Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by giantg2 443 days ago
Does Windows require an account? I've recently set up several windows machines and made them all offline, local-only accounts.

Also, I've seen it for Kali, but I'm guessing it exists for others - it's called Kali Undercover or something. It makes your GUI look a good bit like Windows.
1 comments
postmaster 443 days ago
They make it seem like it does, but tech savvy people and those who read the screen thoroughly can easily create an offline only account without ever connecting or creating an online Microsoft account.
link
giantg2 443 days ago
Yeah, so while I support trying out Linux, it might be less change/headache if they just reinstall Windows with the offline account. Depends on how well they think their parent can learn Linux.
link
hedora 443 days ago
Offline accounts are going away: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/new-windows-11-build...
link
giantg2 443 days ago
That article says there are other workarounds.
link