What About a De-Enshittify Windows 11 Field Guide? ⭐

In struggling to find a more concise format for the next Windows 11 Field Guide, a new possibility emerged. Given my recent focus, perhaps a companion work, a De-Enshittify Windows 11 Field Guide, or whatever, might make more sense to start. This will give me time to keep refining the new format for the bigger book, and it aligns nicely with what’s happening now with Windows.

Without worrying too much yet about how this will be distributed—most likely an e-book like the other books, but shorter and much less expensive, plus a series of articles here on the site—I did want to at least outline the form it might take and get some feedback. Nothing here is decided per se, these are just some ideas. But it’s coming together more quickly than the other book, so this is perhaps something I could put together soon.

Where the Windows 11 Field Guide is a reference, essentially, the De-Enshittify Windows 11 Field Guide would be more of a how-to.

At this time, there are two key components to this book (which, I should note, I always think in terms of books for this kind of content, though that might be outdated in some ways). There’s the table of contents (TOC), which is pretty standard, and then just a general style for dealing with smaller topics.

This is not a final TOC by any means, but it could look something like this.

• Starting fresh with a new install of Windows 11
• De-enshittify an existing install of Windows 11
• De-enshittify Microsoft Edge whether you use it or not
• De-enshittify Windows 11 apps
• Replace enshittified Windows 11 apps
• Make Windows 11 more secure
• Make Windows 11 respect your privacy
• Improve Windows 11 with PowerToys

That bit is pretty straightforward, but what I’m slightly more interested in is tied to my desire to make the big book more concise: A series of problems/solutions that could be used throughout the book to address literal enshittification but also other pain points in Windows 11.

And the format of this content, though still up in the air as well, is kind of fun. To build it out a bit, I looked at several chapters of the current Windows 11 Field Guide and pulled out some how-tos with solutions and/or workarounds. Here are just a few examples.

Windows Setup

? The enshittification: I can’t install or upgrade to Windows 11 on my PC because it doesn’t meet the hardware requirements.

? The solution: Download the Windows 11 ISO file from Microsoft and use Rufus to create the USB-based installation media. Rufus provides an option, “Remove requirement for 4GB+ RAM, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0,” that eliminates the hardware requirement blocks.

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? The enshittification: Windows 11 Setup forces me to sign in with a Microsoft account or Microsoft work or school account, but I want to use a local account

? A workaround: Sign in with a Microsoft account and then convert it to a local account after you’ve reached the Desktop. You can do this with the Settings app by navigating to Accounts > Your info > Account settings.

? The solution: Don’t connect to the Internet when you set up your new (or newly reset) PC. When you reach the “Let’s connect you to a network” screen, type SHIFT + F10 to display a Command Prompt window, select that window, and then enter the following command:

oobe\bypassnro

After you tap Enter, the PC will reboot and Setup will restart. Now, you will see an “I don’t have internet” link on the “Let’s connect you to a network” screen. Click that to sign in with a local account.

Desktop

? The problem: When I right-click the Desktop, the context menu that appears doesn’t display all the options I expect.

? A workaround: Hold down the Shift key before you right-click the Desktop to display the context menu you remember from Windows 10.

? The solution: Paste the following command line into the Terminal app to make the old Windows 10-style context menu permanent:

reg.exe add HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509 50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32” /f /ve

You will have to restart Explorer.exe with Task Manager or reboot the PC to see the change. To reverse this change, use the following command line instead:

reg.exe delete “HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509 50c905bae2a2}” /f

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? The problem: The Windows 11 Desktop only displays an icon for Recycle Bin by default, but not icons for Computer, Network, and other system items.

? The solution: To configure which system icons appear on the Desktop, open the Settings app, navigate to Personalization > Themes, and then click the option “Desktop icon settings” to display the Desktop Icon Settings window.

Start

? The problem: The Start menu and Taskbar are centered by default.

? The solution: You can display both on the left side of the screen as was the case in Windows 10. To do so, open the Settings app, navigate to Personalization > Taskbar, expand the “Taskbar behaviors” item, and configure “Taskbar alignment” to “Left.”

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? The problem: The Start menu displays advertisements for apps and other nonsense.

? The solution: You can disable this behavior. Open the Settings app, navigate to Personalization > Start, and then configure the option “Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more” to “Off.”

OneDrive

? The enshittification: OneDrive automatically enables Folder Backup without asking or after it’s asked and you’ve declined to do so.

? A workaround: You can reverse this change after the fact in OneDrive settings: Click “Manage backup” on the Sync and backup page and then use the “Back up folders on this PC” dialog that appears to decide which folders you will back up (really, sync) to OneDrive.

Note that there is a new behavior here that lets you choose where to save your files when you disable Folder Backup on a particular folder.

? The solution: If you are fast enough and know where to look, you can prevent Folder Backup from enabling when you first set up your PC. Once you complete Windows Setup and get to the Desktop, wait for the OneDrive icon to appear in the system tray area of the Taskbar (and for it to show a signed in state, meaning without an angled line through its icon). Then, open OneDrive settings, click “Manage backup” on the Sync and backup page to display the “Back up folders on this PC” dialog. If you’re lucky, you will see a yellow infobar with the text “Getting things ready for backup.” Click the “Cancel” link to prevent OneDrive from enabling Folder Backup.

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There would be more screenshots than shown there, but that’s the gist of it.

Please let me know what you think, with the understanding that pretty much everything here could be different in some way. But I feel like this can be a useful guide, on the web and in e-book form, and a nice companion to the bigger Windows 11 Field Guide that I’m still working through.