Solved install windows 11 with a local account instead of a microsoft account

@hsehestedt
Ah, gotcha. Thanks for clarifying that for me.

I have never noticed that before when reading autounattend.xml files and it struck me as odd. At least now I know better, thanks again!

One of these days I may even take the plunge and try using an autounattend.xml file ... lol

trumpy81 said:

@hsehestedt
Ah, gotcha. Thanks for clarifying that for me.

I have never noticed that before when reading autounattend.xml files and it struck me as odd. At least now I know better, thanks again!

One of these days I may even take the plunge and try using an autounattend.xml file ... lol

Click to expand...

It's certainly not for everyone. For people who only install occasionally, it's probably easier to just do a normal manual installation. But I install new copies of Windows almost daily, for example, to VMs for testing purposes. So, I have several unattended answer files each customized for different installation configurations.

Yes that has me covered, I only install occasionally and it is indeed easier to simply go through the motions.

I can see the advantage of using several different autounattend files though and I may try setting up a few myself. I find myself installing Windows of various flavours more and more lately, so it may be time to bite the bullet and try using them.

Thanks for the heads up though, it is always appreciated.

cokedude said:

Is there a way to install windows 11 with a local account instead of a microsoft account?

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Just enter fake@fake.com as MS email address, and any entry as password.
It will go "oops ......", and then you can enter local account.

MisterEd said:

I reinstalled Windows 11 Pro a few months ago on my laptop. The setup didn't install a driver for the WiFi. It refused to continue without the Internet connected. I had to connect to the Ethernet port to continue. I could have bypassed this requirement but I chose not to.

When it asked me to log into my Microsoft account I used: Username = username & Password = password
This login failed so I got the message."Oops, something went wrong". I was then asked to create a local account.

I have doing it this way to get around the requirement for a Microsoft account for 2 or 3 years now. It has never failed.

Click to expand...

Strange, I reinstalled WIndows 11 Pro only this week and simply clicked on 'I don't have internet' during setup to continue.

Those are some useful tips. Thanks.

I just updated a Windows 11 22H2 to 22H3 via system update and was shocked after reboot because it prompted me for an old email/microsoft account even though the laptop has only had a local user account for 2 years. I clicked "other sign-in options" and it took me to screen with "Offline account" grayed out with a slash through the cursor when flying over.

I couldn't believe it. I kept clicking it, going back to the previous screen, clicking other sign-in options in a circle like an idiot and the definition of insanity (trying the same fruitless thing over and over and expecting a different result). I caved and guessed the old microsoft email account password, got it wrong, then tried again, then went back to sign-in, tried ctrl-alt-del and clicked task mgr but suddenly the screen dumped me onto the desktop. I'm not sure what did the trick.

I went into System Settings and turned off some setting like "sign me into my Microsoft account whenever possible" then verified that my line account and is local. Whew.

That's a pretty nefarious installation wizard that doesn't let the user stick with local user acct merely after rebooting from a windows update.

I work on 5 or 6 Windows PCs but hundreds of Macs and a few Linux machines. I can't imagine UNIX/macOS or Linux doing that, let alone even offer an online user acct (they all have offline user accounts).

Anyway, I'll store the tricks mentioned in this thread. Thanks again.

B7ANz said:

I just updated a Windows 11 22H2 to 22H3 via system update

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Should that be done right now? Or can it wait?

... and was shocked after reboot because it prompted me for an old email/microsoft account even though the laptop has only had a local user account for 2 years. I clicked "other sign-in options" and it took me to screen with "Offline account" grayed out with a slash through the cursor when flying over.

Click to expand...

I also expect the same thing to happen to me. I can see it now.

I couldn't believe it. I kept clicking it, going back to the previous screen, clicking other sign-in options in a circle like an idiot and the definition of insanity (trying the same fruitless thing over and over and expecting a different result). I caved and guessed the old microsoft email account password, got it wrong, then tried again, then went back to sign-in, tried ctrl-alt-del and clicked task mgr but suddenly the screen dumped me onto the desktop. I'm not sure what did the trick.

Click to expand...

Geez, hopefully somebody else here can explain that.

I went into System Settings and turned off some setting like "sign me into my Microsoft account whenever possible" then verified that my line account and is local. Whew.

Click to expand...

Do you have an image to show that?

I fully expect to run into the same problem if and when I do update to the next build like you did.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Bree said:

Oddly, I've found that you have to type the command all in capitals.
OOBE\BYPASSNRO - works fine
OOBE\BypassNRO - can't find path

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I just installed a Windows 11 Pro 23H2 VM. Using OOBE\BypassNRO worked fine.

markw51 said:

Strange, I reinstalled WIndows 11 Pro only this week and simply clicked on 'I don't have internet' during setup to continue.

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I just installed both Windows 11 Pro 22H2 and Windows 11 Pro 23H2 VMs in HyperV. In the VM settings I had Network Adapter set to "not connected". I was not allowed to continue without a network connection as shown in the screenshot below:



However, after I typed Shift+F10 and entered OOBE\BypassNRO the setup restarted. I then could select "I don't have internet"

oobe\bypassnro will work in any case (upper, lower, mixed). Yes, you can enable case sensitivity in Windows, but this is not turned on during setup.

hsehestedt said:

oobe\bypassnro will work in any case (upper, lower, mixed). Yes, you can enable case sensitivity in Windows, but this is not turned on during setup.

Case Sensitivity

Learn how case sensitive file names are handled between Windows and Linux file systems, how to adjust these settings by directory with WSL, and how to troubleshoot issues.

learn.microsoft.com

View attachment 85367

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How do you bring up the CMD command prompt window from that installation video you presented here?

Thanks

cheaterslick said:

How do you bring up the CMD command prompt window from that installation video you presented here?

Thanks

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I bring up the command prompt by pressing SHIFT + F10.

When you install using a local account, what are the consequences when you go online ? How will the PC behave re. upgrades, biometric services, MS bloat etc. ?
I'm not planning on using my MS account for my new install, I'm asking because I have little to no experience on Win10.

Treespider said:

When you install using a local account, what are the consequences when you go online ? How will the PC behave re. upgrades, biometric services, MS bloat etc. ?

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Absolutely no consequences for upgrades, a local account gets them all, just the same.....



Should you require services that need an MS account, such as OneDrive, then you can still use them without giving up your local account.

I see....they send everything out as normal, they just do not know to whom they're sending it...
Are there no benefits at all ?

hsehestedt said:

I bring up the command prompt by pressing SHIFT + F10.

Click to expand...

Ah, thanks!

That completely baffled me when I watched it since I didn't see it included there.

Simplest:

When prompted for an account, enter a single letter, such as a

When prompted for a password, enter a single letter, such as a

It will display "Oops, something went wrong" and prompt you to create a local account.

Bree said:

Welcome to Eleven Forum.

Yes, in fact I've just clean installed 23H2 today without connecting to the internet or using a Microsoft account.

At the initial setup screen after installing W11, press Shift+F10. This opens a command prompt. Type the command (note: there are no spaces in this command) OOBE\BypassNRO

The PC will restart and this time you'll see the option to skip connecting to the internet. You'll then be able to set it up with a local account.

Click to expand...

Having just cleanly installed Windows 11 on my rig, I can say that this OOBE command works great - and it doesn't even have to be as soon as you get the screen for regional settings, either, it can be after that too.

I also used this trick with new VMs for Windows 10 and Windows 11 - but Dev and Canary refused to give me an option even with using a fake email and password and even with using the OOBE\bypassNRO command, until I disabled the VM network connection lol.

---

Side note - I wonder if this can be combined with Kari's "Move \Users folder to different drive during install", as after booting into Audit Mode, you exit by calling sysprep.exe with an OOBE flag.

Would sure save some time that way.... Guess I need to do some research lol.

johnlgalt said:

Having just cleanly installed Windows 11 on my rig, I can say that this OOBE command works great - and it doesn't even have to be as soon as you get the screen for regional settings, either, it can be after that too.

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True, but you're going to go through all those screens again when it restarts so you might as well do it as early as possible

Sounds to me like using OOBE\BypassNRO takes more time than just typing a for the account and password, since it adds a reboot.