Installing with Local account only, as of Oct13/26

I've been setting up a new Lenovo P1 Gen9 laptop and had almost despaired that all the local-account-only setup methods had been obliterated. The other issue was that I wasn't sure which preinstalled version the laptop came with. I'm setting it up for personal use, not school or business.

The "Learn More" route (the tiny text in the paragraph, as opposed to the larger button at the bottom of the MS account setup dialog screen) for skipping the MS account setup didn't work for me. Nor did a couple of other methods. YMMV, of course, but I've built desktop systems since before Windows so ...

I started considering reinstalling Windows from a fresh MS download, using Rufus, which would do only as a last resort because I didn't have time to do the overhead of additional setup after that, I wanted to be close to ready to go. Fortunately I did find a method—which has been mentioned here on the forum—and it worked perfectly.

So, as a thank you to those here who continue to champion the Local Only route, these are the links that I finally followed. Again, this method has been mentioned on the forum, not a diss to those posts, it's just that I found this particular presentation was easiest to follow.


YouTube link for the video linked on the above page

1. In "How would you like to set up this device?", I chose "Set up for Work or School".
2. "Let Windows access your location?" Yes.
3. Press Shift+Fn+F10 (Note: some systems only need Shift+F10) to open a cmd.exe window.
4. Code:

   net user "User Name" /add
   
   net localgroup "Administrators" "User Name" /add
   
   cd OOBE
   
   msoobe && shutdown -r

5. As the system reboots, note that there is an error message, "The user name or password is incorrect", which can be disregarded.

In addition:

You can still use either step below when you get to them in this tutorial to create a local account instead of a Microsoft account during Windows Setup.

step 15 = This step uses the start ms-cxh:localonly or start ms-cxh://setaddlocalonly command to set up a local account with network.

step 17 = The red warning box under this step uses the reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE /v BypassNRO /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f command to bypass network requirements to then be able to set up a local account.

step 22 = The blue tip box under this step has you use the Domain join instead option that allows you to set up a local account with network.

Brink said:

In addition:

You can still use either step below when you get to them in this tutorial to create a local account instead of a Microsoft account during Windows Setup.

step 15 = This step uses the start ms-cxh:localonly or start ms-cxh://setaddlocalonly command to set up a local account with network.

step 17 = The red warning box under this step uses the reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE /v BypassNRO /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f command to bypass network requirements to then be able to set up a local account.

step 22 = The blue tip box under this step has you use the Domain join instead option that allows you to set up a local account with network.

Click to expand...

Has this been updated in the tutorials?

I used this one, 2 months ago and it worked...

start ms-cxh:localonly

You can also create a simple autounattend.xml text file and drop it onto the root of your installation media. The sample file below does 2 things:

- Bypass Win 11 requirements allowing you to install on systems not meeting Win 11 requirements (can also be used if requirements are met).
- Allow creation of local account during setup

To use, simply copy the text below into notepad and save as autounattend.xml on the root of your installation media.

Note that this does NOT perform an unattended installation of Windows. This is a highly abbreviated answer file that does only the two things noted above.

Follow-up to my last post. If your system meets all Win 11 requirements, you can abbreviate the answer file considerably and just use it like this:

Ghot said:

I used this one, 2 months ago and it worked...

start ms-cxh:localonly

Click to expand...

I agree. I just created a Windows 11 Pro virtual machine using VMware Workstation. I installed Windows 11 using the ISO for Windows 11 26H2. The download I used was "Windows11_Client_x64_en-us_26300_9457.iso"

Here are the steps I used:
When the setup asked me to verify the "region", I hit Shift + F10
At the command prompt I entered: ms-cxh:localonly
I was then asked to create a name and password for the local user
I then had to select the three security questions
After I answered a few more questions I was taken to the desktop

I checked in a VMWare virtual machine, both these commands work with the first official 26H2 ISO (build 26300.9457):

oobe\bypassnro

start ms-cxh:localonly

I mounted it directly in the virtual DVD, I didn't use Rufus or anything else. I only used the Registry patch to install because of my unsupported 3rd generation Intel Core-i7 3770. I just remind you that you must be disconnected from the internet before you reach the network screen for either command to work.

spapakons said:

I checked in a VMWare virtual machine, both these commands work with the first official 26H2 ISO (build 26300.9457):

oobe\bypassnro

start ms-cxh:localonly

I mounted it directly in the virtual DVD, I didn't use Rufus or anything else. I only used the Registry patch to install because of my unsupported 3rd generation Intel Core-i7 3770. I just remind you that you must be disconnected from the internet before you reach the network screen for either command to work.

Click to expand...

Why do you say that the virtual machine must be disconnected from the Internet? When I created the Windows 11 26H2 virtual machines I selected "Internet Adapter = NAT". That means I was connected to the Internet the whole time Windows 11 was set up.

Note: I used "start ms-cxh:localonly" to bypass the Microsoft account requirement to create both Windows 11 26H2 Home and Windows 11 26H2 Pro virtual machines.

MisterEd said:

I agree. I just created a Windows 11 Pro virtual machine using VMware Workstation. I installed Windows 11 using the ISO for Windows 11 26H2. The download I used was "Windows11_Client_x64_en-us_26300_9457.iso"

Here are the steps I used:
When the setup asked me to verify the "region", I hit Shift + F10
At the command prompt I entered: ms-cxh:localonly
I was then asked to create a name and password for the local user
I then had to select the three security questions
After I answered a few more questions I was taken to the desktop

Click to expand...

One clarification, as I just went through this.

I think you ran
start ms-cxh:localonly

I did the same steps (but in Hyper-V) and created a local account with 11 Pro, and was connected to the Internet via my Default Switch and it took me right into the desktop.;

Thus, I did NOT have to disconnect from the Internet for this to work.

I had setup a checkpoint during the install, and snapped back to it. Rather than doing the start ms:cxh:localonly when the region popped up, I went through answering the questions about the region, answering my keyboard layout, setting up a name for my computer, I skipped the updates process, and went all the way to the sign-in to your microsoft account screen. At that point,

• Shift+F10
• start ms:cxh:localonly
• put in my local username, password and answered the 3 security questions and was at "choose privacy settings for your device"
• Was on the desktop.

Connected to Internet entire time.

pparks1 said:

One clarification, as I just went through this.

I think you ran
start ms-cxh:localonly

I did the same steps (but in Hyper-V) and created a local account with 11 Pro, and was connected to the Internet via my Default Switch and it took me right into the desktop.;

Thus, I did NOT have to disconnect from the Internet for this to work.

Click to expand...

Correction: You must be disconnected from the internet for the older commandoobe\bypassnroto work. It's not necessary for the other command because it completely bypasses the network screen.

Just for completeness, I did revert back again and let Windows update do it's thing during setup and was still able to use
start ms-cxh:localonly

No problems.

The point is, while the oobe\bypass command didn't work in the first 25H2 ISO of October 2025 because the respective file was missing, it does work in 26H2 ISO.

Hello everyone,
During installation of Windows 11 v26H2 OS BUILD 26300.9457, on the very first restart, at country/region selection screen, press Shift+F10.
C:\windows\system32>cd oobe
C:\windows\system32\oobe>BypassNRO. cmd
The pc/laptop restarts, select country/region, keyboard, and then click "I don't have internet ".
Now proceed to enter name, password creating a local account.
Thanks.

Ramesh Sharma said:

Hello everyone,
During installation of Windows 11 v26H2 OS BUILD 26300.9457, on the very first restart, at country/region selection screen, press Shift+F10.
C:\windows\system32>cd oobe
C:\windows\system32\oobe>BypassNRO. cmd
The pc/laptop restarts, select country/region, keyboard, and then click "I don't have internet ".
Now proceed to enter name, password creating a local account.
Thanks.

Click to expand...

For this specific command to work you must be disconnected from the internet, otherwise you will be forced to use a Microsoft account.