abadideaI am a 36 year old woman with no children associated with my reluctantly-existing Microsoft account and my laptop just popped up a window claiming I need to log in so I can ask my mother for permission to use my own computer
and no, I did not claim to be a minor to Microsoft, I even went and double checked the account profile despite being very confident I would not have been foolish enough to do that. I suspect this is being set off by some silly heuristic like "is not logged in to online MS account + has steam installed, a game service that has been running for 21 years"
Peter Bindels> I suspect this is being set off by some silly heuristic like "is not logged in to online MS account"
maybe they coded it as "if (not has_parental_permission())" and forgot to test without an active MS account?
Athanasius HAS MOVED@0xabad1dea I've not logged into my Microsoft account on this Windows 11 Pro install since I installed it (as it was necessary to complete registration of the key). That'll be ... ~15 months ago now.
I also use Steam a lot.
I should note that I habitually use a *NOT* Administrator account, i.e. 'Limited', and have to put an admin account password into any UAC prompt. That might make some difference.
arclight@AthanSpod @0xabad1dea (addressing the previous post, not the original parental consent post) I reluctantly logged into my (generally unused) Microsoft account to complete the setup process on a fresh Windows 11 laptop then immediately lumped through all the hoops to unlink the laptop from my MS account and set it to local authentication only. I get occasional nagging to sign in to MS to enable unwanted features but at least I (probably) can't be locked out of my own computer by a third-party service.
This isn't a recommendation to not use an MS account, just a lament about how difficult it is to find and disable Windows "features" that actively interfere with doing what you want with the hardware you own. The degree to which tech companies actively reject the notion of consent makes me wonder what line they won't cross. Their life is easier if they just pretend lines don't exist.
@arclight @0xabad1dea Oh yes, I get those "Microsoft account problem / Select here to sign in to your Microsoft account" notifications a few times a week.
I too worry that at some point something is just going to *break* because MS assumes everyone is usually logged in and fail to test something with the local-account-only scenarios.
I had (seems to have gotten better) an issue with (file) explorer taking 30-60s to open. I wondered if *that* was due to it becoming dependent on some service that requires MS login.
But then again this whole Recall thing is making me consider that I should go fix up my Linux desktop boot/configuration to be how I always wanted it, and catch up with things like "I have a YubiKey now, use that, not local-file ssh keys".
Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) 
@0xabad1dea Did you get permission though?
no brain no pain@0xabad1dea despite of that you did not claim to be a minor, obviously Microsoft’s AI decided differently 🤓
Old Account now - Petherfile@0xabad1dea my first thought was hope it's not some new exploit where people are trying to add accounts to a family to hijack them. Can't belive if the thousands of replies so far nobody seems to have even suggested this.
From memory, setting this up for my kid, just so they can play Minecraft on the iPad, you invite the child account and they accept during login. Accepting is part of the login process, I think. Continuing an existing session doesn't do it, needs to be a new login. I would not be surprised if it gave you that prompt when some joker tried inviting you. If someone found a way to hijack that acceptance prompt we might all be in a world of pain for a while. It would be a great ransom...
Hope I'm not giving people ideas.
@0xabad1dea You can choose to reject Microsoft. You wouldn't need to ask your parents then.
Dr. Walk
`Da Elf
🛠️☘️🍯 bug 🍄🧣⚙️@dascandy peter this isn't the time or place to proselytise. both i and melissa use linux daily for basically everything but a handful of games
Petra@0xabad1dea I spent at least an hour last year with a windows laptop trying to turn parental controls *on* (turns out I didn't own the right edition). I feel strangely cheated by this dialogue box
miki@0xabad1dea Are you sure you didn't put a fake date of birth when signing up?
@miki that makes me a child? no I am quite sure I didn’t
@0xabad1dea In the eyes of the law, yes. Microsoft is in a very unique position here, their account system is connected to xBox, so the easy way out, which is not letting children make Microsoft accounts in the first place, is not available for them. However, they still need to follow COPPA and the GDPR, so they had to implement proper parental consent and age verification procedures. They're big enough that they can't just let things slide and need to choose caution and legal ass-covering over a good user experience.
As a result, a lot of people had issues e.g. when they used personal accounts for small businesses and used the founding date of the business as the account's date of birth. Being locked out and being asked to link your account with your parents' isn't terribly unusual with Microsoft.
@miki I think you misunderstood me: would I tell Microsoft a fake age that makes me into a pretend child? no, absolutely not, I am not that foolish
@miki @0xabad1dea Of course not. Don't you know we were all born on 1/1/1970 ?
Frank Küsel
Jernej Simončič �@0xabad1dea Settings → System → Notifications → scroll all the way down → uncheck everything under Additional Settings.
Sheamus@jernej__s @0xabad1dea you might still need to ask your parents to change the permissions though
Sepideh@0xabad1dea How can I adopt you into my microsoft family so I can grant you more screen time?
Cylis 
@0xabad1dea average Microsoft tactic to somehow make you create an account and sign-in
stux⚡️
Fabian【ファビアン】🏳️🌈There you go: https://distrochooser.de/en
@fabiscafe this is not helpful, this is not clever, this is not righteous, this is the singly most annoying thing you can do in response to someone - A COMPUTER SCIENTIST, I WILL NOTE, WHO HAS BEEN USING LINUX DAILY FOR LITERALLY TWENTY YEARS - posting a complaint about software that is notorious for literally being forced on people
@0xabad1dea How about we talk about this over some tea/beer sometimes in the future instead?
You're absolutely right, and my post was of no value. Sorry for triggering you with it.
Chiral! Is back!@0xabad1dea Maybe it just thinks you're... young at heart?
BeyondMachines 
@0xabad1dea did you perhaps add a random year of age when you registered the account?
Not defending Microsoft here, but it seems to be a very simple automation triggered by preconfigured data.
Also, very much hate their manipulative FOMO title and wording: "Don't miss out! Log in NOW, for MAYBE IN THE FUTURE to be able to ask for something.
@beyondmachines1 I am very confident I did not claim to be a minor to Microsoft.
@0xabad1dea Then Microsoft is making another mother of all f*ups - assuming stuff
IAG@0xabad1dea oh God I had this issue once
Never figured out how to fix it so I just kinda abandoned the whole computer
Never figured out how to fix it so I just kinda abandoned the whole computer
Forbearance@0xabad1dea
Hey kid, take this free candy^W Microsoft account
Hey kid, take this free candy^W Microsoft account
Acesabe@0xabad1dea
I'm reasonably sure there is a way to phone their support for help, that would likely be quite entertaining too!
I'm reasonably sure there is a way to phone their support for help, that would likely be quite entertaining too!
Andreas Fischinger(ANTIFA CTO)@0xabad1dea @AndyGER I assume that’s simply an error somewhere… have you also checked account.microsoft.com/family if you somehow are registered as minor?
abadidea (@[email protected])
and no, I did not claim to be a minor to Microsoft, I even went and double checked the account profile despite being very confident I would not have been foolish enough to do that. I suspect this is being set off by some silly heuristic like "is not logged in to online MS account + has steam installed, a game service that has been running for 21 years"
Selena Reed@0xabad1dea I guess it’s more a thing of “You don't have an MS-Account yet? Let me show you all the different popups I have to try and force you to get one!”
Though I wonder if that isn’t even a legally problematic popup, as its trying to get a MINOR to SIGN UP to a microsoft account, even if it’s worded as “login”.
Karin!@0xabad1dea Microsoft is gonna make us call it "mother" soon
Hubert Figuière@0xabad1dea I was once locked out of some account because they decided my birth date I never gave was the same as the account creation date.
Räucherkäse@0xabad1dea Is a MS account really mandatory to use Windows now? I was under the impression/delusion that it's still possible to skip all that nonsense when setting up.
@smochi it is technically possible. I cannot emphasize enough how "technically" technically is here.
Lstn2urmama 🇨🇦@0xabad1dea proves even more how weird Microsoft is...and has been for many years...
Gay Antifa Leftist
Rui Malheiro@0xabad1dea maybe it's the computer fairy talking to your inner child. Maybe you really need to shutdown the computer and go smell some flowers?
Gondor@0xabad1dea tbh. something so crazy gives me rather hope that those algorithms or OS "miracles" are still to ...ah inacurate.
(Am still missing those times when FB recommended me websites/platforms for used passenger planes.. like "here is a 747, just xxx milage or what about an Airbus...")
Val Packett 🧉@0xabad1dea the sheer amount of infrastructure built by tech companies for violating children's rights – sorry i meant "FAMILY FEATURES" – is kinda terrifying tbh
✰ Alice D. ✰@valpackett @0xabad1dea two possible answers:
1. it's a bug and simply displayed the wrong modal for the circumstance
2. they used an AI to "guess" people's ages to catch "minors faking their ages" on their service and decided you were a minor
it sucks that both options are completely possible these days
Enalys 
@0xabad1dea
You can told me what should I do Bill, your not my father.
You can told me what should I do Bill, your not my father.
qdkp@0xabad1dea
As someone who has to deal with Microsoft services on a daily basis: I share your pain😔
As someone who has to deal with Microsoft services on a daily basis: I share your pain😔
Kiran 🏳️⚧️@0xabad1dea MS: so I heard you'd like a goth dommy mommy
Hayden Schiff (ᵔᴥᵔ)@0xabad1dea It's important to remember - it's not your computer. It's Microsoft's. They get to do what they want, when they want.
Obligatory: Have you considered Linux?
Obligatory: Have you considered Linux?
Martin Vermeer 86 47abadidea (@[email protected])
@[email protected] this is not helpful, this is not clever, this is not righteous, this is the singly most annoying thing you can do in response to someone - A COMPUTER SCIENTIST, I WILL NOTE, WHO HAS BEEN USING LINUX DAILY FOR LITERALLY TWENTY YEARS - posting a complaint about software that is notorious for literally being forced on people
infosec zathras@0xabad1dea this is funny, but I'm going to go while hog here and point out that tia is potentially insensitive and triggering to persons (not me) who have deceased parents, parental relationship or abuse issues, or even a lack of parents (ie adopted or foster care). And you can bet that any parent who is actively caring how much screen time their child has already is controlling like a hawk and doesn't need MICROSOFT to remind the kids.
Another "well thought out" idea from Redmond. Lovely.
Tim Eveleigh@0xabad1dea you don't need a Microsoft account. But you have to say no A LOT
Frank Heijkamp@0xabad1dea That seems a bit drastic.
Jim Vernon@0xabad1dea Apparently you're not the only one: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-turn-off-microsoft-family-features-pop-up-in-windows-10
Sounds like a bug and turning off the service altogether is probably the way to go.
friefrie and some others@jimvernon @0xabad1dea turning off microsoft altogether is probably the way to go. Ddos anyone?