Solved Install Windows 11 Home using Local Account

Do you think peoples will be upset to learn about this fact? I mean, it was a bit hard to find the option to use local account in Windows 8 and 10, but it almost looks like Microsoft wants you to have an account just to use your OS...Doesn't that sound ridiculous?

You will be able to set up a local account with Windows 11 Home with or without an Internet connection during Windows Setup. :)

See: Clean Install Windows 11

Bree said:

I'm in the process of upgrading a Legacy MBR install of a W10 Home in a Hyper-V VM to W11.

It seems that the requirements for TPM 2.0 and UEFI only apply to a clean install, the upgrade did not say anything about that. One new requirement for installing W11 popped up though, apparently it requires a minimum of 4GB RAM (which I duly added).

This install of W10 Home only has local accounts, so installing W10 Home with a local account then upgrading to W11 may be another possible route.

EDIT: confirmed, upgraded successfully to W11 Home with just local accounts.


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I read Brink's post about doing a new install using Legacy and was surprised when my install failed due to not having UEFI capability. So, your comment about requiring UEFI and TPM 2.0 for clean install is dead on.

I will copy my Win10 Insider Dev install to a new drive and try an in-place upgrade from there to see if that works. Hope it does because I'm not able to afford building a new PC right now just to try out this OS upgrade.

Mark Phelps said:

I read Brink's post about doing a new install using Legacy and was surprised when my install failed due to not having UEFI capability. So, your comment about requiring UEFI and TPM 2.0 for clean install is dead on.

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Odd. I was able to clean install W11 in Hyper-V using Legacy BIOS without TPM.

Megahertz said:

Does it work?

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Yes, I can confirm that, for a clean install of Win11 Home in a VM that is not connected to the internet, if you press Alt-F4 at the 'let's connect you...' screen it goes straight to setting up a local account.

For installing Home on a machine that is connected, I can also confirm that @Brink's instructions at Step 20 work.

Unfortunately, I can confirm that even with a Repair-Install over an existing Win10 pro installation, the following two things are required: (1) TPM 2.0, (2) Secure Boot. Since my PC is legacy BIOS, not UEFI, Win11 simply will not install on it -- at least, not the leaked version. Maybe this will change when the "official" version comes out.

You have to follow a specific procedure as outlined in the thread for it to work, I think.

Brink said:

Odd. I was able to clean install W11 in Hyper-V using Legacy BIOS without TPM.

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It seems to work differently for physical machines. I have just one machine that Setup says is acceptable. And then I had to flash its TPM from 1.2 to 2.0 before booting from the W11 install USB. The rest of my machines either do not have TPM, or they do but it's 1.2 and the firmware cannot be updated. None of them can install this leaked Win11.

Ghot said:

I'm wondering if I could do an actual "upgrade" from Win 10 Home (MBR) with the "keep everything" option selected, and then if I didn't like it... restore Win 10 from a Macrium full OS backup.

What concerns me is that the upgrade to Win 11 would activate... then if I restored to Win 10...it would say... hey we have used this key for Win 11?

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Well, it may not be a problem for others -- but it did not work for me. One step in the thread is to boot into your UEFI setting and change the mode to Legacy. I do not have UEFI settings as mine is a legacy BIOS PC. So, I get into the install, over an existing Win10 install, and the install shuts down with errors, claiming I must have both TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot -- which clearly, I do not have.

johnlgalt said:

You have to follow a specific procedure as outlined in the thread for it to work, I think.

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I followed the thread, as I had it displayed on my laptop while I was attempting the install on my desktop. What I can not do is boot into the UEFI settings to change them because I have legacy BIOS. The installer also claims I need TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot -- neither of which I have.

Mark Phelps said:

Well, it may not be a problem for others -- but it did not work for me. One step in the thread is to boot into your UEFI setting and change the mode to Legacy. I do not have UEFI settings as mine is a legacy BIOS PC. So, I get into the install, over an existing Win10 install, and the install shuts down with errors, claiming I must have both TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot -- which clearly, I do not have.

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I don't "have" to be on MBR. I just "want" to be. :)

Made a in place upgrade using
21996.1.210529-1541.co_release_CLIENT_CONSUMER_x64FRE_en-us_forCleanInstall_WithOUT_TPM2.0Check_WZT.ISO
I cloned my Win 10 PRO 221h1 SSD into another SSD , detached ALL other drives (power cable) and booted into Win 10 221h1, mounted the Win 11 iso and run setup.
My Win 10 source (local account) was highly tweaked (D:\users, winaerotweaker, Sledgehammer, ZoneAlarm firewall etc) and everything but OpenShellSetup_4_4_160 is working.
Hated Win 11 Start Menu. It is even worst than Win 10 Start Menu. Using Brink tutorial I've switched to Win 10 style

Nice to see you back Kari. I thought the Microsoft Police had you confined in another dimension.

More like the health police.

Hm, I did a clean install of Windows 10 on an empty drive without internet connection and hence creating a local account. Then I went to the Insiders part of the settings, logged in with a Microsoft account, and it immediately upgraded to Windows 11. The local account was kept and it did not ask me to change it.

Now, when installing Windows 10, I was given a choice between Home, Pro, etc. (the ISO I downloaded from the Windows Insiders site had all the possible options, apparently) I also was asked to enter a license key. At the time of installation I clicked "don't have a license key" and chose Pro, since I can't imagine any reason to go with Home. Already on Windows 7 I activated with an old Windows 7 license key (those were always Ultimate).

I would be very surprised if the setup would insist on destroying the local user account while upgrading to Windows 11, even if it were Home. From this thread I gather I am correct. Am I right?

Bree said:

I can confirm that, for a clean install of Win11 Home in a VM that is not connected to the internet, if you press Alt-F4 at the 'let's connect you...' screen it goes straight to setting up a local account.

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I have just tried a clean install of Win11 Home build 22000.132 in a VM and that Alt+F4 trick no longer works. There is now no way to install W11 Home without an internet connection. However....

When you get to the screen asking for your Microsoft account....



...now is the time to disconnect from the internet. It's probably best that you use an ethernet connection so that you can just un-plug it. I'm not sure if you'd be able to disconnect WiFi at this point. When you are no longer connected click 'Sign-in options' on the above screen.



Now that you are no longer connected, when you click 'Forgot my username' you'll get the local account setup page.



And you can set up W11 Home with just a local user account.

I never used any tricks, I just always install Windows without any internet connection present (as in , ethernet wire unplugged from the very beginning and for the duration of the process).

unifex said:

I never used any tricks, I just always install Windows without any internet connection present (as in , ethernet wire unplugged from the very beginning and for the duration of the process).

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Have you tried a clean install of W11 Home yet? With the latest 22000.132 build of the ISO there is no way past the 'let's connect you...' page. Only when installing Pro do you get an additional option to skip connecting.

MS want all clean installs of W11 Home to use a Microsoft account. Tricks that could bypass this in earlier builds no longer work in 22000.132. MS are gradually finding and closing the loopholes.

unifex said:

I never used any tricks, I just always install Windows without any internet connection present (as in , ethernet wire unplugged from the very beginning and for the duration of the process).

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That doesn't work anymore with Windows 11 HOME edition, as @Bree told above. You cannot get through OOBE without Internet connection.



Kari

Kari said:

That doesn't work anymore with Windows 11 HOME edition, as @Bree told above. You cannot get through OOBE without Internet connection.

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Kari

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Yep.. definitely need an internet connection to get past that screen.
I just connected at that point - it then went into checking for updates whilst it was checking turned internet off and the local account creation screen popped up.

Interesting as well is that rounded windows is personalisation/theme dependant which in turn is activation dependant.