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Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

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Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#611

Post by chrisgarand »

Kuinox wrote: post #534
mastazi wrote: post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t feel the need to specify that in my comment because the linked Reddit thread already explains it, it’s the top upvoted comment, you can see it just below the initial post. When I said “this is incredibly bad” I was referring to the dark pattern, I wasn’t trying to suggest that the option had been completely removed.

To what i see, the top upvoted comment is at the third position behind a lot of subcomments, because of the "hot" ranking of reddit. By reading the discussions here, i don't think that a lot of people realised that the option is still there.

They're forcing people to online accounts by putting the offline option in the basement, it's the standard 'nudge' in software. Eventually they'll eliminate it completely.

Some would consider this one a dark pattern, I would agree in this case.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#612

Post by ttkari »

currysausage wrote: post #439
moontear wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for that search problem link I am exactly one of those users and start menu search just isn’t working. I have switched to Launchy as an alternative after years of being happy with the start menu search. I can finally look for a solution now, nice.

I keep hearing about this. This is what’s keeping me from upgrading to 1903, as I find disabling Bing Search absolutely essential. So, have you followed the advice in the support document? Did it help?

An update that fixes the broken search functionality has been released, at least for me it worked and the search is again running normally.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#613

Post by vetinari »

Kuinox wrote: post #491
mastazi wrote: post #63

This is incredibly bad. In general I have a positive opinion about what MS is doing lately, but Windows is a glaring exception, it’s getting worse and worse at an alarming rate. In the last two months we had two consecutive updates that broke basic functionality for users who disabled web results in Windows Search (which is a very common setting among those who care about privacy) https://www.zdnet.com/article/window…

They didn't removed it. The title is misleading, The button is still there, but they renamed the button. It's under "Domain Join Instead" https://i.imgur.com/tA9fo1R.png And there you can create an offline account: https://i.imgur.com/eBLi5cv.png

It is still misleading.

Under "Domain join instead", I would assume that I could enter an appropriate domain credentials and the computer would join the domain. Essentially the same thing, that the OOB assistant in RHEL8/Fedora does, when choosing Enterprise login.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#614

Post by mgkimsal »

kchamplewski wrote: post #535
bachmeier wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there anyone that even knows what "Domain join" means? If the button was there but hidden, would that count as "still there"? What if it was there but labeled "Click here to brick your computer"?

Domain joining means connecting the machine to a Windows domain allowing domain user accounts to be used, and allowing for the domain to administer the machine. It's actually quite a helpful option to have, but it's completely absurd for the only way to create a local account to be via the domain join option.

My knee jerk reaction would be that 'domain join' would be something reserved for connecting to enterprise domains - it might ask me for an active directory connection or something (which, if I'm offline, I wouldn't even think to try in the first place). "domain join" for a single user machine? I wouldn't even make the connection.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#615

Post by vetinari »

imglorp wrote: post #598
samstave wrote: post #581

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly, but that is something us sysads for decades get... You think that joe mechanic who just bought his daughter a new machine has any of this lexicon. Whomever is responsible for all of this bullshit at MS should be hit in the face with a shovel. Recently, and I’ve been in tech since 1997, I bought an office lic at Costco because I needed excel on a machine... You know what a pain in the ass it is to install off…

If don't need 100 pct of Excel's bazillion features, Libre Office is a decent alternative. It works with Excel files, doesn't need Windows (but it can run there), and doesn't nag you to join any clouds. And it's free. There's very few home users who actually need full Office.

My non-favorite pain point with LibreOffice are Excel tables (https://support.office.com/en-us/article/overview-of-excel-t...). Home users won't be missing them, but Excel power users will.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#616

Post by vetinari »

Kuinox wrote: post #526
jug wrote: post #523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird location because local user accounts have little to do with domains. :P

The sole purpose of this location is to create an offline account... Seriously.

Could be, but it has nothing to do with domains.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#617

Post by itronitron »

iforgotpassword wrote: post #397
m0zg wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> getting worse and worse at an alarming rate That's because Windows Division does not exist anymore as a separate business unit within MS. It's now a part of Azure. And Azure doesn't really care all that much about making desktop excellent. It'll just keep it good enough for you to buy more Azure, but not more than that.

I'm wondering if this is really the right move as in "desktop is definitely going down and everything will be web based". In that case sure, why bother throwing money at it. But should we realize in a couple years that this was overhyped and desktop OS and apps won't go away, everyone will have migrated to OSX or Linux if Windows quality continues to decline at that rate.

if home wireless printers ever become usable (reliably over wifi) i might then consider web based an option, but only because i know that will never happen

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#618

Post by rock_hard »

api wrote: post #571
SquishyPanda23 wrote: post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I pay for the service so I don’t want to be the product. I think this is worth thinking about for a bit. The trope is that if you're not paying then you're the product. But it doesn't follow that if you are paying you are not the product. That depends entirely on business decisions that customers have little visibility into. For any product you pay for, there may eventually be a decision to extract additional reven…

The trope is backwards. If a business doesn't charge they have no choice but to make the user the product. If the user pays they have the option.

Not really though

Look no further than TV manufacturers, the moment one of them decided to substitute below market prices with selling people’s data the others had to follow to stay competitive!

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#619

Post by amaccuish »

yawaramin wrote: post #601
klodolph wrote: post #532

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anybody who has ever administered Windows PCs professionally at work should know what it means. I would not expect home users to know or care.

I have used Windows PCs at work extensively. I had no idea that 'Domain join' could mean 'create an offline account'.

> I had no idea that 'Domain join' could mean 'create an offline account'.

It doesn't. It means, or at least it should, join the PC to a Active Directory/NT4 domain.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#620

Post by Kuinox »

vetinari wrote: post #616
Kuinox wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sole purpose of this location is to create an offline account... Seriously.

Could be, but it has nothing to do with domains.

Yep, that the issue of this naming.
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