Author: Martin Brinkmann

Your data is getting backed up automatically, if you sign-in to a new Windows 11 PC using a Microsoft account.

Windows setup is taking longer and longer to complete. Microsoft is adding new screens to the setup process on a regular basis. Besides ads, for testing Game PC, setup has other pitfalls that many users may want to avoid.

The upcoming Windows 11 version 24H2 makes another change that is going to hit users full in the face once they realize what is happening. Problem is, it may take a while before they realize it.

Here is what has changed: when you sign in using a Microsoft account, your data is automatically synced using OneDrive. That is to be expected, but Microsoft is now also backing up certain folders from the new Windows installation that reside outside the OneDrive folder automatically.

In other words, files may get backed up that you do not want to end up in the cloud. By default, Documents, Pictures, and Desktop folders are getting backed up. If you place the wrong file(s) there, you risk having your account disabled. Even worse, files that you do not want in the cloud may be uploaded to it automatically.

Note: we are still talking pre-release version. There is a chance that Microsoft is changing the behavior before public release.

OneDrive backs up files to the cloud automatically

Neowin was the first to report about it, but they provided no source. I downloaded the latest official Windows 11 version 24H2 to put this to the test.

Fired up a virtual machine using VMWare and started the installation. I kept everything set to the default values, which is probably what most Windows users do. I signed-in using a Microsoft account, as this is the one requirement to get OneDrive up and running.

Tip: you can check out my guide on bypassing the Microsoft account requirement in Windows 11.

It took a while for setup to finish, but the Windows 11 desktop loaded eventually. I noticed that OneDrive was starting to sync files from the cloud storage to the local system. This is also an automated process, which can push device storage to the limit.

When things settled down, I checked OneDrive > Settings > Sync and backup > Manage backup to find out if OneDrive was configured to back up certain folders automatically.

The next screen confirmed this. OneDrive was backing up Desktop, Documents, and Pictures automatically. It never asked whether it could do that.

While it is somewhat okay to get data that is in the cloud synced to the local PC, backing up files automatically without getting consent is a whole new dimension.

What you can do about it

• Skip signing in to a Microsoft account during setup. If you have troubles, try using Rufus to prepare the Windows ISO image.
• If you sign in with a Microsoft account, consider creating a new account.
• Once setup completes, go the OneDrive settings and turn the backup option off.
• Another option is to create a local account after setup completes and use it from that moment on. You can delete the Microsoft account.

Closing Words

With Microsoft making it difficult to set up Windows without a Microsoft account, it appears that many Windows 11 users will have data copied to the cloud once Windows 11 version 24H2 hits.

What is your take on this? Do you use OneDrive or other file syncing services?

Last week, Microsoft unintentionally explained why offline accounts are better in Windows. It does not seem to have taken long for Microsoft to realize that listing instructions to switch to local accounts was not the best strategy for a company that is doing everything in its might to make the creation of local accounts as awkward and irritating as possible.

What you need to know: local accounts are device-specific. They are not known to Microsoft and no data gets synced. Microsoft has a vetted interest in getting customers to use Microsoft accounts. This binds them to Microsoft and gives Microsoft more data.

Microsoft updated the support page recently. While it still lists the benefits of local accounts as well as Microsoft accounts, it no longer reveals to users how to create one or switch to using a local account.

Now, that support page is focused almost entirely on Microsoft accounts. (via Neowin)

Here is an overview of the page’s content after the update:

• Explains the differences between local and Microsoft accounts.
• Lists the benefits of Microsoft accounts.
• Lists the benefits of local accounts.
• Explains how to switch from a local account to a Microsoft account.
• Links to another support page entitled “What is a Microsoft account”.

The instructions to switch from a Microsoft account to a local account were removed.

How to switch from a Microsoft account to a local account in Windows 11

Thankfully, the Internet rarely forgets. Here they are again:

1. In the Settings app on your Windows device, select Accounts > Your info, or use the following shortcut: Your info
2. Select Sign in with a local account instead. You’ll see this link only if you’re using a Microsoft account
3. Type the username, password, and password hint. The username must be different than any others on the device
4. Select Next, then select Sign out and finish. Sign back in with your new local account

Closing Words

Here is a funny idea: maybe it is time to give customers what they want. Restore the option to create a local account during Windows setup and let customers decide. It is fine to make the Microsoft account the default.

This alone would make lots of Windows users happy who want to use a local account. It means that they won’t have to go to Settings to switch the Microsoft account to a local account, cursing Microsoft all the way of the process for being anti-consumer in this regard. The vast majority of users would still select a Microsoft account, giving Microsoft what it wants.

What about you? Do you prefer using a Microsoft account or a local account?

The last couple of years have been a difficult ride for the majority of Windows users. It all began with the release of Windows 11. Microsoft released the new version of Windows back in October 2021 to the public.

Several months before that release, it made it abundantly clear that Windows 11 would ship with new hardware requirements.

These requirements, particularly the need for a TPM chip and a relatively modern processor, blocked part of the userbase from upgrading to Windows 11 officially.

Granted, enthusiasts found ways to bypass the requirements and upgrade devices to Windows 11, but the majority of users does not know about Rufus or ways to bypass the requirements.

This divided the Windows userbase for the first time ever since Windows came to be. Hundreds of million of devices with Windows 10 cannot be upgraded to Windows 11 according to estimates. Microsoft, at least, gives customers an option to extend support by up to three years, but this comes at a price.

The second divide: Copilot+ PCs

Microsoft is dividing the Windows userbase again, less than three years after the official launch of Windows 11. Now, it is affecting the Windows 11 userbase.

The new Copilot+ PC type has different hardware requirements again. This time, requirements include a neural processing unit for AI processing on the device among other things.

While Microsoft won’t prevent regular Windows 11 systems from upgrading to Windows 11 version 24H2, it will block certain features on these devices.

In other words, if you do not have a Copilot+ PC, you won’t get all the features of Windows 11 anymore. While that is been the case for smaller features, including Auto DRM or DirectStorage, Microsoft is introducing a new dimension here.

Major features, including the controversial Recall feature, but also smaller features, such as features of the default image editor Paint, are Copilot+ PC exclusives. If you do not have one, you won’t be able to use these features, even if you wanted to.

Closing Words

Arguably, the second divide isn’t as major as the first. Windows 11 customers can continue to use their devices at least. Still, with a large number of Windows 10 customers left without any official options from Microsoft, and most current Windows 11 customers without access to many of the upcoming AI features, one has to wonder whether that is the best course of action.

If Microsoft would have known about the rise of AI in 2021, it could have waited with the release of Windows 11 until 2024. Or, it could have allowed Windows 10 devices to upgrade to Windows 11. All of these options were not really practicable from Microsoft’s point of view. It could have done that, but it wanted Windows 11 devices to be on modern hardware only. The rise of AI in 2023 came out of nowhere, practically.

Devices need enough processing power, using NPU chips, to compute certain AI tasks on the device. While it would still be possible to allow devices without AI chips to make use of these features, it would probably be unbearable slow.

In closing, Microsoft seems to have moved itself into a corner with the release of Windows 11 and the enforcement of new system requirements. The sudden rise of AI services and features require another round of adjustments to the system requirements.

Still, this is going to be a problem for Microsoft in the short run. What will all the Windows 10 customers do who cannot upgrade their devices to Windows 11?