Comment on Report: Microsoft quietly kills official way to activate Windows 11/10 without internet
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 3 weeks ago
It’s 2026, when are people going to stop whining about things requiring the internet? Who on earth would this change actually negatively affect? Who is buying Windows 11 but doesn’t have the internet? No one.
Even with the internet “available” you can get in chicken-egg scenarios like “the network card is not supported on the OS disc, and it won’t let me complete the OS installer so I can install the driver from external media later.”
Even Windows 10 got pretty testy about that in late releases.
Windows doesn’t need to be activated during the OS installation, so that’s not relevant.
Also Windows doesn’t need to be activated at all for 99% of people’s uses of it.
But it does do the force-a-Microsoft-account thing that doesn’t work without a network.
What you suffer from is a failure of imagination.
Have you ever had to install a Windows OS without the internet because the network card you have doesn’t work without setting up, and setting up requires an OS? I’ve encountered this twice in my life. The first time I actually paid money to Microsoft for Windows 8, and it was such a disrespectful fuckaround I pirated the next one, and am dropping Windows altogether after that.
You’re talking about something different here. This is about activating windows once you’re using windows.
Windows doesn’t need to be activated at OS install time either.
For once, internet is a subscription service which not everyone can afford, just because you and all your friends can afford internet doesn’t mean everyone can, computers can be gotten for free, internet there’s no way around it.
But for the biggest issue, windows is spyware, the only way to use it while warranting privacy is by airgapping it from the internet and running it standalone, it is also the only way to be sure to contain cracked programs to make sure they don’t distribute illegal content from your IP.
It’s the way I run windows (when I have to) and I don’t like the prospects of not being able to run proprietary software securely when there aren’t viable libre alternatives.
Also, software being dependent on internet and therefore some company’s server means that eventually when said server or company shutsdown the program or device becomes useless.
computers can be gotten for free
Computers that don’t already have windows activated, that can’t work with an un-activated windows? Non-activated windows 1
Until the user tries the “reset your device” option in the control panel. Then he’s stuck in the “please signup to your Microsoft account” screen.
And without internet, he’s never going to figure out the obsomething/bypassnsomething command.
Also this isn’t windows specific, my samsungs phones also doesn’t let me get pass the initial screen without connecting to the internet.
You can still create local accounts just by clicking in some of the other options during initial setup.
Why make the computer do a thing that it doesn’t have to? The answer is control and profit. Control by monitoring installs and requiring Microsoft accounts, profit from advertisements for Microsoft services and data brokerage, and so on.
We should not happily embrace Microsoft’s desires for greater profits and control over the public.
Well no, the answer is to stop illegal installs. That’s what online license verification is for.
Yes, I did mention monitoring installs as one of the reasons, thank you. That was the only online check back when it was introduced 25 years ago, but there’s quite a bit more going on now.
My internet is so bad it can sometimes take me over a dozen tries to get a web search to load. It likes to flicker on and off so a lot of times it’s a matter of being lucky that it is on when I try and load something or when a program does a check. Depending how the requirement is built it could make it nearly impossible for me to install windows (not that I would, I use Arch btw, but I’m on the same infrastructure as a bunch of students also suffering from shit internet and they mostly use windows).
For example I can usually download things it just takes a long time. There is a mod list tool though I would love to use but during it’s verification check if any mod fails to respond then it aborts the whole operation. I have roughly a 100% chance of several mods’ pages failing to handshake the first couple tries so the tool is useless to me.
Depending how the requirement is built it could make it nearly impossible for me to install windows
It’s got nothing to do with installing windows, it’s about activating it through the OS post-install. Windows works without being activated btw. It’s not like the old days where it was unusable without a key - windows 11 is basically completely free these days, only requiring a license if you want to use some of the more “pro” features like Hyper V and RDP.
Why are you defending a feature being taken away by one of the largest companies in the world? They pay a lot of money for PR. They don’t need your volunteer work.
I spent a whole weekend in 2025 with no internet. Optical fibre connector broke Saturday morning, repair person would only come Monday at noon. It wasn’t a big deal; my work is mostly offline, and I got a bunch of anime seasons, music, and games in my hard disk.
It wasn’t a big deal because I don’t use Windows 11. My login is offline. My login was not made by assumptive codemonkeys who bullshit the user is always online, because their boss sees users as cattle and wants to herd them into a new pen called “cloud services”.
And it isn’t just that. This is an unnecessary security risk; if MS login servers get compromised (and MS is damn sloppy regarding security), then your machine gets compromised too. Then there’s chicken-and-egg problems like HakFoo mentioned. And weird issues like this user experienced.
It wasn’t a big deal because I don’t use Windows 11. My login is offline.
Wait wait wait…do you think that you can’t log in to windows 11 computers without being online?
I live in the middle of nowhere and while my home has 10/1 Mbit DSL option my workshop 250m away has nothing and no mobile signal. Am I supposed to drag PC used for CNC home to activate windows or should I get 2nd starlink subscription?
drag
lol PCs and laptops don’t need to be “dragged” anywhere. They’re not bookshelves, they’re tiny and light.
So when you buy a new computer you set it up for the first time in your house instead of your shed. You only have to activate it once.
Pc in question is a part of a 3000kg CNC machine
Why are you not using a 2.4ghz or 5ghz wireless bridge?
I’ve got a 5ghz bridge between my garage and house, and it goes through 2 trees and still gives me around 900mbs. It’s over 350m away too.
Not saying that the guy bitching about people who don’t have Internet to active win11…just offering you an idea to fix your lack of Internet in your workshop.
Because I don’t need an internet connection in the workshop. I don’t want to install a bridge just to activate windows.
Ok then why bring it up? Are you doing stuff in the workshop that requires you to activate multiple windows machines?
Atropos@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Not really advocating for freedom there, friend.
atrielienz@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
They don’t do that. Just based entirely on their wealth of comment replies.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 2 weeks ago
I don’t think you understand what freedom is. Freedom doesn’t mean you can just do whatever you want with everything you want.
It’s 2026. The internet is a core part of the world and pretty much everyone’s life. It’s not going away. Everyone who is buying a windows 11 computer has internet access almost all of the time, everywhere they go. Complaining about needing internet to activate a software license for digital software is pathetic - especially for Windows that doesn’t even need to be activated for most people.