Microsoft removes bypassnro.cmd script from the latest Insider Preview
Microsoft has recently released a promising Windows 11 24H2 insider build known as 26120.3653 under KB5053658 that brings in many changes, such as the new Blue Screen of Death appearance for unexpected system restarts to match the latest Windows 11 design guidelines as you can see below:
However, that’s not all, as Microsoft has recently decided to remove the bypassnro.cmd script from the build located under the %WINDIR%\System32\oobe folder. This script was mentioned a lot when it comes to bypassing the requirement for the Internet connection and signing in to the Microsoft Account.
We know that signing in to Microsoft Account in computers that are under big deployment for businesses, computers that are used by multiple people, or computers that don’t need to be linked to any account doesn’t make sense, so how did Microsoft manage to push everyone further into signing in to their Microsoft Account for new installations? By removing this script!
They said that it was because they wanted to “enhance security and user experience of Windows 11” and that this change ensured that “all users exit setup with internet connectivity and a Microsoft Account.”
As a workaround, if you’re experiencing errors when trying to run this script in this build, likely due to it being nonexistent, use the below commands as that’s what bypassnro.cmd does:
reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE /v BypassNRO /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /fshutdown /r /t 0
When creating bootable Windows USBs, Rufus already provides an option to remove the requirement for Microsoft Account when setting up your computer. When it’s enabled, it adds the same command to the deployment file.
