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YouTube is taking down videos on performing nonstandard Windows 11 installs
(news.ycombinator.com)
this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2025
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For those who care, at the first setup screen instead of answering any of the questions press Shift + F10.
CMD will open.
Type (no quotes) “net user Prefferedusername /add” (replacing Prefferedusername with the user name you wish to use) and press enter.
Next type “net localgroup administrators Prefferedusername /add” and press enter.
Next type “net user Prefferedusername /active:yes” and press enter.
Next type “net user Prefferedusername /expires:never” and press enter.
Next type “net user administrator /active:no” and press enter.
Next type “net user defaultUser0 /delete” (this is case sensitive make sure the "U" is capitalized) and press enter.
Next type "regedit" and press enter.
This opens registry editor, navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE"
Delete "DefaultAccountAction", "DefaultAccountSAMName", and "DefaultAccountSID"
Right click on "LaunchUserOOBE" and rename it to "SkipMachineOOBE" and make sure the value is set to "1".
Close registry editor and type "shutdown /r /t 0"
I am usually not that guy, but honestly, why not just install Linux Mint at this point
Because some people still require windows for what ever reason and also it's fun to resist corporate bullshit by spitting in their face.
Personally I switched to Bazzite for my gaming rigs and Mint for everything else, but I wont judge anyone who wants to stay on windows despite the hostility microsoft has for its user base and I say more power to them.
Those who stand defiant in the face of overwhelming odds are exactly the sort of folk I like.
"Resist corporate bullshit by eschewing the free, non-corporate option – which, because it's open, gets better the more people use it – in favor of continuing to use the exact same corporate product but with an abstruse, hacky workaround that 0.001% of the userbase will use and will probably be plugged by this time next week. That'll show those corpo fucks who's boss. ✊Ⓐ"
How is continuing to use their product (thus being farmed for telemetry and other revenues) defiant in any way?
The reality is you and others are afraid of change. There is no windows-only program I can't run. Your defiance is futile and you're the only one suffering, not Microsoft.
I get it but let me give you an example of the sort of thing Linux is dealing with:
I have a nephew who wanted a PC, and had a small budget (they where 11 at the time and I was not going to let them pay) so I used some parts around and made a not so bad mint machine. It worked very well but can not play fortnight (not an issue with mint or the hardware) or other such anti-cheat games. The child was ok with it but his parents got mad at me as to why I would not just "be normal" and put a real operating system on the machine. They tried to tell my nephew that he should not use his PC until they can bring it to someone that can "fix" it by putting windows on it (they are kinda asshats). Lucky for my nephew the place they took the PC said the same thing I did and that it would not run as well with windows on it, but would do it if they wanted (they said no when they got the cost).
So the PC gets used and is enjoyed (it was the nephews birthday present from me), and used by his father as much as him. But all this time I am getting constant complaints about the "weird stuff" I forced on them, and that one day they will get him a "real" computer. Keep in mind my brother has a PC that is running windows that has more bloat and malware then you would think possible at this time (I think why he kept using his son's) that was about the same in hardware (1060, am4 3600ish, 8 gigs of ram sort of machines). The mint PC was clearly better, and when their child started to point out how much more time my brother spent on his Linux computer then his own my brother just happened to "spill" a whole glass of water directly into his son's computer. Then he hid the PC away and just blamed it not working on the "bad software" that it was running, and how it was a "trash" machine anyway. (I did get it back eventually, replaced the board and shipped it back to my nephew who is now using it again).
So the point of the story is this, would you if you had to deal with users (and lets assume you are not related to them) like this put Linux on their machines or just not want to deal with them and put a ripped and custom windows on it?
I cannot relate in any way. I would tell these people to figure it out themselves and that they're ignorant and ungrateful. You're also a very nice person for putting up with that.
Its often the worst part of working in the industry, I used to have to deal with these sort of people professionally (investment bankers are the worst). I am just pointing out that sometimes the solution is just to do the work and move on, and that is how we get to where we are.
There are no upcoming kernel patches that will fix the problem of people being ungrateful assholes.
If that story is at all true, I feel so bad for that kid regarding so much more than the OS on his computer. I honestly hope you have thought about the potential future circumstance that you need to take on an abused teenager.
In contrast, I set my nephew up with Linux Mint, and he is now slowly converting the rest of his family to open source solutions.
My understanding is that they keep having conversations about privacy news, and he keeps knowing a solution, which sometimes is Android or Linux based. So now his parents will ask me "Is it true the XY protects against YZ and is free?"
It's been a pretty cool thing to watch.
Oof. Those parents are horrible. At least you tried to do the right think for the little dude.
Can you run Battlefield 6?
Valorant?
Apex Legends?
Rainbow Six: Siege?
Fortnite?
GTA V?
RDR2?
This isn't even a Windows or Linux thing: Why the hell do you want Saudi Arabia and Jared Kusher* to have kernel-level access to your machine? Why, why is that worth it for just a game?
*I really wish I was joking with this part
I am not interested in playing any of those games.
Ok, cool. Some people are. This is a quick list of some popular reasons why people might not be able to just run Linux.
I'd probably play BF6 and I do enjoy Apex Legends, but not enough to run Windows. Photoshop is great, but GIMP meets my non-professional needs. I'm not an engineer so AutoCAD isn't a professional requirement and I can fix 3d prints or plan landscaping in freecad.
But, I can't make Micrsoft stop enabling telemetry on my computer, inserting ads in my start menu or giving AI access to my entire system. I know there are tools to disable these things, I used them. I know the workaround to make local users, I know how to remove the AI integrations, I know how to use group policy to prevent the re-enabling of some items.
I don't want to have to fight my computer in order to use it. I want it to do exactly what I want and nothing else. Linux lets me do it and that is more important than a few FPSs
Everyone gets to make that choice. Well, except the people who can't upgrade to Windows 11... for them it's Linux or joining a botnet at some time in the near future.
Well I'm glad you represent everybody.
People who need to use software like the Adobe suite professionally? They should just abandon their whole career and not use Adobe. Because being unemployed will really show em.
Every time this topic comes up, you'd think that all Windows users are all professional graphic designers who use AutoCAD and also play Valorant professionally.
I don't judge, I just don't understand. At this level, you need way more skills to keep your Windows account local than installing Linux with their GUI wizard. I understand some people need Windows professionally for Photoshop, but I guess the large majority doesn't. If you read this Windows user, now is the time. Trust me, you will experience a level of freedom and performance you would have never thought of.
I cannot find this meme I know I have seen
Panel 1: "Installing Windows 20 years ago" screenshot of install wizard with just a couple buttons
Panel 2: "Installing Linux 20 years ago" screenshot of a busy command line
Panel 3: "Installing Windows today" screenshot of a busy command line
Panel 4: "Installing Linux today" screenshot of install wizard with just a couple buttons
Made a new one for you
Awesome, thanks! You should definitely post that to a Linux meme community or something.
I'm that guy.
Install Linux Mint.
Lol im stealing that
That's a lot of instructions just to use the computer you paid for and is yours...
Linux has its stupid bullshit too, its just 12 of one and a dozen of another sort of situation. For example I don't have to jump through hoops to auto mount a secondary drive on windows I just install the drive and there it is. But on linux I have to jump through all sorts of ridiculous hoops for some stupid reason. However it will auto mount flash drives and sd cards even though those are the ones more likely to pose a security risk.
I just plugged in an old drive to make sure I'm not going crazy, and I didn't do anything besides hit the power button, log in, and open the file explorer:
And its right there.
It depends on the DE.
Even still, typing mount /dev/sda1 external isn't exactly Cirque du Soleil
Say what? That's not true in the slightest, if the drive is mountable it will show up in your file manager.
A space is needed before the slash on this command, right? And no space before net.
You are correct I will update my instructions. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Windows users: "I don't want to swap to Linux, you have to follow arcane instructions from the Internet and use the terminal to do basic tasks"
Also Windows users: "Now here is how you add a local user:"
Using backticks instead of quotation marks is the ideal way to document technical instructions like this here:
Honestly in my opinion just pirate windows ltsc/iot ltsc/server ltsc editions
A lot of people are doing that too, I'm not here to judge just to help.
I've been doing this in command prompt:
reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE /v BypassNRO /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
shutdown/r /t 0
After reboot it lets you choose "I don't have internet" and you can continue with creating a local account.
Haha does this mean they removed only the BypassNRO script, but not the underlying regkey?
If they did it would make all the bullshit I typed earlier entirely pointless, and honestly I hope its true because having to do all of the just to get a local account is ridiculous.
And same people are complaining that Linux is difficult to install..
You could also just make the iso using Rufus. It sounds easier than this shit.