Microsoft Tightens Grip on Windows 11 Account Setup

The latest Windows 11 Insider Dev Channel build has removed bypassnro, a script long used to skip the mandatory Microsoft Account sign-in during setup.

Microsoft now requires internet and account login for all setups.
Change applies to both Home and Pro editions.
The update is framed as a security and user experience enhancement.
Local accounts reduce notifications, ads, and tracking—but you’ll now need new workarounds.

This change is currently in preview but could roll out to all users in Windows 11 25H2 this fall.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/new-windows-11-build-makes-mandatory-microsoft-account-sign-in-even-more-mandatory/

#Windows11 #Microsoft #ITAdmin #Privacy #CyberSecurity #LockedIn #PITA
@MS @microsoft @msftnews @msftsecurity @windowscentral

Whenever an app let's you select from #sqlite , #MariaDB , or #postgresql , please don't select SQLite . I know it is easier now, but it is almost inevitable that you are going to need a real #SQL database. The transfer of data is always a #PITA.

Is there a #bridge for #Threads like there is for #Mastodon <=> #BlueSky? Is it a tremendous #PITA ?

#Migrating fileservers is a #PITA

...but progress is being made.

I accidentally pulled the wrong hard drive out (apparently they were enumerated in a different order than the physical order in the backplane - not uncommon, but wasn't expected) of the old array - I thought I was pulling the drive I'd just de-striped and removed from the #BTRFS array.. turns out I was not.. so I accidentally degraded the array.

Now I've got that drive inserted back in, and the correct drive removed, but it's going to be until Tuesday before I can start another drive removal - the scrub is going to take that long.

There's a shorter/quicker way to do this, I know.. and as soon as this rebuild is done, those drives are coming out of the old server, physically, inserted into the new server, physically, import the array and create a mountpoint (easy part), then I can finish copying the data across from array to array, destroy that array, then add the drives into the new array and wait for the restripe to finish.

THAT restripe (going from 8 drives in the array to 17) is going to take quite some time.

Once that's done, I'm going to relegate the old fileserver to storing compressed backups of some of the filesystems on the new one.

So.. I've finally diagnosed what's going on with the one server which went down somewhere around two weeks ago.

Either one of the 3.3v rails in the power supply decided to go, taking ONLY the LSI 9260-16i #RAID card with it, or the RAID card decided to go and took that 3.3v rail with it. Either way, I need a new power supply. Luckily, I've got a spare 750W supply lying around, which is about 250W smaller than I need for this machine, but it'll work for me for long enough to boot off USB and copy the data off the drives...

...once the frelling consistency check completes, that is.

This is one of the only #PITA things I dislike about LSI/Avago/Broadcom cards, but I'm also thankful for.

If you import a foreign config into a new card (in this case, a 9260CV-4i - don't worry, I've got an Intel RESv240 (or something like that) expander card it's going into) which uses the same chipset, the new card requires a consistency check on the drives, and it will lock access to the drives from the user until that consistency check is completed. This makes sense, because the card wants to know if there's anything wonky with the data/format before it allows access...

I know it's for "data safety", but I don't plan on leaving these drives in use in that machine... I'm going to yank them to put in the new fileserver and reinstall some old 1TB SATA drives (which I'll set up in RAID 5, with a couple of hotspares)..

Since I shot my wad on the case for the new fileserver, I'm going to have to wait to get the new PS... but that's OK, too.

It can wait, as long as I can get the data off these two arrays.

If I can't, I haven't lost anything life-ending, but it'll mean I have to cleanse another proxmox cluster of keys and whatnot from a node which is neither accessible nor present. Not a fun task - mostly tedious - but we're hoping that consistency check does its thing.

An hour and a half in, and it's just hit 20%. I may be able to get started booting the thing tomorrow morning... because I'm NOT staying up all night to wait for it...

20 years ago I would have.. but 20 years ago I still thought I was a teenager... even though I was far past that stage in my life.. Today, I know I'm not a teenager... I'm not even in my 20s.. so staying up - nah.. I enjoy my sleep too much, and without it, my Autistic ass is crankier than a 4 month old who hasn't been fed in an hour and has a dirty diaper/nappy.

So.. yeah.. I guess, wish me #luck on the #recovery of my #data. Please?

Zum #Mittagessen gibt es heute Reste von gestern – und zwar #Pita mit #Zaziki!