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.
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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.