Windows 11 Home Users Won’t Be Able to Install the OS without a Microsoft Account

[Tsing]

Image: Microsoft



Prospective Windows 11 users who opt for the Home version of Microsoft’s upcoming operating system will be unable to install it unless they have a Microsoft Account. This has been confirmed by a PCWorld editor, who reached out to a source close to Microsoft and was told that installing Windows 11 with a local account will be a privilege that’s exclusive to the Professional version. What this means is that Windows 11 Home users who prefer the old-school and traditional route of offline account creation during the setup process are out of luck. Windows 11 Home users still have the option of creating a local account after the installation process, however...

Continue reading...

 

[Brian_B]

Hmm...

Not impossible to do, but linked to upselling the Pro version.

Sounds like we've seen the near term play of Windows licensing... this may be a precursor to moving to a subscription, but for the near term, I think Microsoft is fine with letting OEMs bear the brunt of paying licensing fees -- the only ones who are buying licensing direct would be DIYer's anyway. Basically how it's been with Windows 10 all along. Anyone with a "valid" license is free to ugprade, at least until you get that new computer.

Once nice thing about having an account-linked license is that when you build a new DIY computer, the license jumps over no problem, so long as you de-activate it on your previous computer. The downside is, that previous computer now no longer has an activated license, and when I sell it, i get a lot of questions about it. Everyone just assumes Windows comes on computers and it works - most people don't know anything about installing or the licensing (or the associated fees), and wonder why they can't change their desktop background.

Depends on where MS takes it from here - this isn't enough to get me to move to Pro - I already use a MS account, and I don't have any non-internet connected PCs anywhere personally. But it certainly points to a questionable trajectory.

 

[MadMummy76]

And how does this work for OEMs? For example my laptop came with W10 Home preinstalled. So there will be ways to install it with a local account, there must be.

 

[Brian_B]

And how does this work for OEMs? For example my laptop came with W10 Home preinstalled. So there will be ways to install it with a local account, there must be.

Why would it be any different? I imagine it would be just like after installing from the ISO - you get to the screen where you need to start entering setup data, and if there is no internet connection, it stops and waits until it gets one so you can log into your account. Any specific OEM drivers, splash screens, etc can all be slipstreamed into the install, so when the computer first turns on it's still a fresh install - ready for your MS account...

Recent builds of Windows 10 already do that, annoyingly enough, with the "workaround" being that if you don't connect / disconnect the internet it will give you the option to bypass the online setup. But if your net connected, it won't even give you the option to bypass.

 

[Burticus]

Yeah, we'll see