Windows 11 requires individuals who configure a PC for personal use to connect to the Internet and sign in with a Microsoft account (MSA) during the initial setup. With version 21H2, only those using Windows 11 Home were impacted by this requirement. But with version 22H2, Windows 11 Pro users are now impacted as well.
Honestly, this requirement is reasonable and even desirable for most users, and I recommend that readers simply do as instructed. But power users who prefer to sign in with a local account will need to bypass these requirements.
There are several documented ways to do so, but I found that some methods have stopped working with Windows 11 22H2. And though I describe two methods in the upcoming book, Windows 11 Field Guide, this is the simplest way to sign in to Windows 11 with a local account. It works with both Windows 11 Home and Pro, and with both wireless and wired networks.
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
Here’s how.
When you get to the “Let’s add your Microsoft account” phase in Windows 11 Setup, enter [email protected] in the Sign in field and then select the Next button.
Then, in the Enter password field, enter any password and select the Sign in button. The message “Oops, something went wrong” will appear.
Select the Next button and the “Who’s going to use this device?” phase will appear. Now, just enter a local account name in the Enter your name field and continue with Setup normally.
And you’re off.
dftf
<p>I’ve recently done an install of <em>Windows 11 Home</em> inside a virtual-machine, and here’s how I bypassed it:</p><p>(1) Use a genuine Microsoft Account on the initial setup screen</p><p>(2) Once the desktop has appeared, go to Start > Settings > Accounts > Family and other users</p><p>(3) Click [Add account] and select "I don’t have this person’s sign-in information", then "Add a user without a Microsoft account"</p><p><br></p><p>Even on the Home edition of Windows 11, this will still let you add only a local-user account.</p><p><br></p><p>Make sure for one of the accounts you add in this way to click on it afterwards, then click [Change account type] and set one of them as an administrator. Then, simply sign-out of the account you are in, and restart the PC. Then log-in as one of the new, local admin accounts, go back to Start > Settings > Accounts > "Family and other users" and you can then remove the account created during Setup.</p>
dftf
<p>(Before anyone says: yes, Paul’s way does seem simpler… BUT… I would wonder whether, by entering a valid e-mail address, but one that cannot be used at the time, whether this would cause <em>Windows</em> to then constantly nag at you later to finish setting it up, or whether apps like <em>Mail, Edge</em> and <em>OneDrive </em>would still try and default to it. I guess you could still follow Paul’s way, and then just add a new, separate local-admin account after, then restart and delete-off the one created during the Setup process though.)</p>