Generate autounattend.xml files for Windows 10/11

Update on this machine: After applying all pending updates to-date it has remained clean and runs about 2.7GB memory used at the desktop with nothing foreground open. While that offends my sensibilities in the general sense (remembering running Linux w/ X and Netscape in 8MB of RAM, or Windows XP in 128MB) that doesn't seem bad for what it is.

Screenshots and step-by-step of the process also here: https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-clean-install-windows-11

Yep, mostly thanks to enterprise. There's a group policy for just about anything you could ever imagine you'd want Windows to do (or not do).

Granted, a lot of it isn't super discoverable, or exposed to the user in a pretty GUI (it mostly lives deep within the registry, a good chunk undocumented), but it truly is a general purpose OS in every sense of the word.

Unlike most here I actually like and enjoy using Windows (doubly so with WSLv2 and the new windows terminal), although I'll admit since WSL I pretty much use Windows as if it were another Linux distro. But over the years I've come to learn a lot of the ins and outs of what it can do.

That said, if Microsoft continues down this MS account, consumer hostile behavior even more it's going to be time for me to say my goodbyes to windows.

The millions of registry options are not for joke, I guess

I really gotta ask Microsoft about that beer they owe me :)

This is the best joke I have seen in a while.

Workarounds on Linux systems are necessary for possible hardware compatibility issues or bugs which are not intentional.

Workarounds for commercial OSes are necessary to avoid user-hostile behaviors that are completely intentional and likely to get worse over time.

I just stick to qubes, thanks but nothanks. To treat every OS as hostile seems to be the sane solution these days.

I assume this is being posted/upvoted in terms of “workaround for Microsoft Account requirement”. I actually mostly like Windows, but that particular thing they're pushing is more infuriating than any other, and there have been lots of others.

See the page's description for “Allow Windows 11 to be installed without internet connection”:

> This effectively runs the oobe\BypassNRO.cmd command, which was discovered by Reddit user AveYo. You still have to click the I don't have internet button during Windows Setup.

> Only check this option if your computer really does not have internet access. If you just want to create local (“offline”) user accounts in Windows 11, you can always do so in the _User accounts_ section of this form.

have you tried installing win11 and creating an account without internet access?

After their most recent shenanigans, the writing is on the wall, the nails are in the coffin - https://www.pcgamer.com/software/operating-systems/microsoft...

They've disabled the ability to finish Windows installation without having an internet connection and connecting your Microsoft account.

> According to a Windows Insider blog post announcing Preview build 26200.5516 (KB5054687) the bypassnro.cmd script has been removed in order to "enhance security and user experience of Windows 11."

> "This change ensures that all users exit setup with internet connectivity and a Microsoft Account."

lol.

Never been a better time to jump ship to Linux, honestly. I held out for ages because I was a princess and wanted everything to be perfect. I used Linux 24x7 as an admin and developer, but from afar and never locally as my daily driver. Finally bit the bullet July '23 and it has been nothing but smooth sailing.

Definitely. I have a script I run on new Macs to turn on/off various features, mostly using "defaults write".

Wait is there a way to turn those back into regular menu bars?

Agreed with the "what does this achieve". In Corporate environments you would use SCCM or simply the Windows ADK plus WDS.

Installing a custom Firewall and Antivirus ist straight counteproductive, as ist disabling security features... obvisouly.

Downloading and installing group policies however is often required and a typical enterprise scenario.

Whenever I hear people praise these kind of things I know they don't really have any professional knowledge. It's fine to configure your own system, but suggesting these things SHOULD be done pisses me off to no end.

Unattend has been part of windows setup for way longer than a decade.

The current form of it was introduced in Vista.

The same concept existed before, but I know less about how it worked back then.

Even without unattend, something I think people don't realize is that you can install windows on the command line. Diskpart to partition, dism /apply-image to extract files, then bcdboot to install the bootloader.

GP's just returning to the Unix style, though they typically had /usr on NAS (which is why some things were in /bin instead of /usr/bin, for example.)