Preferably from 2020 onwards and without the need for a mandatory product key/Microsoft account, I've already had a lot of headaches because of these two "casualities"!

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[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 26 points 5 months ago (1 children)

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10iso

For a regular install, use Rufus to make the USB media and it'll offer a Microsoft account bypass option.

[–] kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The only once that are harder to get from the official Microsoft website are Enterprise , IoT, LTSC versions. Which IMO are better then the standard home,pro,workstation etc. Also server ISOs are a bit harder to get from their.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Enterprise is just a license level, the standard install will activate it just fine. You're right that the others are a bit harder to find, usually I go to the mydigitallife forums for those.

[–] kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 months ago

Well the install comes with a load less crap pre-installed as well.

[–] kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

https://massgrave.dev/

All files are official Microsoft ISO files. This has everything you need including explanation and instructions how you can verify its legitimize. and how to activate windows

To bypass the forced Microsoft account you can create a unattend file and pre configure the ISO to make a local account.

[–] Scary_le_Poo@beehaw.org 18 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Go to the download page on Microsoft's site, change users agent to macos or iOS and safari and you can download the ISO directly.

If you are upgrading from 10 you can just mount the ISO and run the setup file. If you need to make a bootable USB use Rufus.

DISCONNECT FROM THE INTERNET AND DO NOT CONNECT UNTIL YOU ARE ON THE DESKTOP LOGGED INTO A LOCAL ACCOUNT

For local account creation, when oobe setup starts hit shift f10 and in the cmd prompt type oobe\bypassnro and press enter. When it prompts for a network connection choose I don't have internet.

[–] Tinkerer@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

+1 to this, you don't have to activate. You get an activation watermark at the bottom right hand corner, not a big deal

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 3 points 5 months ago

Just use the Microsoft Activation Scripts. Microsoft literally tells you to use them if there's a problem with your product key.

[–] punkisundead@slrpnk.net 14 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

You can download certain iso files directly from windows:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/

Edit: also cant you skip account creation and license key on every version? literally skipped those yesterday on an OEM preinstalled win 11

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Disconnect the network to force it to do local account creation.

[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

They "fixed" that now though.

But
Shift + F10 to open CMD

cd oobe
bypassnro

The machine will reboot and let you skip network setup. But do not connect to a network yet!

[–] stevedice@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 months ago

If you do connect to a network. Shift+F10 again and

netsh wlan delete profile name=*WiFi SSID*

And reboot.

[–] Outtatime@sh.itjust.works 13 points 5 months ago

Just get it from Microsoft. You don't need a key. Use masgrave for activating

[–] burgersc12@mander.xyz 11 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Microsoft bad. There I said it, so all the crazy Linux people won't. You're welcome!

[–] Wolfie@lemm.ee 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Thank you. My fingers started to itch real badly! I use Arch by the way

[–] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

OMG here’s a five paragraph comment on how that’s the wrong distro for you

[–] burgersc12@mander.xyz 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Well actually the distro I'm using, EndeavourOS, has its benefits... Here's a link to my 1 hr rant on why you should switch from Arch link

[–] TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 months ago

ah yes my old friend! good ol' XcQ

[–] t_378@lemmy.one 3 points 5 months ago

We've been called out, but deservedly so.

[–] ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social 3 points 5 months ago

Are we really still the crazy ones when Microsoft wants to keep a log of screenshots of your desktop?

[–] Imprint9816@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I know a lot of people like the LTSC version but just a warning, they are slightly different then the regular home and professional versions in terms of policy settings.

This can make it more difficult to use things such as https://github.com/HotCakeX/Harden-Windows-Security

If you are someone interested in trying to harden your windows device but are not familiar enough to change all these policy settings yourself.