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Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

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Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#671

Post by mybackhurtsabit »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #645
portaouflop wrote: post #626

Pirate it and you will have a much better experience for free

and it comes with free malware! I gotta be honest man, I do not understand someone who pirates executable code. I (and I assume most of the hn audience) am not some starving student with nothing to lose. I would much rather run linux than pirate windows.

I assume you haven’t checked on this since the Windows 7 days, but Massgrave is open source, and the activation logic boils down to about five lines of PowerShell, using only native Windows utilities. I think they even have a tutorial on their website that explains how to perform the activation manually if you want to avoid running their scripts.

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#672

Post by daveguy »

I gave up trying to keep from using a microsoft account to login to Windows 11. Instead, I installed linux and created a Win 11 virtual machine. Fortunately, I only rarely boot the Windows VM. Now I have:

1. no more random reboots

2. fast updates

3. much lower idle cpu use

4. cleaner operation with fewer crashes

5. no ad garbage from the OS to worry about

6. much much faster linux environment (WSL2 is atrocious).

It was 600% worth switching. Caveat -- I used linux as a daily driver in the late 90s early 2000s, and went back to Microsoft for work compatibility. Linux is much better now, but I still wouldn't try to get my parents to run it.

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#673

Post by throwawaygmbno »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #645
portaouflop wrote: post #626

Pirate it and you will have a much better experience for free

and it comes with free malware! I gotta be honest man, I do not understand someone who pirates executable code. I (and I assume most of the hn audience) am not some starving student with nothing to lose. I would much rather run linux than pirate windows.

If you are worried about malware from your pirated content you are going to the wrong websites. The good ones are hard to get on and have severe consequences for the uploader and whoever invited them.

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#674

Post by mixmastamyk »

anal_reactor wrote: post #406
mythz wrote: post #300

The best thing to happen to Linux Desktop is Windows 11, with perfect timing too as modern Linux has been a joy to use as a daily driver. Normally I'd be unhappy when a sleazy corp forces me to give up on 25 years of muscle memory of using my preferred OS, but I'm thankful they gave me the push I needed to rip off the ad/spyware laced Windows Band-Aid that I only need to do once in my life. It's been over a year sinc…

I used Windows since always and switched to Linux two months ago. On one hand I still run into lots of Linuxisms on daily basis and I cannot recommend the system to a non-IT personn - bluetooth crashes, GPU driver crashes, applications crash, devices crash, all that stuff that's always been there. At the same time I have to say that the switch was easier than expected, and last weekend I removed Windows from my drive…

What? Zero crashes here, for decades. Maybe I bought specific hardware, dell and framework. Normies tend to use the web version of office these days don’t they?

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#675

Post by behringer »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #598

My biggest annoyance is that I specifically bought a Windows 11 license, from the MS store, using my MS account. I did this because I assumed that if something went wrong, I would always be able to recover it. I could never 'lose' the key if it was tied to my account. Well unfortunately, MS screwed me. When I upgraded my PC I was apparently supposed to transfer the license before deleting the old PC from my account.…

Sail the high seas and you'll never feel cheated again.

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#676

Post by dp-hackernews »

oblio wrote: post #654
edm0nd wrote: post #630

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just use Massgravel and problem is solved :) https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts

LOL. I found that website today and thought it was named "mass grave".

The website IS called that;

https://massgrave.dev/

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#677

Post by jasode »

tombert wrote: post #585

I doubt it’s going to happen, but a part of me prays that people will eventually get sick Microsoft’s increasing bullshit and it really can become the Year of the Linux Desktop. Gnome has genuinely gotten pretty great in the last couple years, and I think a lot of former Windows would genuinely like it if they gave it a chance, and virtually any Linux you install will have less tracking bullshit than Windows. I suspe…

>I doubt it’s going to happen, but a part of me prays that people will eventually get sick Microsoft’s increasing bullshit and it really can become the Year of the Linux Desktop. [...] I suspect, though, people will realistically just migrate to Chromebooks,

Most people will stay on Windows... even with all the increasing annoyances from Microsoft... because there's too much important software that runs only on Windows.

And workarounds such as Linux Wine emulator or QEMU virtual machines are still not enough because lots of Windows software won't run in those environments for various compatibility reasons.

E.g. I can't migrate a friend to Linux because her embroidery software for her sewing machine has a USB hardware dongle for DRM. It doesn't work by passing it through as a USB device to a "Windows virtual machine" under Linux.

Other examples are Adobe Photoshop, CAD software like SolidWorks, etc. Too much inertia out there with Windows-only software.

If one does everything in a web browser (e.g. Google Sheets, Google Docs, etc), that's the type of usage profile where switching to Linux desktop is an easy no-brainer.

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#678

Post by dartharva »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #645
portaouflop wrote: post #626

Pirate it and you will have a much better experience for free

and it comes with free malware! I gotta be honest man, I do not understand someone who pirates executable code. I (and I assume most of the hn audience) am not some starving student with nothing to lose. I would much rather run linux than pirate windows.

Shouldn't talk about things that you don't know much about so confidently

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#679

Post by eviks »

Balinares wrote: post #666
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #645

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and it comes with free malware! I gotta be honest man, I do not understand someone who pirates executable code. I (and I assume most of the hn audience) am not some starving student with nothing to lose. I would much rather run linux than pirate windows.

You might not be up to date on how this works. The OS installation images come from Microsoft. They're the same amount of malware as the OS that comes preinstalled on your laptop. Probably a tad less, depending on the brand.

What about the crack executable?

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#680

Post by mzmzmzm »

I've used Win 11 for years and never had an MS account. If you just get the right European/enterprise/education image the first time you don't even have to do anything to skip OOBE. But it feels like the walls are closing in, and the day I finally can't do anything without an MS account, I'll finally daily drive Linux. Hopefully the part of my Steam library that will still need Proton will run smoothly--that's the main thing I'm scared of.
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