YouTube Removes Windows 11 Bypass Tutorials, Claims 'Risk of Physical Harm'

WaitWaitWha | 802 points

Mount a Windows 11 ISO. Open an administrative command window. Navigate to the new drive letter. Enter this command:

    .\setup.exe /product server /auto upgrade /EULA accept /migratedrivers all /ShowOOBE none /Compat IgnoreWarning /Telemetry Disable
I've used this to upgrade 10 to 11 on non approved hardware, going back to at least 2nd gen Intel CPUs. I've used it to upgrade existing Pro, EDU and IOT that didn't want to upgrade.

The install window will say server but it isn't.

WarOnPrivacy | 18 hours ago

We really need some antitrust enforcement right about now.

When second and fourth largest companies by market cap find it in their financial best interest to collaborate with each other, we have a problem.

In healthy markets, two companies that harvest and sell data as a major source of revenue would want to pull an Auric Goldfinger and disrupt one another's data collection practices to decrease the supply and increase the price of ad-relevant data.

president_zippy | 14 minutes ago

> Rich appealed both immediately. The first appeal was denied in 45 minutes. The second in just five.

> The platform claimed its "initial actions" (could be either the first takedown or appeal denial, or both) were not the result of automation.

Didn't know YouTube can improve their review time from 45 minutes to 5 minutes without automation. I bet it's pure magic.

rs186 | 21 hours ago

Google censors the world, together with Microsoft.

Well - it is time that the rest of the world censors these two corporation. I don't want them to restrict information.

People will find workarounds by the way. This is now a Streisand effect - as people see that Google and Microsoft try to hide information from them, they will now look at this much more closely than before, with more attention.

(Having said that, my bypass strategy is to not use Windows 11 altogether. I don't depend on it, having used Linux since 21 years now, but my machine to the left is actually using Win10, for various reasons, such as that I can fix problems of elderly relatives still using Windows. But I won't use Win11 ever with its recall-spy software. I also don't care that it can be disabled - any corporation that tries to sniff-invade on me, is evil and must be banned.)

Edit: Ok so the video was restored. That was good, but still, we need an alternative here. Google holds WAY too much power via youtube.

shevy-java | 21 hours ago

Unfortunately, this brings an obvious question:

If they sensor something like this, how could we trust platforms with the actually important subjects?

g42gregory | 21 hours ago

Those of you who don't use Linux as a daily driver: why?

What do you need in Windows that is not possible in Linux? Its slowness to justify your 40-hour work week?

Pooge | 7 hours ago

Although the reason was absurd, videos were eventually restored.

brulard | a day ago

Google used to proudly say "Don't be evil"... But they just forgot to add "let us take that part".

When tech giants start deciding what technical knowledge is too "dangerous" for users to access, we've crossed into a different kind of territory. Installing an OS on your own hardware is now physical harm? That's some creative interpretation of their policies. The irony is that this kind of censorship just validates why people want to bypass these systems in the first place, nobody wants corporations deciding what they can and can't do with their own machines.

SurceBeats | 7 hours ago

Bit beside the point but Windows 11 is the first version since Windows 3.1 that I haven't used.

Nuked my Windows 10 install and put Pop OS on it + a MacBook separately.

WXLCKNO | 21 hours ago

If anyone at YouTube Trust & Safety is reading this article, I've got a real problem for you to solve.

There are channels that exist solely to pump out AI slop seemingly designed to trick gullible seniors into identifying themselves in the comments. I suspect the scammers will go after these people later in pig-butchering or related scams.

For example, the “Senior Secrets” channel pumps out videos such as “Over 60? Add THIS Powder To Your Coffee To Walk like You’re 40 Again! | Senior Health Tips.” (I won’t link to the video, but you can easily find it with a search.) The video makes bold health claims justified by citing what appear to be scholarly research studies, such as:

> University of California, San Francisco (2023). "Mobility Enhancement Through Nutritional Supplementation in Older Adults." Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, Volume 78, pp. 445-453.

However, none of the cited studies and papers are real.

The deeply concerning thing is that the video’s narrator invites the seniors who are duped by these claims to identify themselves and reveal their age and locations in the comments. From the transcript at 1m44s:

> "Before we begin, tell us in the comments now your age and where you're watching us from. We're reading and replying to every single comment, so drop your comments below."

I’ve already reported this content to YT, but I’ve seen no apparent follow-up.

Disclaimer: I used to work at Google, but not in anything YouTube related. If you’re in YT and want to reach out, my contact info is in my HN profile.

tmoertel | 19 hours ago

I no longer run a Microsoft OS on any of the computers I own.

This type of behavior is the reason.

Linux is good enough for most everything I do, for the rest is MacOS.

gorjusborg | 21 hours ago

Maybe they mixed it up with mental harm from using Windows 11 and that's why they removed Windows 11 content.

zelphirkalt | 19 hours ago

Funny, because all the LLMs are more than happy to spit out the steps. Alphabet, if you want to get ahead, you need to be sure you're consistent. It's literally 4 clicks to get the same info from your sister product.

1970-01-01 | 5 hours ago

This is a blessing in disguise.

Now more people will be motivated to migrate AWAY from Windows since they will have no bypass.

BobbyTables2 | 19 hours ago

Governments (we the people in general) have the right and duty to regulate corporations, non-human entities which exist at our regulatory pleasure. The US and the EU could easily rip Google/MS/Apple to pieces if they wanted to. Hit some other media conglomerates while they're at it. Vote or something.

godsmokescrack | 16 hours ago

> YouTube eventually restored both videos

Okay, nothing to see here then. Just some sensationalism around a content moderation mistake.

Anduia | 8 hours ago

Anyone still using Windows for anything but gaming is an idiot.

john_alan | an hour ago

It's like they want people to bypass Windows 11 altogether. I've finally bit the bullet and gone to Linux recently. Certainly dying by 512 cuts and counting, not for the faint of heart, but I'm surprised at how much of my daily usage I've been able to replicate. I'd say 80% of life works, unlike previous attempts.

phreack | 9 hours ago

I think this is the same story as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45744503 ?

zahlman | 17 hours ago

As if people would not talk to each other or post such instructions elsewhere.... What a clumsy attempt to censor that. As if we now would love Microsoft for their shit and crap they produce since centuries. I only got a gaming machine running it here, all my private data will stay on another linux machine

tom89999 | 13 hours ago

> Claims 'Risk of Physical Harm'

Elaborate please YouTube.

blitzar | 10 hours ago

Windows 11 attempts to remove local only account is the last straw. I have mostly moved away from Windows already but if they fully implement this will never recommend to anyone period. I manage 2600 computers where I work and am down to less than 150 running windows … could see this reaching 0 in just a year or two.

roody15 | 18 hours ago

This happened to me when Amazon KDP's fraud prevention AI hallucinated that my Kindle version was plagiarizing my paperback (yes, it's the same book). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40992654

Unfortunately, I'm not sure a human ever really looked at my case, or was strongly disincentivized to go against the AI. I got nothing but bland, contentless denials of my appeals that got vaguer each time. And I was never able to go viral, so I'm banned from KDP for life for complete nonsense.

suzzer99 | 17 hours ago

I forsee a lobby to the government for further restriction on our freedom of speech by google and others as these companies can't compete with open source and decentralized alternatives that are beginning to offer really well made alternatives.

puppycodes | 19 hours ago

There are a lot of videos on YouTube about things that have a “risk of physical harm” and this is what they choose to pick on??

insane_dreamer | 21 hours ago

The videos were restored, though...

Evidlo | 20 hours ago

Huh I must have just got in on time as I set up a local account about 12 hours ago following a tutorial.

afarviral | 12 hours ago

Once the masses discover that KDE is just as user friendly as Windows these days, ...

... and that it is relatively easy to run (most) Windows apps they love through Bottles (https://usebottles.com/), and/or WinApps (https://github.com/winapps-org/winapps)...

... oof

mindcrash | 21 hours ago
[deleted]
| 2 hours ago

The video in question does present a risk of death... to Windows.

(Nah, that wording is but a generic legalese sounding way of casting a huge net to get all sorts of fish.)

henriquemaia | 20 hours ago

It wasn't wrong, there is no bigger harm one can do to self than using Windows!

vismit2000 | 17 hours ago

I cannot recommend NTLite enough.

If it has to be Windows, just remove all the shit of Win11 yourself, set it to unattended installation with a local account, remove the hardware requirements barrier while you are at it, remove the games, controller add-ons, virus scanner and whatever else you would like to (the windows store?) and create your own LTSC.

This isn’t a solution to the problem and missing the point of the whole argument. But if it has to be Windows, I would recommend to try it.

1] ntlite.com

gond | 9 hours ago

"Risk of Physical Harm" is the kind of reason Tony Soprano would say

geor9e | 18 hours ago

> Then came the twist. YouTube eventually restored both videos. The platform claimed its "initial actions" (could be either the first takedown or appeal denial, or both) were not the result of automation.

The videos are back. It's also possible that a group of people "brigade" reported his posts for some reason. YouTubers attract haters, too.

fortran77 | 19 hours ago

Meanwhile AI products occasionally talk kids into killing themselves and that's okay.

Pxtl | 20 hours ago

They cant remove all the Ubuntu installation tutorials surely?

hshdhdhehd | 20 hours ago

Risk of Physical Harm of losing profit.

dev_l1x_be | 17 hours ago

So why shouldn't I use the windows 11 on the other partition that I use for games that don't run on Linux or run with degraded performance?

(Yeah, it's Nvidia, no, I didn't do my homework and bought Nvidia for a Linux PC).

While it may make sense for others, I don't find system that can lock up for 11 hours for updates suitable for anything other than occasional gaming. But why shouldn't I use it for it? I already think twice before getting any game that doesn't run on Linux and gave EA WRC Rally a downvote after they rug pulled Linux users. (A game that run on Linux on the beginning got borked with anticheat. A racing game, so you don't cheat your friends by having 1s less on that race you all compete on).

wafflemaker | 20 hours ago

Thanks Google and Microsoft, I am going to write a blogpost on how to bypass Microsoft's shits and archive the page as well.

mkbkn | 15 hours ago

But there is a harm. Just had to repair a pc of my family, because you are able to install windows 11 on a MBR Partition without EFI Boot. Has to convert it and fix some stuff, but it still starts only every second boot (srsly)

ibbtown | 10 hours ago

And how you would install a dual boot with some mainstream elf/linux distro?

Is dual boot still a thing with all the effort from microsoft to make that hell or impossible?

sylware | 9 hours ago

OBAY

spl757 | 9 hours ago

The whole Windows 11 saga can be titled, "Dr. Bashlove, or, how I stopped worrying and learned to love the *NIX".

Hard to believe this is the same company that made Windows 7. Coulda just ported WSL and security fixes back to that and stopped there. But nooooo.

lenerdenator | 19 hours ago

Risk of physical harm? Should I perceive that as a… threat?

WesolyKubeczek | 21 hours ago

Feels like AI going wild with censorship regardless of what they say lol

I wonder if this is because Windows 11 has been used in critical systems to a certain extent?

henvic | 21 hours ago

> Risk of Physical Harm

Yet ChatGPT is not responsible for having led to suicides.

antegamisou | 14 hours ago

Bullshit, horseshit, cows hot.

The whole win 11 thing is embarrassing.

They are this far in, pushing features nobody asked for and is there any wonder the numbers blow chunks?

None.

ddingus | 16 hours ago

Massgrave...that is all...

sleepyguy | 19 hours ago

What's next? Utilman.exe tutorials removal?

system2 | 21 hours ago
[deleted]
| 19 hours ago

CachyOS.

gmerc | 16 hours ago

Oh this is going to get the Streisand effect.

Simulacra | 20 hours ago

This is what the crowd shouting misinformation and "protect X" asks for all the time.

You want nanny states and nanny corps and authoritianism through and through (remember covid policies?), you'll get this more and more.

You either start rolling back all that BS in the name of freedom (no, not freedumbs) or you can't really complain.

isaacremuant | 18 hours ago

And now 'physical' becomes as hyperbolized as 'violence.'

golemotron | 21 hours ago

[flagged]

alex1138 | 21 hours ago

"to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful"

dietr1ch | 16 hours ago

Why is this allowed to occur?

Why is Microsoft allowed to operate in such a user hostile way?

Why aren't people like up in arms massively tanking their stock value, boycotting, reputation harming in every legal way possible en masse?

Like are people just careless and distracted 24/7?

Like surely this should just not be a thing?

I just don't understand how inhumane hostile behavior is just so rampant and like allowed to exist in our society.

Madmallard | 21 hours ago

Can anyone provide any attempt at rationalizing their decision? Could your computer overheat and explode if you do this? Could hackers take over your computer and play a flashing light pattern that will give you an epileptic seizure?

googlryas | 19 hours ago

You can watch the latest Hollywood movies for free on YouTube and they don't care about any copyright, but if it's for showing a genocide to the world or bypassing Windows tutorials, YouTube lost it's spirit.

0xcb0 | 19 hours ago

This is meek and seems almost resigned. I don't understand how discourse and responses around these kinds of strange, bewildering, or stupid corporate decisions is always so nice. This corporate bullshit thrives in respectful environments where nobody needs to be afraid of being told how it is and publicly humiliated for their obviously disingenuous or stupid behavior.

When you're dealing with full-on idiots like that "support specialist" (AI?), all bets are off anyways. Might as well tell that clown that what he just said is the dumbest shit you've heard all week.

Take off the gloves and burn some bridges if you have to, the world will be better place for it.

chmod775 | 19 hours ago