8mo ago

Microsoft Recall is MANDATORY on Windows 11

TL;DR:

The Windows File Explorer is now dependent on Microsoft Recall being installed on Windows 11 24H2 editions and likely later.

This means that if you wish to use newer versions of the Window file explorer, you have to install recall on your system. Recall is a deeply-rooted, non-negotiable feature on all modern versions of Windows.

Solution

If you wish to strip out recall from your system, you are no longer able to use the built-in graphical file explorer and must use a third-party tool, and if you're not allowed to do that on the machine, then you are forced to have recall running on the system as it doesn't appear on any graphical settings pages.

The other solution is to prepare for transitioning into a free operating system such as GNU/Linux with distributions such as Linux Mint which is designed specifically for that transition. You can also run an older version of Windows and refuse to update.

Errata

Turns out that this issue has been exaggerated and that there are ways to disable co-pilot on Windows machines (or at the very least, command Windows to do so). Also it's debatable whether this program does any harm on non "copilot" computers but you can be the judge of that.

71 comments

Microsoft is finally going to force me to switch to linux. I'm ready, I just didn't think it would ever actually happen.
- I actually got a linux box up and running bc windows has finally forced my hand. I am not thrilled linux looks like a fucking nightmare. Windows is a pain in the ass to work with but at least it warns me before i format the boot sector.
  
  For me, there was just less friction with games and Windows was just not annoying enough to make the full time jump. But those have both moved against Windows in the past few years.
  
  I've been thinking of doing an effort post on how to make a Windows to Linux transition as painlessly as possible. Are there any topics in particular that you (or anyone reading) specifically want a deep dive into?
  Caveat: I'm not a PC gamer (for financial reasons, not ideological ones) so I can't help much on the gaming side.
  But I think I can help with the rest. I've been using Linux as my main desktop OS for about 25 years now.
  
  Windows is a pain in the ass to work with but at least it warns me before i format the boot sector.
  Linux (Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian) also warns you no? But in any case, it's a learning curve just like any other. Stick with it for a couple more months and it'll go away I promise! Linux only gets better over time.
  
  If you use one of the commonly-advised main linux distros I really don't think it is worse than windows overall, it's just different problems. You are accustomed to all kinds of work arounds in windows but linux will require different work arounds.
  If you deleted your boot sector without realizing it, than you must have been using a disk formatting tool as super user. Certainly windows lets you completely format a disk if you want to?
  When you say it "looks like a nightmare" do you mean it's ugly or is that an overall assessment?
  
  Windows is a pain in the ass to work with but at least it warns me before i format the boot sector.
  This really isn't possible to do accidently with user focused distros. I have been using Linux Mint for about 14 years without issue. I suggest Linux Mint to everyone. One can install steam if you want to game, many games work seamlessly, also emulators, lutris, wine, etc.
  I've never ran into an issue I couldn't solve with google and a few minutes of following a tutorial. Also, Linux Mint has the best back-up tool, called timeshift. You let it create back-ups automatically, or do your own manual back-ups, and no matter what you do, you can easily revert back to that back-up with no consequences--Sometimes, if you really bork up your system, you'd need to boot from the USB drive to run timeshift to fix the computer, but again, very easy to google and execute.
  I suggest downloading linux mint to a USB drive, and then running it from the USB drive for a bit to see what it is like. I prefer the cinammon desktop environment.
  Windows is a pain in the ass to work with but at least it warns me before i format the boot sector.
I read this and thought "they're issuing a mandatory recall on win11? About damn time!"
- They aren't? /s
Another day another YouTuber spreading false info. This behaviour happens if you disable recall before OOBE can run which is where you’re asked to enable Recall e.g if you customise the install ISO.
You can remove Recall just fine by running Dism /online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:"Recall" or by unticking it in the “optional features” dialog after OOBE runs, and you’ll still have the new Explorer UI.
- the linux propaganda on c/technology strikes again
  
  Never stop
  , Never lose faith
  
  Maintaining the GNU agenda is our topmost priority
  
  Explanatory posts to correct the potential mistakes a comrade made in a post of their own are allowed, as long as they remain respectful
  I think my comment is close in spirit to that rule. If a mod disagrees then they're free to remove it.
  I just dislike false info, no malice in my comment.
- Good correction, I'm not a Windows user anymore and I defer to this YouTuber since he seems the most knowledgeable. No one is infallible and I don't want to maliciously spread bad info
  But yes, I see, good thing to know that in order to disable recall I need to use an arcane cli command or use a Windows feature most people don't know about.
why on earth would I "upgrade" from Windows 10 to this piece of shit? is there any reason whatsoever?
- Windows 10 hits end of life next year, so Windows 10 users will become the Windows 7 users of today as software and updates slowly stop coming to them.
  Microsoft could also just... forcibly update your machine. It's their operating system after all.
  
  goddammit, Windows 10 is the first Microsoft OS that I forgot I was using because it just hums along in the background mostly without being a fucking nuisance
  they finally get something right and now they're scrapping it ugh
  
  They can. But I turned off TPM so they won't. Top tip for lazy arses like me that don't want to engage in a protracted battle, just make your laptop not meet requirements.
  
  IoT LTSC should be good until 2029, I think? https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-10-iot-enterprise-ltsc-2019
  (Thats an extra 5 years to switch to Linux :3)
- Same. But hey, the Linux community just got one person bigger.
- TBH it's not really that much better or worse than Windows 10, I'm having pretty much the same experience as with Windows 10.
  If they really make this AI shit mandatory I'm switching but apparently it's misinformation that this cannot be disabled.
  
  Does Win11 not introduce anything ridiculous like having two control panels where the newer one is just a straight downgrade and often necessitates using the original one anyway? I would've thought it'd be filled to the brim with stuff like that.
  Also on win10 the control panel still forcibly defaults to "small icons" even though on win7 it would remember the last setting selected.
For those like me who are stuck with win 11 on your work computer be aware that KDE makes windows builds for some of their software like the Dolphin file explorer: https://apps.kde.org/dolphin/
It’s not officially supported yet and has some issues but I’ve been using it for a few days now and it’s been quite nice
Some issues I’ve run into are: not being able to open archives into dolphin; issues with not being able to move files to the trash bin (although deleting it works fine)
Also I’m pretty sure that Recall is deep in the kernel so you might not be able to run the explorer shell at all. Unfortunately there really isn’t a good alternative since litestep has been abandoned :(
- Back in the day you could even just replace the Windows shell with Plasma, the early 2000s were interesting
- Linux file browsers are a load of crap to be honest. I always install Explorer++ when I have to use Windows. Microsoft's own winfile is also very nice, though Explorer++ is basically just a better version of that.
I didn't know what Recall was, I googled and these 1.5 sentences were enough
Linux gang here. I have no idea what you're talking about, but you make it sound pretty terrible, so glad I don't have to worry about it.
- Real nice of Bill Gates to create Microsoft, Linux’s personal marketing department without charging the Linux community a penny.
Recall requires a computer that is compatible with Microsoft's Copilot chatbot:
Only a small portion of the most recent laptops are "Copilot+ PCs".
This means that for everyone else, this information is irrelevant. It will mostly impact business employess and higher-income dupes. Also...
"Total Recall"
- This means that for everyone else, this information is irrelevant.
  True, when Microsoft tells its customers that their computers can't upgrade to Windows 11 because of "hardware requirements" they were obviously not lying through their teeth, totally not because the margins are higher when people buy new computers (and the bloody yankee mining supply chain can continue at full speed).
  It's not like x86_64 laptops keep advertising AI capabilities through their new NPU units and thus can do the same thing as ARM snapdragon chips.
  The software is proprietary, what they tell you is what they want and are willing to tell you.
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
yewtu.be
inv.nadeko.net
yt.artemislena.eu
piped.video

71 comments