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How Microsoft made it harder to create Windows 10 local accounts
If you're thinking about resetting your Windows PC with a local account, save yourself some frustration and consider upgrading to the Windows 10 May 2019 Update first.
Our experiences with the October 2018 Update nearly convinced us that local accounts were gone for good. They're not, thank goodness, but Out-of-the-Box Experience (OOBE) in that version pushes you particularly hard toward using a Microsoft account. We discovered two workarounds, though, to allow you to log in as you wish.
[...] Over time, Microsoft has tacitly encouraged you ever more to create a Microsoft account, but it's never actually blocked you from creating a local one. It comes damn close in the October 2018 Update, however. Even worse, it begs you to connect your PC to the Internet—but never warns you that once you do, the local account option will never be displayed.
In the May 2019 Update, Microsoft seems to have relaxed its tactics. But only a small fraction of users, or about 6 percent, appear to have access to the friendlier version. That estimate comes from AdDuplex, which tracks versioning as part of its ad network. According to AdDuplex, about a third of Windows users remain on the October 2018 Update, also known as 1809.
Microsoft changes up little elements of Windows from time to time, even "A/B" testing some features with some users and not with others. (Generally this happens more often in the Windows 10 Insider program.) PC makers also tweak their own factory-installed builds of Windows 10. In short, Windows 10 experiences differ by user, by PC, and by the version of Windows 10 they've installed.
With many users still stuck on the October 2018 Update or earlier versions, it's worth knowing that you'll probably want to upgrade straight through to the May 2019 Update if you prefer the local account option.
Remember, Microsoft is hoping to attract a billion users to Windows 10, and it's making money by luring them into its services and subscription model. Because a Microsoft account is the best way to do that, it's worth keeping an eye on how Microsoft "encourages" you to sign up and use one.
(Score: 5, Informative) by vux984 on Tuesday July 23 2019, @03:34AM (2 children)
No.
TLDR is actually, with the latest release, there is a nice "Offline Account" option that you can use WITHOUT disconnecting from the network.
And the disconnect option was a good way to force it before.
I just did a batch of win10 installs, and the OOBE is definitely better with the spring 2019 update. Still pretty irritating though. Maybe I'm in the minority but pretty much everything microsoft WANTS you to do is the opposite of what I want to do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 23 2019, @07:34AM (1 child)
Makes sense though, given that the whole thing begins with them wanting you to use Windows 10 against your preference of using something, anything, else.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 23 2019, @08:58PM
yeah and the whole point of closed source software is to deny you your rights. what's so hard for these bleating sheep to understand?