Windows

Installation

• To skip Microsoft account login, when you reach to the login step, press Shift + F12 to open a command prompt, then run start ms-cxh:localonly and create a local account. (source)
  • OOBE\BYPASSNRO used to work for me but it no longer works, even with the Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account option enabled in Rufus when creating the installation media.

Tweaking

I've been using Windhawk on Windows 11 to tweak some UI elements and behaviors. I used to use 7+ Taskbar Tweaker on Windows 10 and it was very saddening to see it not working on Windows 11. Windhawk is a great replacement. I'm using these mods:

• slick-window-arrangement to arrange windows by dragging them to the edges of the screen.
  • Snap windows distance: 5
• taskbar-icon-size to make the taskbar icons smaller.
  • Taskbar height: 40
  • Icon size: 16
• taskbar-on-top to move the taskbar to the top of the screen.
• net-speed-taskbar to show network speed on the taskbar.
• taskbar-thumbnail-reorder to reorder taskbar thumbnails with the left mouse button.
• taskbar-notification-icon-spacing to adjust the spacing and grid of taskbar tray icons.
  • Tray icon width: 24
• taskbar-volume-control to control the system volume by scrolling over the taskbar.

Shrinking hiberfil.sys

Windows uses C:\hiberfil.sys for Hibernate, Fast Startup, and some other features on the same space.

Since I don't use Hibernate or Sleep in my PC, I set powercfg /h /type reduced to keep Fast Startup working. See powercfg options for more info.

powercfg /a                      # what this machine actually supports
powercfg /h /type reduced        # keep Fast Startup, drop Hibernate

note

With Fast Startup enabled, "Shut down" is not a cold boot — hardware and drivers don't fully re-initialize, only "Restart" does. Worth remembering when testing whether a hardware fault reproduces from a clean state, since a shutdown will appear to preserve the broken state.

Disabling Automatic Restarts After Updates

To disable automatic restarts after updates, you need to update its related Group Policy:

1. Open gpedit.msc and go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage end user experience.
2. Open Configure Automatic Updates, set it to Enabled, and pick 3 - Auto download and notify for install. The schedule options below it only apply to option 4.
3. Run gpupdate /force in an elevated terminal.

caution

Security updates won't install until you click Install in Windows Update, so remember to do it every now and then.