Windows 10 Users Fume: Microsoft, Where's Our 'Local Account' Option Gone? (zdnet.com) 217
New submitter xack shares a report: Microsoft has annoyed some of its
900 million Windows 10 device users after apparently removing the 'Use offline account' as part of its effort to herd users towards its cloud-based Microsoft Account. The offline local account is specific to one device, while the Microsoft Account can be used to log in to multiple devices and comes with the benefit of Microsoft's recent work on passwordless authentication with Windows Hello. The local account doesn't require an internet connection or an email address -- just a username and password that are stored on the PC. But Windows 10 users are annoyed that Microsoft has hidden the local account option when setting up a new PC or reinstalling Windows 10. A user on a popular Reddit thread notes that the local account option is now invisible if the device is connected to the internet. "Either run the setup without being connected to the internet, or type in a fake phone number a few times and it will give you the prompt to create a local account," Froggyowns suggested as a solution.
Not annoyed enough yet.. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Not as annoyed as not getting paid. My paycheck requires that I use certain applications. They are not available on other platforms.
Re:Not annoyed enough yet.. (Score:5, Funny)
But this lets you share your login with your Zune!
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Don't ask. The only way to get the answer is to have it squirted to you.
At this point it's not "your computer". (Score:5, Insightful)
If you don't control the root account, it's not even "your" computer anymore.
You're just borrowing Microsoft's computer (that you paid for, just to donate to them).
Re:At this point it's not "your computer". (Score:5, Informative)
You only have permission (a license) to use the software. You own none if it.
So I hear...
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but that license is irrevocable, signed by General DeGaulle himself!
Re:At this point it's not "your computer". (Score:4, Insightful)
There is now precedent that I'm purchasing the movie, and not licensing it.
Re:At this point it's not "your computer". (Score:4, Interesting)
Having just gone through the process of updating Windows 10 (1803 to 1903) on various household computers, and attempting to lockdown the O/S from spontaneous updates, it seems to me that Microsoft very much views what you consider YOUR computer to be THEIR computer. You may have paid for the hardware, but they are coopting your ability to choose how to maintain the software O/S that runs on the hardware, and (if they eliminate the local account option) even your ability to control how you control access to it.
MS screws with how you can or can't block updates, and what your controls are depends on what exact MS Windows 10 license you have. Imagine my surprise to think I had locked updates down (again) only to find Microsoft SILENTLY installing updates (visible only in the system log). I've read tortured articles written by the folks at Microsoft will with all kinds of drivel about update models etc. wherein they appear to think that they are anointed by god to determine for everyone else just how to keep an O/S up to date. I long for the good old days where the O/S vendor a) supplied the O/S, b) supplied updates to the O/S, and waited for you to apply (b) to (a) when you were good and ready to do so.
Say what you will about Apple, but at least Apple's system update process for MacOS is to a) offer the updates, and b) only install the offered updates when you choose to do so. Between the two, when considering only my control over the code that the OS is executing, Apple is my pick. Obviously other factors are important too, or else I wouldn't have a handful of household Windows 10 machines to care for.
Re:At this point it's not "your computer". (Score:4, Insightful)
Having just gone through the process of updating Windows 10 (1803 to 1903) on various household computers, and attempting to lockdown the O/S from spontaneous updates, it seems to me that Microsoft very much views what you consider YOUR computer to be THEIR computer.
No it is their software, it will be a pretty enlightening moment for you when you install Linux on those computers and find that it is your computer and you were simply running somebody elses software.
MS screws with how you can or can't block updates, and what your controls are depends on what exact MS Windows 10 license you have. Imagine my surprise to think I had locked updates down (again) only to find Microsoft SILENTLY installing updates (visible only in the system log).
Yes because people were always complaining about the security vulnerabilities in the OS so different Windows XP machines for instance had different levels of security depending on which updates the user was installing. I'm not ideologically averse to Windows but I only use it on my gaming PC which is probably why I don't see many issues, I'm sure the kinks in the process will be ironed out over time but Windows isn't really geared toward home users anymore. It's for corporate/education environments where an IT department manages the systems.
If you want control then use Linux (or macOS) and dual-boot into Windows just for the occasional program that you need.
Re:Not annoyed enough yet.. (Score:5, Informative)
Sometimes, it's mandatory that you use it. Some schools require you to use some software that only has a Windows version...
But I do agree. I got so annoyed of Wincrap that I switched to CentOS and never turned back. I use the Windows laptop provided by my employer, but for all my personal needs, I use the Linux desktop, and it's serving me very well. No cloud account needed.
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I work in a school, and it's actually worse than that. A lot of the course materials are specifically written for certain applications - naturally, only when those applications are the dominant ones in the field. Which means Adobe suite and Microsoft office. You can try to use something else, but then all the textbooks will direct your students to click on things that aren't there.
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Yep. I recently went back to school, and their exam software is Windows/Mac only, and will NOT run in a VM. My laptop is Linux.
Tnank the FSM that I was able to borrow my daughter's old 2010 MBP to take my midterms.
Re:Not annoyed enough yet.. (Score:4, Insightful)
When Linux can run all of my games, I'll switch.
Until then, I'm stuck.
Re:Not annoyed enough yet.. (Score:4, Informative)
When Linux can run all of my games, I'll switch.
Until then, I'm stuck.
I am not saying you will be this lucky. But it might be worth checking. I found that the games I want to play at the moment are all available for Linux from Steam, or run well enough under Wine.
I admit my gaming requirements are rather low end, so your mileage mar vary.
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Have people really only just noticed this though?
You had to use the "unplug your ethernet cable" trick on Windows 8 to get the offline account option to appear. When I tested out Windows 10 I found it was the same.
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Nah it was difficult to find but the option was still there even while connected on windows 8.
Now it's just outright gone unless you disconnect it from the net.
The xbox one got treated way worse with a web login required just to setup the device but it seems they are moving windows in that direction.
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You WILL Obey! (Score:3)
or face extermination.
Microsoft seem to have gone all Dalek on us.
They clearly forget that many computer users work for weeks if not months off-line. For them doing everything local is essential. If they take this away then they will have had YAFM (yet another footgun moment).
Re:You WILL Obey! (Score:5, Insightful)
The microsoft account also lets them coordinate and aggregate data and behavior across multiple devices so extra security and privacy problems come built in. Also it is a PITA leaving your local personal device login with the password complexity requirements of their online service that has to withstand xbox hackers. Anyone with half a brain has a credential manager and a randomly generated password for this type of online account, it isn't something you want to punch in manually every single time your device is idle for a couple minutes.
I hate cloud (Score:5, Insightful)
I hate cloud-based services.
They assume you're always connected to the internet, which is not always the case.
The whole reason I have a laptop is that I'm not always connected.
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Ditto. They also send data to third party cloud providers which is never okay. I think I'll manage my own data thank you very much. If I ever let someone have it then I want to be the one who profits from selling me out, not them.
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to third party cloud providers
Not as bad as the first party cloud providers.
It doesn't really matter much at all if Facebook or Microsoft or Google leak your information to random third parties. Those groups are far less of a privacy invasion than the first parties themselves. What's the worst the third party will do - send some spam that a spam filter will block anyway. But Microsoft, Facebook and Google have the resources to invade your privacy for the rest of your life.
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first party cloud providers? Google, Facebook, and Microsoft ARE third parties. In this context the first party is the user the second is the device/and or whoever I'm actually interacting with using the device, an external company like the ones mentioned above is a third party.
Re:I hate cloud (Score:5, Funny)
Me too, but it's still my preferred way of getting water delivered locally.
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I personally prefer Piping and Tap-based delivery of water; this provides convenient access from my Kitchen sink, Toilets, etc.
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Good thing then, that you can use your Windows 10 PC indefinitely without being connected to the internet.
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> The whole reason I have a laptop is that I'm not always connected.
Really? You should really switch ISPs then.
Say, if you tried going outside your mother's basement some time, maybe you'd find out that not every place in the world is connected to your ISP.
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Lighten up Francis, it was a joke predicated on the upstream poster's poor choice of words.
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Your joke was only funny in your mom's basement
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> The whole reason I have a laptop is that I'm not always connected.
Really? You should really switch ISPs then. Also, that's kind of weird. Most people have a laptop because they want their machine to be portable, not because they have a crap ISP that keeps kicking out on them. But different strokes I suppose.
Since laptops are portable, they go places where my wired home network does not. This could be places away from human structures to relax, or places in other human structures that either don't have free wifi, or unencrypted wifi which I refuse to use.
Re:I hate cloud (Score:5, Informative)
don't have free wifi, or unencrypted wifi which I refuse to use.
So you *would* use otherwise unknown free wifi so long as it is 'encrypted'?
If you don't have any trust relationship with the provider of the wifi, then the encryption means nothing at all. If it is a cofee shop that has encryption enabled and the password on a sign at the counter, then you have no way of even being sure that you are talking to *that* establishment's access point(s) as opposed to some other nearby access point using the same SSID and password.
The encryption is on your computer (Score:2)
If you don't have any trust relationship with the provider of the wifi, then the encryption means nothing at all.
The encryption is on your computer not their link, ex VPN.
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Then that would be in place regardless of your cofee shop enabling WPA or not, which is what the parent poster was talking about.
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If you don't have any trust relationship with the provider of the wifi, then the encryption means nothing at all.
False. Unless the person providing the Wifi is doing something deliberately nefarious --- then it is pretty safe if encrypted, or to say, it at least matters that access is passworded and the WPA3 security protocol doesn't allow one wireless client to see another client's traffic. If the wireless is unsecured non-WPA, then any Tom, Dick, or Harry, within possible wireless range can do a L
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then it is pretty safe if encrypted, or to say, it at least matters that access is passworded and the WPA3 security protocol doesn't allow one wireless client to see another client's traffic.
This is of course assuming you connected to the AP that you *expected* to. An attacker in a cofee shop with a well-known WPA password in place can just set up their own AP with same SSID and password. Shared knowledge of the password is the only mechanism you have of knowing that the AP you connected is the one that you should 'trust'. Enterprise WPA of course adds more strong assurance that the AP is what you should expect it to be.
Anyways.... So long as all your applications and network connections, and any URL you are accessing are TLS/HTTPS Only and you don't ignore any certificate warnings: then its not really that big an issue whether you "Trust" the local provider or not.
This is of course the end game, where lax security of the nearest link i
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"Just be sure your Laptop is running linux with no incoming connections allowed in IPTables, or if you do Insist on running Windows, then do make sure the Windows Firewall is fully enabled without any exceptions turned on for incoming connections."
And check EVERY DAY that it is still set this way since Microsoft believes that every one of their Piece-of-Shit crapwares need to be able to accept unsolicited incoming connections, when in fact they do not. So turn off incoming connections to the "Calculator",
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Wi-fi encryption is almost ENTIRELY about access control and denial of service to users without authorization to use a network. Any actual privacy or integrity protection it might provide is purely frosting on the cake. If you're transmitting data that actually NEEDS protection from tampering or disclosure while in transit (and is not itself in encrypted form), you MUST use something like TLS.
When it works properly, wi-fi encryption is equivalent to preventing unauthorized people from plugging their devices
Re:I hate cloud (Score:4, Interesting)
Being tethered to an ISP would defeat the whole point. You get a laptop so you can LEAVE HOME and still do computing work such as editing documents on the road -- that includes while traveling in an airplane at 38,000 feet, and probably no internet is available, or if so, then its Satellite and really expensive.
can't join captive portal wifi at login screen as (Score:2)
can't join captive portal wifi at login screen as well!
Not gone, just hidden (Score:2)
Or perhaps the one I just set up was not quite up to date. They did hide it thoroughly, though. You have to choose "set up new account," then you get the option to use an offline account.
They really don't want you to use an account they can't monitor and data mine for advertising data.
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Put it behind a proxy.. Windows 10 here hasn't seen internet in over 2 years... so much so, it says I don't even have an activated copy.
Solution: STOP using Micro-shit (Score:5, Insightful)
You have no one else to blame at this point. Us geeks having been complaining about Microshaft's hostile behavior *for years.*
If they can't respect your time, money, space, or privacy WHY do you expect ANYTHING different from M$ ???
You only have yourself to blame.
Re:Solution: STOP using Micro-shit (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is we no longer own anything, but just buy services.
This is a bad thing.
Back in the old days, you can buy books, movies (on VHS or DVD...), software in boxes, hardware... When you are no longer wanting them, or you really need money you can sell them. You can't sell a Netflix show that you don't care to watch anymore, you can't sell a book on your eReader that you never finished, and don't care too.
We complain on how menials are not doing enough to save up money to expand their economic outcomes, but we are reducing things of value (in non-liquid form) that we can freely give up and sell for value. Even the act of giving something away that you don't need, means someone else can get it, obtain value from it. (Say giving a college student a copy of Office 2010, while you have bought Office 2016) where the student doesn't need to find money to buy something that works enough for his needs.
We are servicing our economy into ruin, not from any stupid political stance. But because we are owning less, that we can sell. And our wealth is becoming tied strictly to our salaries (Or money for our services rendered to an other organization).
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It's all a new 'improved' version of the rent trap. As soon as you stop paying, it goes away with no value accrued to you. Just POOF!
Software is the worst though. If a movie goes POOF, I can watch something else or find something else to do. If software goes POOF, all of MY work done in that software goes POOF with it. I still have the files, but I can't even look at them without paying somebody else.
Re:Solution: STOP using Micro-shit (Score:4, Insightful)
This goes beyond the free/non-free divide. There is a fundamental attempt to change the deal for non-free software. For example, as long as you made actual effort to preserve the install media, there's no legal reason you couldn't fire up the old WordStar from 1989 and read all your old files just fine. It was not Free Software, but at least they didn't require you to keep paying forever and leave you no way to just stick with what you already paid for.
As for free software, you act as if each and every user must develop the software from scratch. I use FreeCAD, but I didn't have to write it myself. Yes, if I wanted a particular feature not already there, I would have to develop it or pay someone to develop it. As opposed to a proprietary program where I don't even have that as an option no matter how much it might be worth to me.
But as a user, if it is adequate to my needs, I can be sure that the design I create today will still be readable 10 years from now and nobody will hold their hand out and ask "how much is it worth to you?".
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" Even the act of giving something away that you don't need, means someone else can get it, obtain value from it. (Say giving a college student a copy of Office 2010, while you have bought Office 2016) where the student doesn't need to find money to buy something that works enough for his needs."
You can buy an Office 2016/2019 Professional Plus license at the Microsoft Tax rate, which is about CDN $23 (US $15), quite easily from many sources. Are you saying that "the student" cannot give up one extra-thin-
Re:Solution: STOP using Micro-shit (Score:5, Insightful)
They still have the desktop monopoly and out of the box hardware support. That is pretty much the only reason.
I've been a professional Linux guy of some flavor since the early 00's and even for me running a Linux desktop is painful. It's all about the edges and a lot of revolves around the way x works. My wife wanted a fancy keyboard with lit keys and macro support. No problem except it required a bunch of additional effort to make it work and a bribe to a developer for additional features to get the functionality she wanted added to the software. The most common USB docks all unsupported and had issues. Who uses a laptop without a dock? Yes, I got them to work more or less but every couple months or so there would be a crash or glitch that forced a reboot some extra effort from me to get the displays set up correctly again and the keyboard lighting profile was lost on every reboot. Oh and do you think the nvidia graphics driver recognized the displays connected via the usb dock? Nope, sure didn't.
Everyone seems obsessed with features but the only thing we really want out of a windowing system is to spend zero effort configuring it, as we pipe it through docks and dynamically changed multiple internal and external screen configurations, etc and generally have it get the hell out of the way so I don't think about it. If I unplug from the dock and walk over to a project or tv and plug in the HDMI there shouldn't even be anything to do, it should just plug n play and when it back in the dock it should revert just as seamlessly.
I don't want everything at a "can work with linux" or despite not being supported I can "make it work", at this point linux is the most widely deployed OS across the board so things should "just work" and yet it simply isn't there. Microsoft is the devil but by and large windows does "just work" on the desktop.
Solution given in summary (Score:3)
Microsoft did not take away anything. They just obscured the option. Its still there apparently.
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Because there is no alternative.
OSX is shit. Linux on the Desktop is shit. They're just all shit in different ways.
Now if you have an OS that works for you then that is great for you. However, you were lucky. A lot of haven't found anything that works better for them than Windows, no matter how relative that may be.
Linux is awesome, if you can find the actual software you need that is fully compatible with Linux. Too often I run into one key piece of software I can't do without and end up slinking back to MS...
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Complain about OSX and Linux all you like. I'll even grant you neither of them are especially good user experiences. However compared to Windows they are 1000% more useable than Windows 8 - 10; if you are working under any conditions of than always connected high speed internet!
Windows is literally always downloading something or trying to install some update or uploading some telemetry and bogging everything down; or doing some other premature optimization of some kind ALWAYS unless you go out of your way
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For Linux to be a viable alternative to Windows, it will need to have an API and code base as stable as Windows,
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Well that much is true; When it comes to backward compatibility Windows remains king of the hill.
I have never had Linux just break though. It was always because I was trying to update something or install something new etc; I can't say that about Windows. I have had plenty of Windows systems that are working fine one day and fall over because something is filling some log endless or making copies of somethig and not cleaning up etc.
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For Linux to be a viable alternative to Windows, it will need to have an API and code base as stable as Windows, Windows 10 even with all the mess they made can still run unchanged applications from 10, 15, 20 years ago.
I still run programs that I ran on Unix some 35 years ago. C programs: just recompile, shell scripts: just run them.
Re:Solution: STOP using Micro-shit (Score:4, Interesting)
This is patently false. It is quite easy to control when Windows "is downloading something" or "trying to install some update" or "uploading some telemetry". And there are a whole pile off "free" tools so that you can do this even with your el-cheapo home-loser version of Windows 10 using an idiot-proof click-and-poke interface (for those who like clicking and poking without understanding what they are actually doing). Disabling all the things you claim to not like about Windows is actually a rather trivial exercise. Keeping it that way, however, (unless you have implemented it via Group Policies) is another matter since Microsoft will change your settings to THEIR preference at every opportunity.
It took me several days of profiling after first using well known tools like ShutUp10 to get Windows 10 to actually stop. By stop I mean no unsolicited outgoing requests over a 5 day period.
The sheer number of changes to SCM, TaskManager, Group Policy, registry, firewall and hosts were staggering. Additional software utilities are required to impersonate TrustedInstaller user in order to gain sufficient access to even make many necessary key changes.
Literally hundreds of edits were required and this was all on Windows Pro which is considerably less hostile than home. Users can't even access the freaking policy editor in Windows Home.
No you do not. You merely need to set policies for how you want these things to behave, and as you have set those policies, is how it will behave. That you cannot afford the extra few dollars to get the Policy Editor on your el-cheapo Home-loser version of Windows (that is obviously running on an el-cheapo computer, since all non el-cheapo computers come with a real version of Windows) is on YOU.
I totally agree. All those poor home users deserve to be spied on and sabotaged by Microsoft. Now if you will excuse me I have to catch a flight to Stockholm.
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So what is your migration plan?
How much time and money are you going to waste putting up with MS's bullshit?
No one ever said taking your freedom back would be easy, only worth it.
You are part of the problem. If you don't value your freedom you don't deserve it.
Re:Solution: STOP using Micro-shit (Score:5, Insightful)
Migration plan? The guy just said he is a consultant. That means he follows the market on what's popular. If you switch your consulting services from "Insanely Popular Closed Source Industry Standard App" to "Virtual Unknown Open Source Equivalent That I Swear Will Sort-of Suffice", your customers and revenue stream will quickly dry up.
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For example, we are Autodesk product consultants. Our customers demand we use these products. Also, they want us to use the same platform they are
People WANT unreasonable or impossible stuff all the time. A customer in no way gets to decide on what platform their vendors' employees desktops run, however, as a desktop used by your vendor's employee is not a deliverable. -- the desktop computers are tools that might be involved in the production of deliverable, so a Virtual Machine would be a perfect wa
Phone number? (Score:3)
Wait... you have to give a phone number for... what, exactly? Will someone call you to ask you a question? Send you a pre-200-era SMS to authenticate some shit?
Does it just fucking assumes, in 2019, that everyone is still paying extortionist rates to a monopolistic cellphone carrier? Fuck that, idiots. If you want something to be accessible by everyone, use the internet and nothing else. No fucking voice, no fucking SMS, no fucking proprietary bullshit.
Re:Phone number? (Score:5, Funny)
a pre-200-era SMS
So is that SMS delivered on Papyrus or Parchment?
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... and the butterfly keyboard strikes again!
Thanks, Apple! NOT!
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Simple Messaging Swallow was a very popular transport protocol in Arthurian England, I'm given to understand.
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Umm, I think they're assuming that society at large considers a cell phone an indispensable need on the level of air and water and that essentially everyone has one. Or did I miss the memo and smartphones are now Last Generation's Tech and people are using something else as their adult pacifiers?
This is just plain wrong. (Score:2, Troll)
I've been installing Windows 10 on machines right back since day one. At no point have you been unable to create a local account instead of an online account. The choice has always been there, even if it wasn't tucked away in the corner.
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I've been installing Windows 10 on machines right back since day one. At no point have you been unable to create a local account instead of an online account. The choice has always been there, even if it wasn't tucked away in the corner.
I just tested this myself using latest version of Windows. See my post "First time for everything". There is a behavior difference between Pro and Home editions. Local account exits are missing entirely in home edition.
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I too have installed Windows 10 Home edition within the last 8 hours and believe it or not, I managed to set it up with a local account.
I'll do it again when I get back to work in 12 hours time and if anything's changed, I'll let you know.
Tracking (Score:3)
More like:
The offline local account is an anonymous account on one device, while the Microsoft Account can be used to track you across multiple devices.
On the same page (Score:2)
as the story is a link to a plea for Linux devs to help port Edge ...
Embrace
Extend
.
.
Profit!!
They are not, nor have they ever been, the good guys. Nor do they deserve the "benefit of the doubt". Fuck them.
Did they break SAM or just hide things? (Score:3)
So glad I'm using Ubuntu. I may have to dig through the Internet sometimes to figure out how to do something, but I don't have some obstructionist corporation slapping my hand away from it, telling me "No no, little end user! That's too powerful for you, only the adults at Microsoft should touch that!". Screw them.
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Yes, you can. The entire story is completely wrong.
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Can you still right-click on My Computer (or whatever it's called now; put the icon on your desktop), click Computer Management to get the management console, and create/manage accounts on the local machine that way?
No, Windows 10 home version does not allow account management via CM. It is in Settings, but local accounts are buried past three layers of "no, I don't want to use a cloud account". I was annoyed by this just two nights ago. Of course I could have gone the net user route, but they probably nerfed that too.
Undoing a positive moderation by posting non-anonymously because apparently: 'Slashdot only allows a user with your karma (Excellent) to post 10 times per day (more or less, depending on moderation)
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If I'm also not mistaken, can't account management be done through the CLI? Can you do that in the 'Home' versions, or did they lock you out of that, too? If you can someone ought to post the steps somewhere everyone who needs it can see it so they can work around all that bullshit easier.
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For now, yes - but based on Microsoft's past decisions regarding local accounts, including this one, it does seem plausible they intend to eliminate this option (at least in home edition) at some future date.
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Doesn't this sound like ... (Score:2)
... using a time-sharing service? Your account is over a connection to a remote system. Your applications reside on that remote system. I'm not seeing much of a difference between this and an old time-sharing service. Heck, Compuserve if you want to make it seem a little bit more modern.
So... what's old is new again. Except this service is (oooh!) "in the cloud".
Color me unimpressed and uninterested in having any of it. And completely unsympathetic to those who feel hoodwinked by this move.
Microsoft knows it can get away with it (Score:2)
Previous Release Update Trickery (Score:2)
One of the previous feature releases attempted to trick users into migrating their accounts, its been a while but iirc it would dump users on a create an account screen during the update and the way to get out was very counter-intuitive and clearly designed to discourage users.
The only reason to have a microsoft account is so microsoft can track you across multiple devices. Most users with multiple PCs have them for different reasons so the configuration of the devices will rarely be the same, and of course
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This whole thing smacks of "Hey, how can we get in on surveillance across multiple devices game that google pulls off?"
The advertising bubble cannot burst soon enough. All of this vile, deplorable behavior by these companies is completely dependent on ad-bux streaming in.
boundary / personal space issues (Score:3)
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FTC, lol... don't worry, I'm sure the EU will solve this, and you can as usual all benefit.
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No means no.
But this is Chad Microsoft. You know you really want it. So just roll over, bite the pillow and quit complaining.
Hilarious. (Score:2)
No computer in my home runs Windows 10. I am forced to use it for work, but that's neither here nor there - the problem in the end is my employer's, not mine. But where I have a choice, it's Windows 7 (or even Windows XP on one of my game machines).
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All Your Base.. (Score:2)
... are Belong to us!
You are on the path to destruction.
You have no chance to survive make your time.
Ha ha ha.
WIn10 Home can't use Office 365 login (Score:2)
First time for everything (Score:2)
I just installed win10 Pro 1903 on a VM with network access just for grins.
Two main account options presented during installation:
Setup for personal use:
We'll help you set it up with a personal Microsoft account. You'll have full control over this device.
When this option is selected there is a big old Microsoft account sign in shown. Then below and to the left 'Offline account' option in smaller yet respectable size which when followed prompts for creation of a local account.
Setup for an organization:
You'
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No different than Google and Apple (Score:2)
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So people are upset about being pushed to login with a Microsoft account to use Windows?
Yes.
I don't like it either, but it's pretty much what all the major tech players are doing these days.
What is the point or relevance of this statement?
Try setting up an Android phone without a G-Mail account and see how far you get.
I did just this less than a month ago with an off the shelf Lenovorola without root or ADB. In the sign-in screen you simply select skip.
Not only was an account not required there was no underhanded trickery baked into the UX.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't like it either, but it's pretty much what all the major tech players are doing these days.
What is the point or relevance of this statement?
It is a sentence I wrote. Sorry if you had trouble comprehending it.
Try setting up an Android phone without a G-Mail account and see how far you get.
I did just this less than a month ago with an off the shelf Lenovorola without root or ADB. In the sign-in screen you simply select skip.
Perhaps I should have been more explicit. When I say "setting up an Android phone", I mean taking the necessary steps to prepare it for practical use. This does not mean simply getting to the end of the initial setup prompts. It includes things such as installing whatever apps the user requires. Last time I tried, I did not see any way to install apps from Google Play without an account.
Counter to Win10 device Recovery options... (Score:4, Interesting)
My computer BSOD to death last week (after a driver update no less) and my only option was to Reset Windows. I was presented with two sub-options:
1) Save my files and re-install windows
2) Wipe drive and re-install windows.
Option 1 required... wait for it... a Local Admin account to exist !! I was supposed to login as a local admin in order to see the existing files, otherwise my only option was to wipe the disk and start over. Being attached to the domain nobody had thought to create a Local admin account so I was forced to wipe the disk and start over.
Activating the computer via my cloud AD account kept failing and my IT person said "just create a local account and I'll configure everything later" -- yet neither of us could find that option even after picking multiple choices and getting stuck in a loop. I gave it back to IT to figure it out.
The worst thing about online account (Score:2)
Samba + RasPi = Active Directory (Score:3)
It's been a while since I've been masochistic enough to dig into Active Directory at home, but couldn't you theoretically sidestep the whole problem by just running Linux on a Raspberry Pi with Samba configured as an Active Directory primary domain controller, then simply pretend you're setting up the computer for an enterprise network? At least, assuming it's running Windows 10 Pro/Enterprise/Ultimate?
Seriously. Anyone worthy of having geek cred HAS to have at least one server running Linux SOMEONE on their home network, even if it's just a humble RasPi.
[Confession: for me, using a 'home' edition of Windows would be like settling for an unrooted Android phone... so far beneath my dignity, I don't even KNOW what actual limits it imposes anymore.]
Re: (Score:3)
then simply pretend you're setting up the computer for an enterprise network?
The problem is Windows 10 Home editions. Something which a lot of power users have precisely because the only difference between that an Pro is the active directory connection, hyper-V, Bitlocker, and a boat load of other things that the overwhelming majority of users don't use or don't even understand.
for me, using a 'home' edition of Windows would be like settling for an unrooted Android phone... so far beneath my dignity
I used to have a rooted Android phone until I realised I literally did nothing on my phone which required root, other than waste my time rooting it for an infinite circle of pointless tinkering. I was right w