I had to buy a laptop for my kid to use for some online testing that required windows 11. They install some rootkit like malware that only runs on a baremetal install. So virtual machines were out, Linux was not supported.

So I plunged into that cesspool. Holy crap what a shitshow just to get an install.

Its true they force you to use a ms account to complete install. You must have WiFi enabled or might as well return it. Took 2 hours to download whatever it needed to complete the setup. Hadd to create 2 online accounts because the 1st one errored for an unknown reason.

After it booted I discovered S mode. You must sign in online and enable Hello to get out of S mode to install anything other than ms apps.

To use local account, you need to click around 4 or 5 different areas in order to remove online, then hello, then the passkey, then remove the ms account. I haven’t even begun cleaning up the diags, spyware, ads,suggestions, etc…

I feel dirty now.