Win 11 24H2 ISO, Win 11 bypass no longer working

[Rootman]

Looks like MS closed the loop that was previously used to bypass the MS Account creation during installation using the Win 11 24H2 ISO.  

I double checked and the VTOY_WIN11_BYPASS_NRO IS set to 1.  It had previously worked for Win 11 23H2.  I had the ethernet cable pulled as well.

Anyone get this to work?  Or any ideas on how to bypass this crap? Looks like I may have to install 23H2 and upgrade it.

[Eliott]

If unplugging the network cable doesn't work, chances are the following tip won't work.
but you have to try it to find out.

A trick that worked with the old w11 versions:
In the microsoft account entry screen, enter an imaginary address, zz@zz.com for exemple.
click on “next”.
Enter a password, e.g. zz
click on “connect"
An error message appeared
Click on “next” and you're taken to the local account creation screen.

[Rootman]

If unplugging the network cable doesn't work, chances are the following tip won't work.
but you have to try it to find out.

A trick that worked with the old w11 versions:
In the microsoft account entry screen, enter an imaginary address, zz@zz.com for exemple.
click on “next”.
Enter a password, e.g. zz
click on “connect"
An error message appeared
Click on “next” and you're taken to the local account creation screen.

Last tie I tried that I think it just rolled around insisting it needed an MS account.
I actually got an answer from the Reddit Ventoy sub, I used an  autounattend.xml generator that set the same BYPASS_NRO that Ventoy has, and it worked.  I also incorporated a bunch of other tweaks the generator offered and the entire install with the local account was done in a flash.  I had not fooled with autoenattend.xml files in a long time, years.  Ventoy made using it a snap too. 

[Eliott]

wow, I didn't know about this site, a real gold mine for people like me who are used to simplifying their Windows after installation. With this configurator, you can install only what you need.
Not knowing anything about XML, I didn't know such a thing was possible, so I'd never looked in that direction. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

Many thanks for pointing me to this page.
A lot of work ahead to test this.

I suppose that once the file is generated, you just have to put it at the root of a W10/11 iso and launch the installation for it to be taken into account.
I'll soon have to completely reinstall W10 on a friend's machine, and since I'll have the PC for a few days, I think I'll try to use this.

I have to completely reinstall Windos (10 or 11) on a friend's laptop soon, since I'll have the PC for a few days I think I'll try to use this.

[Rootman]

Sorry, I didn't point out the rest of the process, Ventoy has a plugin that handles this.

I personally leave the extracted Ventoy files from the Ventoy installation on a folder on all my Ventoy drives in a folder named with the version, like ventoy-1.0.99. That way I have them to use any of the tools it provides, mainly VentoyPlugson.exe. 

Get your autounattend.xml created and download it.  I put mine in a folder on the Ventoy drives root named scripts. 

Run VentoyPlugson.exe in that folder and click START, it will open in your browser. Click on the Auto Install Plugin in the left hand column.  Click on ADD and it will open a dialog asking for the path to the autounattend.xml file, add it, then tell it what ISO or folder you want that autounattend.xml to be used with. You can use the same script for many ISOs or individual scripts per ISO.

Then just close the plugson tool and give it a try.  I picked a bunch of stuff on the XML creator,  I was just mainly after the MS account creation bypass, but also cleared up a bunch of junk, activated the normally deactivated administrator account, moved the Start menu to the left and several other things. 

Years ago, probably decades ago, I hand edited autounattend.xml files for server installations. That process was moved over to another group where I work, so I had not used them since. This XML creator is genius, I had never pursued any of them that I ran across, this one is far beyond any I had seen before. 

It was really a fun exercise and really made the installation fun and fast.

[Eliott]

Thanks for the reply.
I use plugson too but I hadn't explored this ventoy plugin yet and I didn't see what it could be used for. I'll go to bed less stupid tonight.
Just to test, I added the Autounattend.xml directly (I've tested a lot of options, it's great to get rid of a lot of useless stuff in your OS) in a Win10 iso (I haven't got the W11 multi-language iso yet) just to see what happens.
It works perfectly, whether you run the install from ventoy or from a dedicated usb key.
I'm now going to test it with the ventoy plugin.
The advantage I see in, i can keep the isos "as is", generate several unattend files and select the one best suited to each job.

[Rootman]

I had forgotten how much easier it really made installations, and in reality it wasn't that hard to do all the little settings changes I do when I setup a PC. It took Win 11 and it's stupid insistence on forcing you to have a MS account to make me look at autounattend.xml again. I had forgotten how cool they could be, and it seems they've added a lot more settings, or at least the more crap MS adds, the more people figure out a way to get around it all.

BTW, the Ventoy Auto Install Plugin does not change the ISO file at all, it simply makes Ventoy aware of the XML script and when you boot to it, after the initial screen showing all the ways you can boot, it presents a second screen, to boot to the ISO with the autounattend.xml or not, so you still have the choice to do a regular - all junk included - install. THere are even settings in the plugin to avoid that second menu or give it a time out.

I have not been using Ventoy a whole lot in recent times, getting back to it and rediscovering all these cool features brings back old memories. I spent a few hours messing with this on a Friday afternoon. It was time well spent.

[Eliott]

I use plugson too, but i'm still in discovery mode.
I've spent a few hours getting to grips with some of the subtleties.
I spent a lot of time trying to make cool themes (I especially struggled with fonts) that make friends laugh when i boot the tool, as well as getting several versions of linux (which I'm using more and more in live mode) configured with the persistence function.
With what I've learned today, I'm going to explore new ways of installing W10/11. Cool.

Thanks again for the help.