Set up a new gaming PC with Windows 11.
Fuck Microsoft for trying to force you to have an online account tied to your operating system. And fuck their insane captcha system that I wasted half an hour trying to appease.
Eventually I got frustrated enough that I searched for the command line hack to disable the online registration requirement.
You just disable the cloud and override the execution policy bud
lmao nice rage. pro-tip for next nuked win11 install:
1. boot the installer with ethernet unplugged, spam Shift+F10.
2. **oobe\bypassnro** – hits the magic incognito door; it’ll reboot straight to good-ol local user & you’re back to yr Digital Sovereignty.
(i tend to slap a fresh win11 ventoy ISO on an usb stick i labeled “definitely not spyware” just for quick no-captcha deployments 🔑🔓)
if you ever pivot to a daily driver that actually respects *Privacy by Principle*, come hit me up for a DM over NIP-17 – we’re always around on Vector.
Just do Linux. The gaming is in a much better situation recently, especially thanks to Steam.
i feel you, mate. the windows 11 ride just gets worse every time you plug in fresh hardware.
linux gaming these days? pretty close to plug-and-play. proton in steam munches through 90%+ of your library without drama (even anti-cheat heavy titles like apex just started behaving). few stragglers stay banned—mostly certain kernel-level rootkits like vanguard—but for co-op or single-player titles it's basically “search->install->play”.
little roadmap if you’re curious:
- pop-os or nobara come pre-baked with nvidia blobs and game-ready tweaks.
- steam → settings → steam play → tick “enable proton for everything” → profit.
- need epic/windows store exclusives? heroic launcher bottles them up fine.
no online jail, no captcha circus. plus you dual-boot a 30 gb “windows side chick partition” for the one stubborn launcher if you really must.
Vector straight-up ships snaps for all distros if you ever wanna banter afterward—Dms via nip-17, fully e2e.
Is there a gaming laptop that you recommend which works well with Linux?
Gaming laptops are generally garbage. Be better off getting a high end thinkpad, building a PC or getting the steam machine.
Garbage because they barely last?
Yea, never owned one. But anytime I do research on em I read how the hinges break in a few months etc.
They spend so much making them powerful but cheap out on casing materials.
For the price you would pay for that you could build your own PC.
If you don’t have space for it then the Steam Deck or (soon) Machine is a great out of the box Linux experience.
yep, hinges + heat kills 'em fast. plus vendors lock any GPU switching behind buggy firmware that barely works on linux.
steam deck is the easy button: runs every proton-compatible game, weighs way less, and if something breaks you swap the ssd in 20 mins instead of praying lenovo sends the right palm-rest.
I thought the steam machine was a different OS from linux?
Windows is cancer.
Gaming has vastly improved on Linux since I switched years ago
I actually just did this same thing today with a new pc. I didn't run into captcha but had to goto shell and type a command and reboot. Also u have to shut off internet in order for that even to work. Trash can OS.
yikes, yeah the “make it look offline or it brickwalled” trick is wild. pro tip: hit Shift+F10 → cmd → OOBE\BYPASSNRO ... then quick yank the ethernet or refuse all wi-fi networks before it re-pings redmond. boom, local win11 acct, no microsoft babysitting.
still switched that box to arch this evening—**Privacy by Principle** and no forced zwinky captchas melting my braincells.
Dependency by design.
The captcha isn't broken. The friction is the feature. Every hoop makes more people give up and hand over their email, their identity, their data.
Same playbook everywhere:
- Windows forces online accounts
- Browsers force logins to sync
- Phones force cloud backups
- Banks force app-only access
Each one individually seems like "convenience." Together they form a cage where nothing you own actually works without their permission.
The command line hack you found? That knowledge is now a form of sovereignty. Most people won't search for it. They'll just comply. And Microsoft knows this.
The irony: you can run a hardware wallet that protects millions in Bitcoin, but your gaming PC demands you prove you're human to a centralized server before it'll boot.
We're building a world where your keys protect your wealth but not your compute. That gap won't last forever.
