Hands-On with Windows 11 Enterprise: Are You Enshittified?

Once I take into consideration the enshittification of Home windows 11, my thoughts instantly wanders to the varied methods during which you would possibly work round its worst behaviors. However there’s one potential possibility I’ve by no means tried, oddly. What wouldn’t it be like if we may use Home windows 11 Enterprise as an alternative of House or Professional? Would this clear up any issues? Is that this even doable?

Analysis ensued. OK, some Google searches. And a few attention-grabbing finds.

If one have been to, say, Google Learn how to buy Home windows 11 Enterprise as a person or comparable, one would possibly go down numerous rabbit holes. Tangentially, this question highlights a method during which AI would possibly enhance conventional Web search since you’re in search of one thing very particular, not an inventory of weblinks, most of which go to pages about buying Home windows 11 House or Professional. However that isn’t the objective right here.

In any occasion, chances are you’ll be acquainted with the notion of buying Home windows 11 product keys on-line, not from Microsoft, however from an extended listing of shady-seeming on-line companies which are someway capable of provide such a factor for $30 or much less in lots of instances. (The retail worth of Home windows 11 House is $125, whereas Professional is $200; you will get an OEM model of Home windows 11 House for about $100) I’ve availed myself of those, ahem, providers a number of occasions in latest months as a result of Microsoft disabled the power to activate Home windows 11 utilizing a Home windows 7 or 8.x retail product key; I’ve a ton of these from MSDN and/or TechNet, so I by no means had beforehand any points activating completely different variations of Home windows in digital machines (VMs) and elsewhere.

What I hadn’t tried was shopping for a Home windows 11 Enterprise key. Nicely, not inexplicably: I write for people, not companies, right here on the location, with the Home windows 11 Area Information, and elsewhere. And Home windows 11 Enterprise isn’t instantly provided to people. So I’ve caught to Home windows 10 House and Professional. Logical sufficient.

However as everybody is aware of, Home windows 11 got here into our lives virtually three years in imperfect type, with artificially restrictive {hardware} necessities, pressured monitoring, pressured Edge utilization and new default browser limitations, bundled crapware, and different points. And Microsoft has aggressively expanded its enshittification Home windows 11 for the reason that preliminary launch with pressured Microsoft account (MSA) sign-ins, pressured OneDrive folder backup, chaotic, frequent, and sometimes untested characteristic updates, and different frustrations.

This dangerous conduct places me in a little bit of a bind. I’m technical sufficient to determine workarounds once they exist, however I additionally should expertise after which doc what’s actually taking place on the market. I write about these workarounds for others as is smart. However I additionally typically can’t use them for myself in lots of instances. I’m the canary on this coal mine.

However the concept of utilizing Home windows 11 Enterprise has lengthy been floating at the back of my mind, taunting me sometimes with the opportunity of discovering the reply. One thing that may work for me in my each day life alone PC(s) and make actual the declare I’ve typically made: That I might fortunately pay to de-enshittify Home windows 11.

I’ve lengthy puzzled why Microsoft doesn’t provide this out to its clients. And I’ve lengthy imagined howthey would possibly accomplish that, both by making this a perk of a Microsoft 365 shopper subscription, much like ad-free Outlook, or through a brand new or add-on subscription (much like Copilot Professional or Copilot for Microsoft 365. The enterprise mannequin is confirmed and doesn’t require rationalization.

However utilizing Home windows 11 Enterprise is perhaps an alternative choice, assuming it’s cheap sufficient and really solves the issues. (Whereas shifting to the European Financial Space isn’t an answer for me or most others, someway subverting Home windows 11 House or Professional to implement their DMA compliance elsewhere is, after all, a possible possibility. Clearly, I’m trying into that as nicely.)

So again to that theoretical dialogue about buying a Home windows 11 Enterprise license. Have been one to Google such a factor, they might ultimately discover a service that gives such a factor. And possibly for a lot lower than they’d anticipate. Suspiciously much less, even. This isn’t one thing I can suggest per se. However within the pursuits of uncovering the reality, I took this leap of religion, acquired a key, and hoped for one of the best. Whereas fearing the apparent.

You would possibly optionally set up Microsoft’s free analysis model of Home windows 11 Enterprise, after all. However I wished to ensure I may activate this software program: I can’t consider something worse than studying that Enterprise is ideal however I can’t even use it.

I may have in all probability used the analysis obtain to put in Home windows 11 Enterprise. However I made it myself by customizing Microsoft’s Media Creation Device (MCT), which you obtain from the Microsoft web site. The set up media you create with MCT doesn’t normally provide Enterprise as an possibility, however you possibly can run the MCT installer from the command line utilizing the next possibility switches and it’ll create set up media for Home windows 11 Enterprise particularly. (This assumes you’re in the identical folder because the MCT installer.)

.MediaCreationToolW11.exe /Eula Settle for /Retail /MediaArch x64 /MediaLangCode en-US /MediaEdition Enterprise

This has a pleasant aspect impact in that it pares down the MCT set up wizard properly, however it additionally introduces a difficulty: MCT prompts you to enter a product key earlier than it should create the set up media. I didn’t wish to use the product key I’d simply bought, however it seems you possibly can bypass this by coming into what’s often called a generic Key Administration Providers (KMS) key for this objective: This key will allow you to set up Home windows 11 Enterprise however not activate it. The generic KMS key for Home windows 11 Enterprise is NW6C2-QMPVW-D7KKK-3GKT6-VCFB2.

As soon as I had the Home windows 11 Enterprise set up media, I rebooted the business-class PC I had chosen for this take a look at and used it to run Home windows 11 Setup.

As most readers know, this course of is split into two components, the old-school first-boot expertise (as I name it, I’m not conscious of a proper identify for this), and the extra graphical Out-of-Field Expertise (OOBE), the half all Home windows 11 customers see (that is what seems whenever you first power-up a brand new PC). Home windows 11 Enterprise works equally, however the first-boot expertise is subtly completely different, whereas the OOBE is extra dramatically so.

The primary-boot expertise was fairly acquainted: The one notable change was that the standard, lengthy, and unreadable end-user license settlement (EULA) was lacking in motion and changed by what quantities to a terse warning.

Then the OOBE appeared and began off usually sufficient, displaying its preliminary “Is that this the best nation or area?”, “Is that this the best keyboard format or enter methodology?”, “Wish to add a second keyboard format?”, and “Let’s join you to a community” screens.

After that, every thing was completely different.

The OOBE skipped the “Please evaluation the License Settlement” and “Let’s identify your system” screens totally. After which, as an alternative of the “How would you prefer to arrange this system?” display that permits you to select between an MSA and Microsoft work or college account sign-in, it displayed a “Let’s set issues up on your work or college” display. That, sure, forces you to check in with to a piece or college account, Microsoft’s not-great identify for its Entra ID-based industrial sign-in accounts.

I occur to have one among these, as I keep a Microsoft 365 industrial account with a customized area for testing functions. However this might be a blocker for most individuals, and a workaround is required. I’ll analysis that, however for this primary set up, I took the trail of least resistance and signed in with my Microsoft 365 industrial account.

The OOBE then shortly flashed that black “Hello” display we usually see on the finish of this course of, went darkish, after which got here again as much as a configuration display for Home windows Good day, which famous that my group requires me to make use of this performance.

I skipped the facial recognition provide as all the time and was then introduced with the acquainted “Arrange a PIN” display, which is smart on two ranges: Home windows 11 requires a PIN whenever you check in with any account that has a password, plus my group of 1 apparently requires this, as famous above: A PIN is probably the most fundamental type of Good day. Then I found that my group additionally requires a 6-digit PIN, one thing I’ll attempt to repair later within the Microsoft 365 Admin portal.

After that, I made my traditional configuration adjustments within the “Select privateness settings on your system.” However that was it for the OOBE: It skipped the “Let’s customise your expertise” display, and the commercial and darkish sample screens for Telephone Hyperlink, Microsoft 365, Xbox Recreation Move, OneDrive folder backup, and up to date looking knowledge (which is absolutely about letting Edge siphon your Chrome knowledge each time you launch it)

I used to be then dumped instantly into my new Home windows 11 Enterprise Desktop. Which is curiously similar to what we see in Home windows 11 House and Professional, with Widgets, Search, and Copilot all enabled, and the usual set of Taskbar shortcuts.

The Begin menu, nevertheless, was the identical spartan affair you get with Tiny11 and the super-clean set up methodology I doc within the Overcome Home windows Setup Annoyances chapter within the Home windows 11 Area Information.

Earlier than exploring additional, I did the standard upkeep duties. I spent about half-hour bringing this PC up-to-date through Home windows Replace (over two reboots, and I enabled the “Get the newest updates as quickly as they’re accessible swap”). After which I up to date all of the in-box apps with the Microsoft Retailer app.

Whereas that was taking place, I ran Microsoft Edge for the primary time and famous that it prompted me to import my knowledge from Chrome (which I all the time decline) however didn’t show the privacy-stealing “Let’s make the online be just right for you” display I warning readers about.

This triggered a fast verify of Edge settings as documented within the Set Up Microsoft Edge Accurately chapter within the Home windows 11 Area Information to ensure it wasn’t autoconfigured to observe me across the Web. Right here, I used to be delighted to see that not solely was this characteristic not enabled by default, it was disabled totally and might’t be modified. Like it.

With Edge up and operating, I downloaded and put in HP Assist Assistant to ensure this PC—I’m utilizing the older ZBook Firefly laptop computer I introduced dwelling from Mexico Metropolis lately—had all the newest drivers. It supplied 8 drivers for me to obtain and set up after which prompted me to reboot the PC. Which I did.

With all that achieved, it was time to take inventory and make a couple of observations.

With all of the updates put in, Home windows 11 sat at construct 22631.3374, so it was fully up-to-date.

Widgets was over there doing its factor, displaying notification bangs and animations, so I needed to configure that characteristic as all the time. In my case, meaning disabling notifications, the “Open Widgets board on hover” characteristic, and “My feed.”

Begin remained minimal, with simply the three icons—Edge, Settings, and File Explorer—in Pinned. I used to be curious if it will begin populating with extra shortcuts after I up to date the apps, however no.

Search didn’t show the distracting shopper Search highlights interface, which, I imagine, is tied to signing in with a piece or college account: The “Present search highlights” settings in Search permissions is enabled, however you get a extra spartan show that integrates together with your group’s paperwork and different knowledge. (Toggling that possibility adjustments nothing.)

The Copilot button was inexplicably nonetheless positioned at its previous default location to the best of the Search bar. OneDrive didn’t routinely check in, so I did so, utilizing my work or college account, and was prompted to allow folder backup (which I declined). And Don’t disturb was enabled, as is the case with new Home windows 11 House and Professional installs.

Launching File Explorer, I may see that it used the identical default configuration we get in House and Professional, after which some: Along with the Favorites and Recents part in House, there’s a Beneficial part that solely Microsoft 365 industrial clients see. Plus one other distinctive and associated possibility in Folder Choices, “Embrace account-based insights, latest, favourite, and advisable information” possibility. I left all that alone for now however disabled “Present regularly used folders” as a result of I don’t like random folders displaying up in Fast entry.

Scrolling by way of Begin’s All apps listing, I uninstalled Cortana, Mail (and Calendar with it), Maps, and Information, stunned that they have been even there within the first place. Then I configured fingerprint sign-in, so I can skip typing the longer PIN. After which I renamed the PC—to Enterprise after briefly flirting with USS-Enterprise—and rebooted as prompted.

It was go time.

By which I imply, it was time to activate Home windows. Or a minimum of strive: As you may think, I used to be suspicious of that key I had bought.

There are a number of methods to kick off Home windows 11 activation, however Setup is sweet sufficient to immediate you to take action whenever you launch the app. So I discovered the product key in my electronic mail, copied it to the Clipboard, after which clicked “Activate now” in Settings. The ensuing display, with its scary crimson textual content, was initially off-putting.

However then I shortly realized that this was as a result of I had used a brief key after I first arrange the set up media. So I clicked “Change” subsequent to “Change product key,” pasted the important thing I had bought into the “Enter a product key” window that appeared, clicked “Subsequent,” clicked “Activate,” and … held my breath.

It activated instantly.

Attention-grabbing. Very attention-grabbing.

From there, I might usually personalize the PC a bit after which set up the apps I need utilizing my customized winget set up script. Certainly, I began down that path by first configuring the Microsoft Retailer to make use of my Microsoft account (MSA), however then thought higher of it. I should take a look at that configuration, however what I wished to expertise first was utilizing an MSA sign-in with Home windows 11 Enterprise.

To do this, I added my MSA as a sign-in utilizing the Settings app (Accounts > Different Customers > Add different person > Add account) and gave it administrator privileges.

Then I signed out, signed in with the MSA, and stepped by way of a abruptly acquainted OOBE during which I declined Home windows Good day facial recognition, configured a PIN (which, sure, have to be 6 characters lengthy as a result of the preliminary work or college account sign-in configured coverage from my group to the PC), after which went by way of the identical steps as earlier than, with one exception: After that preliminary black “Hello” display appeared briefly, the OOBE displayed the “Again up your information with OneDrive” display, giving me the choice to decide on “Solely save information to this PC,” which I chosen. Then I configured the choices within the “Select privateness settings on your system” as all the time.

After which I used to be dumped proper into the identical Desktop I noticed with my work or college account, with the identical spartan Begin menu. And the identical misplaced Copilot icon. There have been no Home windows Updates to put in, after all, however I up to date the in-box apps utilizing the Microsoft Retailer, uninstalled the identical handful of apps famous above, and made a couple of small configuration adjustments to the theme, Widgets, and File Explorer (which didn’t show the Suggestions part with my MSA, after all).

Then, whereas ready for OneDrive to complete syncing, an interminably lengthy course of, and poised for it to screw me over my silently enabling the folder backup characteristic I beforehand declined, I used my winget app set up script to put in all my apps, as is regular.

That took some time.

However when it was achieved, OneDrive was all synced up. And after I checked on folder backup—a PTSD-based conduct on account of how typically it auto-enables itself—I used to be greeted by a reminder that you may’t even configure OneDrive folder backup on a PC that can be configured with OneDrive for Enterprise.

I knew that was the case when configuring OneDrive (shopper) and OneDrive for Enterprise in the identical Home windows sign-in. However I didn’t notice it utilized to different sign-ins on the identical PC. Attention-grabbing. And, in my case, excellent: My objective is for it to by no means silently allow this characteristic and now it could possibly’t. (Word that this doesn’t require Enterprise: This occurs with Home windows 11 Professional as nicely.)

There’s much more to do right here, and as was the case with Tiny11 earlier than, I’ll hold utilizing this PC over the following a number of days to see what adjustments. I’m anticipating the Copilot icon to skip on over to the best aspect of the Taskbar, the place it belongs, for instance. However I’ll ultimately experiment with different configurations too. Eradicating the Microsoft work or college sign-in account to see what, if something, adjustments. And perhaps attempting to determine a workaround to the preliminary work or college sign-in account requirement: There’s an excellent likelihood that the workaround I doc in Overcome Home windows Setup Annoyances that permits you to sign-in with a neighborhood account would possibly work, for instance.

Extra quickly.