Microsoft blocks the most popular Windows 11 bypass for internet, MSA, making users angry

Towards the end of March, Microsoft made its intention pretty obvious, that it wants to remove the BYPASSNRO workaround, which allows users to skip internet connectivity and Microsoft Account sign-ins. Thankfully, a new bypass method (including an official one) has since been discovered, and good ol' Rufus works still.

Neowin readers were, among many, not too happy with the move, as evident from their comments. Some of them raised some pretty valid concerns, too. For example, user tHE_uKER mentioned the case of a lack of any internet connectivity, which led to a flurry of responses from some of our other readers.

Here's the full exchange:

tHE_uKER

 

What about PCs that don't have and will never have internet connectivity?

 

Is that not a legitimate use case now?

 

leonsk29

 

Good point. It seems that they now want you to pay for an Enterprise SKU license if that's the case. And what about if the Internet is down or not available for some reason at the time of installing? Someone at Microsoft is being very stupid right now.

 

TheGhostPhantom

 

You can log into your account with the internet down.

 

leonsk29

 

Into what account if Microsoft doesn't let you use a local one? This is so confusing and stupid...

 

neufuse

 

but you can't set up a computer that will never have the internet...... and dont give me that "everyone has the internet" excuse... sometimes you have situations where computers will never and i mean never be on the internet, I know we have a few use cases at work where we forbid specific systems from ever being network connected.. and no we don't use enterprise edition anywhere in our business, its a waste of money for all you get for our use cases

Another reader on the same comment thread C:Amie described their main reason for using the BYPASSNRO command to skip those requirements during the Windows 11 install:

Well that sucks. It wouldn't be so bad, if when tied to a Microsoft account, if we didn't have to sit there and wait for the system to install some stupid update for 20 mins before we can log into the profile.

 

That's one of the main reasons I skip it.

 

Having forked out for 11 Pro (£120) you then have to fork out more than double that to get to the Enterprise SKU. Volume Licensing only starts to become sensible at over 15 device licenses - something that a lot of small businesses don't qualify for. Finally if you then want to use any of the functionality from Enterprise, you need to then fork out for a Domain controller (which they appear to be moving towrds deprecating) or £35/mo + VAT per-device for InTune (which mandates an Internet connection).

 

And weirdly enough the only way to activate Enterprise offline is with a KMS server (min £1500

It is not just Neowin readers who are displeased at this step, though. The company's official Feedback Hub also has an entry with the title "Do not remove bypassnro.cmd script from Windows 11 OOBE" regarding this. It has been upvoted by 112 users at the time of writing. This issue was opened last month and was last upvoted around eight hours ago.

Earlier this week, user Nathan S suggested making it optional. They write:

It should not be removed, what if people wish to not have a Microsoft account, like let people not have one, leave it optional, maybe even adding a skip account button even when connected to internet, like its ok to persuade someone, but don't force them, that feels really anti consumer, and begging for control over people.

For some reason though the entry may not show up when one searches for it, so you may have missed it in case you were looking for something like that. You can find the entry here in case you want to upvote it or add some of your own personal feedback there.

The removal of BYPASSNRO is still in testing, so the tech giant should be looking into these. So this is your chance to let Microsoft know that you are not quite on board with it, before it finishes testing and hits general availability status. So far, however, no "official response" from Microsoft has been posted on it.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of March): 1,357

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend