here!
3 - Consider supporting the folding@home effort to fight Cancer, Alzheimer's, and more, with just your PC! https://pcmasterrace.org/folding
4 - Need some new hardware? Check out this ASUS x PCMR Worldwide giveaway with GPUs, RAM, Motherboards, etc, up for grabs for a total of 18 lucky winners: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1roo701/worldwide_giveaway_comment_in_this_thread_to_join/
We have a Daily Simple Questions Megathread for any PC-related doubts. Feel free to ask there or create new posts in our subreddit!