Some people have been experiencing difficulty getting to their Windows desktop due to an unskippable ad for Microsoft 365, the Redmond tech giant"s suite of productivity and collaboration software.
One Reddit user published a photo of their Windows 10 computer displaying a full-screen Microsoft 365 Family trial ad during the out-of-box experience (OOBE). "Windows 10 preventing me from booting into desktop without first non-consensually being forced to accept their free trial and $100 monthly thereafter (obviously I cancelled after but WTF Microsoft)," the Redditor"s post stated.
A user has two options: "Try for free" and "No, thanks." Weirdly enough, if a user clicks on "No, thanks," they will be redirected to a payment confirmation page where apparently they have no other option but to click "Start trial, buy later."
As BleepingComputer indicates, other users have reported seeing a different variant of the ad that uses "Next" and "No, thanks" buttons. However, clicking on the latter still takes them to the payment page.
Because there"s no apparent way to skip the ad, the only thing users can do is to enter their card information and then cancel the subscription later through their Microsoft account. If they don"t cancel, they will be charged $109 per year after the trial period.
As some Redditors have pointed out, it"s possible that the behavior is just a bug, given how the full-screen Windows 11 ad we reported on yesterday has a properly working skip button. For now, if you want to avoid seeing the offer, you can try disconnecting from the internet when going through OOBE.
Source: whatsurissuebro (Reddit)