I read an article about this a couple days ago, on PCWorld I think. Apparently they made it a bit less aggressive for the 1903 installer, but they still push for the Microsoft account as the preference.
Wouldnât surprise me if eventually they forced the Microsoft account. No more local accounts. At least for home users. Windows as a service, after all. Darkest timeline would be that leading to subscription models.
Thankfully I donât have to deal with the OOBE at work, as we image everything.
You know the âOffline Accountâ thing is a lot more visible and more noticeable than I remember. Remember trying to create an offline account with Windows 8? Now that was a PITA.
Now that You did not cover all the bases and made an ass of yourself⌠You did not cover all possible install methods or the all the possible variations of install methods.
Windows 10 Home 1903 and Windows 10 Pro 1903. What else is left, education and enterprise? I find that very difficult to believe that those require a Microsoft accountâŚ
When you look at the screen, all you see is a giant box telling you to sign in with Microsoft. The âoffline accountâ link isnât underlined and is situated right next to and styled identically to the privacy policy and ToU, things everybody ignores by reflex. That is a classic dark pattern.
The only time Iâve had no ability for creating an offline account is if Iâm reinstalling from an oem recovery partition. But as for a clean iso, never had an issue.
I refurbish computers for a living, if this was the case the company I work for would be screwed
I will test further as opportunity arises in a live environment. I can only say that this behavior was seen on several systems using keys built with Microsoftâs MediaCreationTool, long prior to when the change in online behavior ocurred.
Since the default behavior of the ISOâs have not changed, itâs possible that nothing happens under a typical virtual environment. It would be easy for Microsoftâs online component to check some hardware IDâs to see that itâs not a live system. They do check hardware IDâs already anyway.
Iâll ask for my colleagues to holler the next time they install a system so I can have a look at it and take pictures as necessary. On Tuesday I was too baffled by it all to think to snap some.
For now at least if anyone were to encounter the same situation and really donât want to login or create a Microsoft Account, youâll know that a workaround is to disconnect the system from the internet.
I donât know what to tell you. Iâve seen these claims for over four years and every time I try it Iâm easily able to select a local account.
