The U.S. has been quietly building up a set of state-level laws that push operating system providers into the age verification plague.
California’s AB 1043, signed in October 2025, requires OS providers to collect age data at account setup and pipe it to apps through a real-time API. It kicks in on January 1, 2027.
Colorado is working on something nearly identical. SB26-051 (which we covered when it was still a proposal) passed the state Senate 28-7 on March 3, 2026, and is now waiting on a House vote to become law there too.
However, these are just state-level laws. A new federal bill, H.R.8250, introduced on April 13, 2026, by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, with Rep. Elise M. Stefanik signing on as cosponsor, has us intrigued.
Enterprise and SMB always have practical workarounds that consumers do not need to deal with.
The only way to create a local user account on windows 11 now without fuckery is pretending you are going to domain join. No other method exists without under the hood tweaks. A similar workaround would work.
But none of this actually protects kids. The goal is to have total surveillance over as many users as possible in their home life. Enterprise is already handled by m365 and google workspace after all.
Depending on your definition of “under the hood”, this isn’t really accurate. You can invoke CMD to create an account or enter Audit mode to do the same. Neither of these methods require preparation of separate installation media.
Yes, invoking a command prompt to enter a command is under the hood for most users.
I work in IT, I know all the tricks. I also know how users tend to behave. Anyone who is tech savvy can figure out the ins and outs and get around all manner of things. If you just follow what you can click on screen and stick strictly to GUI and zero customized OOBE tweaks you have no other option as-is with vanilla w10 other than an online account setup with microsoft.
I consider shift +f10 to open a command prompt and using that bypassnro command as under the hood because how do you even know how to do that without googling? That isn’t included on any instructions with the device. Most users are going to open up the box from the store, plug it in, and hit the power button. Then they’ll click through the prompts.
I was mostly stuck on the “the only way” part of your comment. In terms of accessibility, I don’t know that the domain method would really be any better - not to mention that it’s limited to Pro/Enterprise Windows editions that most consumers aren’t getting.
The audit mode path is more GUI friendly but, similar to the Domain option, still requires pre-existing knowledge or web search.
Here’s hoping Microsoft actually follows through on loosening this restriction, even though I largely hold the position that basic users’ security benefits from the MS Account setup.
Ohhh trust me I know it’s all about surveillance. I’m just meaning they’re going to negatively impact everyone everywhere without a second thought because they’ll get what they want in the end. Either more money or more reelections
Can’t you only join a domain on the Pro versions of Windows, too?
But I don’t use windows 11, still using a local account just fine.
I use CachyOS, but for the vanilla home user “I bought a laptop!” at bestbuy or whatever the fuck, there’s no local account option anymore. It’s connect to the internet and sign in with microsoft, and nag you constantly every 3 days until you activate onedrive and other microsoft services.
I got an ARM64 laptop through work to test to see how it might work as an experiment and this has been how the device behaves from day 1. It’s a nightmare.
Does windows no longer let you use a PC without the internet? I don’t normally buy PCs with an OS and install my own on them.
As far as I know an internet connection is required on a vanilla OOBE setup of windows 11 with today’s iso or a dell/hp/lenovo preload.
Most user systems ship with W11 Home licenses, no pro, so they don’t even have a domain join option.
It is of course technically possible to install w11 without any internet connection and without a windows license at all, but I think of instructions like “To install Windows 11 without internet connection and using local account, in the OOBE using Shift + F10 and run the OOBEBYPASSNRO command.” to be beyond the capabilities of the lowest common denominator of home users, e.g. the majority of them.