You can’t get rid of it, you can only hide it: Microsoft imposes controversial Windows Backup on users::Like it or not, the Windows Backup app installed in Windows 10 and Windows 11 is here to stay, with Microsoft calling it a “system component” that can’t be
Use local accounts only and do not login to a Microsoft account.
Edit: In my situation, I used an MS account during a reinstall and disabled backups and logged out quickly after. There are methods to still do an offline install, from what I understand.
Disabling backup is annoying, but not hard.
Is that possible on Windows 11?
Yes. When installing and it asks for your email address just use no@thankyou.com then type anything in for the password. It will fail then you can enter a local account.
BRB, buying thankyou.com and enjoying my several million computers.
How many emails do you think contoso.com gets daily? I’ve used na@contoso.com hundreds of times for random shit that will get used for 5 minutes and never again
Yes. I had to do that on my latest reinstall. I had to create a local account after the install and log out of my MS account. It really tried to force backups, which is super annoying.
Is it still possible to install Winndows 11 without network connection? It was the optimal solution for local account Windows back in the day.
Yes it is, at least for now. Shift + f10 to open cmd in the OOBE, then “OOBE \BYPASSNRO”
I quickly tried, but I gave up as I just needed the install done. It didn’t occur to me to pull the network cable as that may have worked. If I remember what I was reading at the time correctly, it will take a bit for the option to show to do an offline install if you don’t have a network connection. (I could be completely wrong on that! It’s been a couple of months already.)
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You can get the Windows 11 ISO and mount/image a drive with it using Rufus which will let you disable telemetry and build a local account into the image IIRC
Hell you can even make a “mobile” windows install and have windows on an external drive with Rufus
You could also use Linux. I mean you’re starting to hack your machine just as much as a Linux user.
You also can’t use a work or school account, according to Microsoft:
There is also no way to use the backup app with local storage, like an external hard drive; you can ONLY back up to OneDrive with this.
EDITED to clarify: for now, you can still back up to another drive, but it’s a different process and the “advanced settings” needed to do so are buried several layers deep.