Among the many minor discomforts linked to a modern Windows 11 installation, the requirement to connect with a Microsoft account is one of the most irritating. Of course, all operating systems (including those of Apple and Google) encourage connection to an account as part of their configuration process and prevent you from using several operating system features until you log into.
Various bypass tools and solutions, approved or not, existed to allow users to configure their PC with old -fashioned local accounts, and these bypass solutions have not changed much over the past three years. But Microsoft works to tighten the screws in the preliminary versions of Windows, foreshadowing a future version of Windows where bypassing the account requirement is even more difficult than it is already.
In a new update published yesterday on the DEV channel of the Windows Insider Preview program (Build 26220.6772), Microsoft announced that it “deleted the known mechanisms to create a local account in the Windows Configuration Experience (OOBE).” Microsoft claims that these bypass solutions “inadvertently ignore critical configuration screens, which could lead users to leave Oobe with a device that is not entirely configured to be used”.
The deleted commands include the “Oobe \ bypassnro” bypassing solution that Microsoft announced its deletion earlier this year, as well as a “Start MS-CXH: Localonly” bypass that has been documented more recently. In current Windows versions, users can open a command prompt window during installation with SHIFT+F10 and enter one of these commands to delete both Microsoft account requirement and Internet connection requirement.
Windows 11 PRO currently includes another bypass solution, in which you can indicate that you plan to reach your computer to a business domain and use it to create a local account. We do not know if this mechanism has also been deleted from the new version of Windows.
We do not know exactly what “critical configuration screens” Microsoft refers to; When you use the bypass solutions to create a local account, the Windows configuration assistant always shows you all the screens you need to create a account and a password, as well as to switch some basic confidentiality settings. The connection with a Microsoft account, however, adds several screens to this process: these screens will try to sell you Microsoft 365 and Xbox Game Pass subscriptions and to allow yourself to access features such as Windows reminders of data deletion on PCs that support it. I would not call any of them as “criticism” from the user’s point of view, but my priorities are not those of Microsoft.
