News

Microsoft Tightens Windows 11 Setup To Enforce Online Accounts

The tech giant is making moves to shut down the remaining workarounds that let users skip online sign-in during Windows 11 setup.

Published

10 months ago

October 7, 2025

Nour Nasir

microsoft tightens windows 11 setup to enforce online accounts

Microsoft is closing the last gaps that allowed Windows 11 to be installed without a Microsoft account or internet connection. The latest Insider build disables long-used tricks for creating local accounts during setup, tightening a requirement that has frustrated privacy-focused users since Windows 11 launched.

Amanda Langowski, head of the Windows Insider Program, said Microsoft is “removing known mechanisms for creating a local account in the Windows Setup experience (OOBE),” warning that these bypasses can skip “critical setup screens” and leave devices incomplete.

The update extends a series of steps Microsoft has taken over the past year to tie Windows installations to its cloud ecosystem. The company already removed the “bypassnro” command earlier in 2024. The new build now blocks the “start ms-cxh:localonly” command, which users discovered soon after the first fix. Attempting it now simply resets the setup process instead of moving past the account requirement.

For years, these commands were shared across forums and IT circles as an easy workaround to install Windows 11 Pro or Home offline. Removing them means users who want a purely local profile will need to rely on more complex setup files or post-install tweaks.

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Some users turn to local accounts to keep work and personal devices separate or to avoid syncing data across Microsoft’s services. Others simply want to name their main user folder without Windows generating it from their email address. Microsoft has added a narrow option for that: a command that lets users rename the folder during setup, though it remains buried in command-line tools.

The shift marks a broader move to anchor Windows 11 inside Microsoft’s identity and cloud framework — one that streamlines management for enterprises but leaves individual users with less control over how their devices start up.

News

Samsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA

Nearly seven in ten streams in the region come from 18-to-34-year-olds — the audience Samsung is hoping to entice into its ecosystem.

Published

6 days ago

August 7, 2026

Nour Nasir

Samsung

Samsung has announced a partnership with Spotify spanning the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye, bundling Spotify Premium with select devices across its ecosystem. The headline offer — up to four months of Premium for free — is a first for the region.

Customers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Türkiye who buy any OLED or 98-inch television, or any Galaxy S or Z series mobile device, get four months of Spotify Premium. The offer, tiered by market and device, is available at retail and on Samsung.com, and redeemed through the Samsung Promotion and Samsung Members apps.

For Samsung, the strategy is less about free music than about lock-in. The Korean tech giant’s pitch is continuity: a track starts on a Galaxy smartphone through Galaxy Buds on the commute, moves to a Samsung TV and soundbar in the living room, and stays controllable from a Galaxy Watch. The more seamlessly music travels between those devices, the harder it becomes to swap any one of them for a rival’s.

“Technology should bring people closer to the things they love, and few things connect people the way music does,” said Omar Saheb, Regional VP of Marketing and Online Business at Samsung Electronics MENA. The partnership, he added, gives customers “a genuine reason to choose Samsung for the experience, not only the product”.

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For subscribers, Premium brings the usual package: ad-free listening, offline downloads, richer audio quality on Galaxy Buds and Samsung sound devices, and Jam, which lets friends build a shared queue.

“At Spotify, we are always working to make every listening moment feel more personal, meaningful, and worth it,” said Rami Jamal, Head of Partnerships at Spotify for South Asia, Middle East, and Africa.

The demographics go a long way to explaining the strategy. Across MENA, Türkiye, and Pakistan, nearly seven in ten Spotify streams come from listeners aged 18 to 34, according to the company — precisely the audience Samsung wants inside its hardware ecosystem before buying habits harden.