The amount of mental gymnastics to come up with (and justify) this is insane

Claim: you don't need a Microsoft account to run windows. Here's how.

Step 1: set up a Microsoft account.

Finally, some sense.

Just make a burner first-born for the initial sacrifice pledge & then make other local children as you please.

The only thing you need a Microsoft account for is to play Minecraft. And use other Microsoft products and services that Microsoft keeps pushing their terrible account system on.

You can actually download and play minecraft without a Microsoft account in multiple ways.
- You can. It is in fact possible to play Minecraft without any code from Microsoft, as there are alternative implementations for both the frontend and the server. You can't play on regular servers that way, though.

With Windows 10 eol coming up, I installed Bazzite on my buddies computer. All he uses it for is games, browser and editing the occasional document. The transition has been really seemless so far, and he is not technologically adept in the slightest.

For those who do want to continue to use Windows 10 after EOL, 0patch is providing post-EOL security updates.
Linux is really mature nowadays. I spent like five hours getting my NIC to work back in 2006 on my laptop. Now, it all seems to work pretty seamlessly. For people who just want to use a basic GUI and press “install” buttons, I think it’s perfectly fine.
- It's even simpler than I stalling windows.

Dave is amazing, and his content on YouTube is very entertaining. This is a pragmatic answer for those who want or need Windows in some capacity, and then want to go on a use local accounts. Have some decency and recognize good advice when you see it.

It's useful information for those who need it, but the way it is presented sounds delusional and contradictory.
He says you don't need a Microsoft account, but goes on to explain actually you do need a Microsoft account.
It just sounds like pure cope.
For some people even needing a burner account is absolutely off the table and in no way a solution, and the fact of the matter is that an account is now required.
Content creator who got massive recognition for Windows and used to work for Microsoft
looks inside
Windows
I swear the people in this sub behave like Christian missionaries
It only really works if you maintain access to a burner account, which might be difficult in the long term.
yeah.

Idk about you guys but I got sick of using an os that obviously doesn't want me to use it.

Ima start making charcoal wood, gathering mesquite as I wander about the southwestern part of our country for the rest of eternity.

Linux install: maybe 10 or 15 minutes tops from booting USB to desktop access, login is local, network connection is optional.

I installed Linux on a friend's old laptop in an attempt to wring a few more years out of it, and they told me that they were surprised at how easy to use it was. I think most people just struggle with feeling intimidated. There is a bit of a learning curve, but the main obstacle is getting over that initial inertia
Just set up a windows spits rig for a family member because old. My god the insanity of it all. From untoggling shit to stop ms spits from spying and toggling other shit to stop ms spits from spying, and dealing with uefi settings to get it to a level of security without allowing ms spits to lock it down cost me a full day.
Then I had to deal with the ridiculousness that is their permission system to let them browse their own files from a different hard drive.
I love that it also sets up the first user as a full admin and I had to create another account and lock down all the stupid crap that would allow them to destroy everything.
Just the initial booting was longer than it would have taken me to install and fully set up the mint distro I had ready to install on my USB stick (for the use case they'd be using)
I was going to set up a server so they could access stuff and watch free stuff on their TV with the old PC, but that will have to wait for another visit.
Even I was astounded at the length of time it took. I was expecting stupidity but ms spits has taken it way too far.
(I did install without any account at all though, and did manage to get full GUI desktop environment Ubuntu running in wsl though, so that was fun - for me)

You don't even need Microsoft burner account

Rufus takes care of it for you and sets up the usb image to bypass.
Unfortunately, 2025 was not the year of Linux for my new HTPC due to some weird EDID incompatibilities between my LG and the Intel arc iGPU on several different distro. Refused to allow for 1440p outside of 120hz and refused to go above 60hz at 4k.
yup oobe/bypassnro
- You don’t even need that anymore. I just spun up and bunch of VMs and all you need is a domain join. It doesn’t prompt for anything anymore.
It's only if you have a specific version if I recall that you actually need one

Can't tell if he's joking considering all of his videos as a former MSFT engineer.

Then again, he is a former MSFT engineer lol.

All you have to do is a domain join now. No skipping the OOBE via command line, etc.

He's a former Microsoft engineer for those who don't know

Since everyone is dogging on Dave for his MacOS comment - I doubt he even realized MacOS has a "skip" option for the Apple ID.

Weird hill to die on, guys.

That's not what the expression "Hill to die on" means...
- That's what she said.
- Ok.
  Weird thing to obsess over.

David Plumber is a former Windows engineer, and has a YouTube channel where he shares stories about his time at Microsoft.

Of course he has positive Windows opinions, and of course he yaps about it like he’s an expert: because he is

His "expert" opinion is quite dated
- I watch his videos from time to time, he stays quite up to date when it comes to the underpinnings of modern software engineering. Mind you, just because he retired doesn't mean he stopped tinkering and building. By all accounts he is still poking around in a number of projects and contributes his fair share of expertise. I'm not a fan of him not outright calling out Microsoft for their bullshit, but I do respect the sheer amount of expertise he brings to the table. Calling him out of date, particularly with the level of understanding needed to make something like a task manager, doesn't seem fair.
- He wrote task manager. I trust him.
- Really? It seems pretty up to date since he's talking about something that happened in the last year or so.
- He also loves pretending he developed every single Windows dialogue box, tool, application, default software and interface element, when the truth is more like:
  He says quite the opposite. He's pretty open about what he was involved with and how long it's been since he's worked for MS. I've watched quite a few of his videos. He's not what you claim.

It's not an awful take to say something like "Hey, you can get around this requirement by creating a burner account, then creating local accounts". His wording is a bit off but he's an odd guy, who also used to scam people, so this isn't that bad in the grand scheme. He's also heavily biased to windows.

On the topic of the account, I moved to Linux and I threw an LTSC build of Windows 10 on another nvme drive so I could play a couple games that use anti cheat. I figure by the time that's no longer supported developers will just accept Linux in their games or i won't care anymore.

One bummer about 'burner accounts' in 2025 is it seems to be increasingly difficult to have a true anonymous burner account that doesn't involve someone getting your PII. A few short years ago you could just get a disposable email address from a bunch of places and use it to sign up, but now everything seems to be super locked down to where you either need an existing email address or a phone number to create an email account, both of which tend to have ways of being tied back to you.
I don't know if there's even any email services left that will just give you an account no questions asked, but I'll bet if there are they'll already be rejected as invalid by the big players.
How did he scam people?
<citation needed>
- https://youtu.be/1GeF9AjlqP8
- https://lemmy.ca/comment/19382367
  I'm guessing this is what they're referring to?

You can open the powershell during install to get around the Microsoft id, and make a local user.

They are removing it.
- Are they also removing the Rufus method?
  No idea how that works.

*so far

Until they alter the deal, again

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Plummer

David William Plummer (born August 9, 1968) is a Canadian-American programmer and entrepreneur. He created the Task Manager for Windows, the Space Cadet Pinball ports to Windows NT, Zip file support for Windows, HyperCache[2] for the Amiga and many other software products.

2025: The guy that wrote Windows' Task Manager at Microsoft is creating burner accounts to get the OS installed.

I've been doing that whenever I had to do a Windows installation in recent years. But I don't plan to ever install Windows again.
Would you really believe any of that?
- He has been making Youtube videos for years, if he was a fraud, which you imply, someone would have found evidence of it
- Wait, believe what?
  I promise real humans made Windows. Like, a lot of them. It's not that weird.
  But beyond that, trust me, that is this guy's entire personality. I believe he uses his Microsoft access card with his picture as an image in thumbnails often. Which I'm now realizing I've judged him for when it's probably in response to getting this type of reaction a bunch.
- He has made this video with Dave Cutler. I strongly doubt there would be any reason for Cutler to give an MS PirateSoftware any free endorsement.
  https://youtu.be/xi1Lq79mLeE
- Why wouldn't you?
  What do you believe the existence of a dormant Microsoft account does on your device?
- You're gonna need to be more specific

Yeah but the demographic that will do this is like infinitesimally small. It’s fine, techies always know how to stick it to the man, but they succeed with most people so they get what they want. Not a dispute just a comment.

You don't need an account on Windows either (just pirate the pro version)

Dave Plummer is the same guy who thinks Linux is a disease

Dave Plummer is the same guy who thinks Linux is a disease
I guess, maybe in the way that a vaccine is a disease.
You also don't need a Microsoft account on a legal copy, as long as you're willing to use the command line
Does he dislike Linux?
- I'd not heard about this before. Admittedly I only knew him from his cute anecdotes about early Windows development. Did a cursory search and I found this thread on Reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/rb2xzk/dave_plummer_aka_daves_garage_former_microsoft/
  There's a pretty interesting comment by a user called Kefim_Wod, I'll quote it here so you don't have to visit that shitty site unless you want to.
  TL;DR I don't trust what that guy says anyway.
  I really enjoyed his youtube channel until I found out about the business practices of his earlier company SoftwareOnline.com, Inc.
  His company was sued by the Washington State Attorney General's office in 2006.
  https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/attorney-general-s-office-sues-settles-washington-based-softwareonlinecom
  Here is an excerpt:
  The defendants agreed to pay $400,000 in civil penalties, with $250,000 suspended on condition of compliance with all terms in the settlement. They must also refund consumers who have filed complaints and pay $40,000 in attorneys’ costs and fees. The settlement terms prohibit the defendants from engaging in the following practices:
  Inducing computer users to install software by misrepresenting that the user's computer is at risk for crashes or privacy and security invasions.
  Marketing its InternetShield software by means of a “free scan.”
  Using “buttons” in its advertisements that do not function as the user would expect them. For example, the X found in the corner of a window is normally associated with closing the window and should not open another ad.
  Installing software on a user’s computer that causes multiple pop-up advertisements when the user tries to close out of advertisements.
  Failing to provide a functional uninstall option for removing all software files.
  Failing to obtain a consumer’s explicit consent to purchase a product or a service.
  Direct links to associated court documents: SoftwareOnline.com Complaint
  SoftwareOnline.com Stipulated Judgment & Order
  You can also find them at the bottom of the webpage I linked earlier.
  Here is an article from 2009 that mentions it.
  He greatly downplayed these events in his book but I'm taking his word with a grain of salt.
  I freely admit that I developed a bias towards him after realizing he is a multimillionaire. Learning about that in combination with the information I detailed above really soured my perception of David.
  I have the belief that more often than not very wealthy people are wealthy because they have taken advantage of other people to obtain that wealth.
  I wanted to give David the benefit of the doubt because I really enjoyed watching his youtube channel but one google rabbit hole later and I felt like my belief was reaffirmed.
  Also, the post includes this image, which... I mean it's certainly a take.
  He seems like a M$ grifter. Big shocker.
@possiblylinux127 @pastermil in my life, I literally saw everything and am seeing more & will see more & more because of dumb people & non-techies who installed pirated versions of winlol, for example, ones without support for UWA meaning many software that depend on that feature but have essential functionnalities and a winlol version that accidently cannot delete anything, & more, so I advise you to stop recommending this to people
- Never ran a copy of Windows at home was wasn't pirated. What the fuck are you on about?
  So, how long have you been in the IT field? I got 20-years, started programming in the 80s as a kid. Oh? You're a child? I can tell be your so fine prose.

Microsoft will continue to eliminate workarounds. Copilot needs your data for training purposes. Snapshot, Onedrive, mandatory accounts, are all ways of forcing users to give up their data.

I personally think the workarounds are an intentional strategy to drip feed the "power users" and make them stop complaining/switching away. it also probably works to make them feel smart.
like do you seriously fucking believe ms would unintentionally leave oobe\bypassnro as a command you can type?? this is some Hollywood hacking type shit

I don't know who needs to hear this, but you don't need to smell shit while eating it.

You do need to get it down your throat, but you can just keep your nose pinched with your fingers, same as MacOS.

After that, throw up as much as you like. It's what I do. Total calories delta: 100 kcal

wild kink but I don't judge
much
This comment is missing the word "Linux"
- Doesn't he think Linux is bad or a disease or something.

Total time delta 🐱

Seriously. I, too, was wondering what rivers had to do with this lol.

Funny that this comes from a Windows dev.

Well, yeah, he's a dev and an end user, and not the one calling the shots.
Dave's trying to justify their work.
- I can assure you his intent was not to justify but rather to clear up a myth and help people
  He has never outright said “modern Windows sucks” but he has indirectly alluded to that being his opinion many times, e.g. in one livestream where he was setting up Windows 11, he opened up Task Manager and said “wow, there’s thousands of open handles when Windows is just idling and the user isn’t running anything… huh…”
  He is of the opinion that Windows 11 is trying to force people to throw away perfectly good machines because of the stupid TPM requirement, as you can tell by his videos from a few months ago
  He has also revealed multiple times that he daily drives macOS and only uses Windows (in a VM) when absolutely necessary
- Is Dave Dangerous?

apple is sorta the opposite. you stop using their hardware and you can't really use your account anymore or at least recover it.

Well, is it really an account if you never login to it? (or if you even delete it once you make a local admin account?)

You actually don’t need to setup an Apple ID to startup a Mac.

Yep, kinda funny how even Apple is more lenient in this way. The only downside is that you can’t install stuff from the App Store but that’s basically a non issue.
Maybe the idiot meant iOS?
- They don’t make it very obvious but you can skip Apple ID sign-in during the iOS setup assistant too (unless they changed that in iOS 26)
  Source: worked Apple support for years until recently
- You don’t need an Apple ID to setup an iPhone either.

3 what

- Understandable. Have a nice day.
- D'oh, why can't I have no kids, and 3
- I dunno, I don't think he meant "three."
  The :3 emoticon sometimes means "a dog" (if the eyes are on top), and sometimes means "a guy wearing a chef's hat" (if the eyes are on the bottom).
  So, time delta :3 could mean "the time you'd rather spend playing with a dog," or it could mean "the time it takes to make a nice meal." It's more than three either way. And not worth installing Windows when you could use that time petting a dog.
3 minutes. Clicking the ‘show more’ button before taking a screenshot was too hard for op apparently.
- This pisses me off. If the text ends with "minutes", "minutes" is shorter than "show more" and thus the interface should have just shown the fucking remaining text instead.
- Amazing :3
3 time
decades wasted on windows
- I'd say that's an undercount but 1995 seems a reasonable start date.
3 units.

Does that read as justifying it? It sure seems like he's providing a workaround, same as all the people who used to point at the simple shortcut to work around the requirement when that worked smoothly.

I mean, I, for one, hadn't thought about it. It's not a terrible way to go about it. Doesn't help me, I need a MS account to do Office stuff so I may as well, but if you're really hung up on this and can't avoid Windows it's a decend solution.

"same as MacOS" is clearly trying to make excuses.
- It’s also wrong. MacOS allows you to go through setup with a local account and doesn’t force you to connect to the internet either
- I mean... is it? I'll take everybody's word for it that he is incorrect, since I'm not a Mac OS user, but while it certainly makes it sound that Win11 is doing something common he's still providing a workaround for that thing. He can simultaneously be going "it's not that uncommon" and "but also, here's how to work around the problem" in the same post.
I can't count the times some Linux fanboy has mischaracterized a post to shit on the average Windows user just trying to get by.
I get liking Linux, and I do, but come the fuck on, people.

Yeah I was about to say “since when” about MacOS, good thing you added the note. Windows is objectively just more data hungry than MacOS. The fact that you need to sign in to use the default calendar says it all on Windows

Can confirm. Been using it without an account for several years. It still infuriates me that they ignore default app settings in favor of their own shitty unremovable apps.
- I have seen someone change default apps on Win11 recently. I'm a Linux user tho, but if I rememer correctly, it was in the Settings app, which is a bit confusing, because there is also a Control Panel app and both change mostly different settings.

I like Dave's channels and content. But God I hope he doesn't start trying to wade into these sorts of debates with "hot takes". Nothing positive will come of publicly taking a side on this issue on Twitter/Bluesky for him.

It's not even a hot take. It's just another way to get around MS bullshit.

https://schneegans.de/windows/unattend-generator/

I’m sure rufus will also still remove requirements

At this point it's much easier to just pirate Windows 11 Enterprise with massgrave.dev. But then again, you could also just install any Windows 10 version and sneakily activate ESU without an account. But at that point, it is even easier nowadays to just install Linux.

So this is how MS weaponize autism....

So, first of all, I'm not sure everyone here knows who Dave Plummer is nor that he's fairly open about his being autistic.
(For those that don't know, he's the guy mostly responsible for the classic Windows Task Manager and a whole bunch of other things that appeared in Windows back in the day. His YouTube videos are an interesting watch every now and again.)
Second, folks are going to find this to be in bad taste whether they know he's autistic or not.

Don't you need a phone number to create an account?

No, I'm farming bing rewards with fake searches to convert that in groceries gift cards (a random bing search made with a Microsoft edge user agent gives you €0.003 and the sponsored ones give €0.012) so I have a dozen Microsoft accounts. They only ask the phone number when you redeem the bing points, not when signing up, and one time I got an a/b test where I could avoid giving my phone number (number must be unique and not used in another Microsoft account, unfortunately) if I agreed to install the bing app malware on a smartphone
- And then you can just get a burner SIM. I was able to activate Giffgaff (UK), Lifecell (UA) and T-Mobile (CZ) SIM cards abroad, and none of those need ID. Although I don't know if it does apply country restrictions to those as well.

Isn't the second sentence incorrect? You can force local account creation by running oobebypassnro to bypass the internet connection requirement which lets you create a local account instead. And at least on the Pro(?) version it can be bypassed by choosing the Domain account option even if the PC won't be joined to any domain. It just creates a local account. I have to deal with Win 11 installations as part of my job and this is the way I've been doing it.

All this is not to defend M$' attempt to force this bullshit on the users. I'm a Linux user and steer clear of M$ products whenever and wherever I can. Just wanted to point out an M$ account isn't necessary to setup Win 11. (Unless these workarounds are only possible in the Pro version?)

oobe\bypassnro was disabled in Windows 10 by an update 2-3 years ago, it doesn't work in Windows 11 at all.
- What the other person said. But I gotta say it's a bit weird to reply to me that something doesn't work when I've been doing it that way in present day on present OS.
- I installed Windows 11 Pro 24H2 yesterday and the oobebypassnro trick worked for me. You just have to make sure no ethernet cable is connected. Then if you tell the installer you have no internet, it'll let you create a local account.

The important shit just works. Linux desktop is still a mess.

sigh...ok I'll take one for the team and eat the bait
which Linux desktop?
- Most of them will have their issues. I've gone through Debian and Ubuntu over the years, both gnome and kde. Latest is bazzite gnome with deck os.
  Issues: no HDMI sound detected. Needed to find and specify a device idwhich has periodically changed on update.
  Had to configure both deck mode and gnome to use my display. Wouldn't default to an HDMI device and in deck you can't configure it outside of .confs
  In both gnome and deck mode if the monitor is turned off, it can't be detected when you turn it on. I need to physically unplug my HDMI cable. I'm sure this is doing wonderful things to my GPU.
  Bluetooth, basically unusable. Getting devices paired is hit or miss and connected devices have periodic latency of over a second.
  I cannot play some games in 4k on deck mode. I assume I have to create a new display conf but haven't gotten around to it. 4k works fine in gnome. I'm missing HDR on gnome though, and no vrr anywhere.
  I'm running standard hardware. A 3080, 12700k, and my MSI 590 tomahawk is a GN recommended buy for a mid range mother board.

Why are people like this? If you didn't like what a company is doing, didn't use their products.

Because the network effect makes it so we all are forced to use this shit at work.
- That's not the network effect though. It's a top down decision. If the higher-ups decide you're switching to Hannah Montana OS, you're all switching to it, regardless of what people outside the company is using.
Because Linux support depends on more people using it. So we have to blow up outrage and make more people mad enough to switch