In Windows 11, Microsoft really wants you to use a Microsoft account when setting up your PC. There are certainly benefits to having it on your desktop or PC. For example, it works well with cloud services like Office or Onedrive. And it allows you to easily sync things between different computers. But there are reasons why you may not want to use a Microsoft account when installing Windows 11. You may have been using the device for a short period of time. Or maybe you still prefer the old way of setting up Windows without any usernames or passwords. But the problem is that Microsoft is making it more difficult to set up Windows 11 without an account. However, we now have a workaround to install Windows 11 without a Microsoft account.
How to set up Windows 11 without a Microsoft account
There is a neat trick that allows you to set up Windows 11 with a local account. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a local account is the combination of your password and username that you use to log into your Windows computer. Basically, this process will allow you to install the operating system the traditional way.
Actually there are two ways to do this. The first process will ask you to enter a command so that Windows does not require an Internet connection during installation. Another method is to use a tool called Rufus to prepare an installation disk that simply removes the need to log in in the first place. We will talk about this method later in this article.
If you have a new computer that already has Windows 11 installed. Or if you have a bootable disk that you use to install Windows on your computer, you can follow these steps:
1. Start the setup process until you reach the “Select a country” screen.
2. Now it’s time to disconnect from the Internet. To do this, press Shift + F10 to open the command prompt.
3. At the command prompt, type OOBE BYPASS NO (Make sure that all characters are capitalized and there are no spaces) and press Enter. This will disable the internet connection requirement, but not the internet.
4. After that, the computer will restart and bring you back to the same screen. Again, press Shift + F10 to open the command prompt.
5. This time, write ipconfig / version (Make sure all letters are lowercase and there are no spaces) and press Enter. This will eventually disable your internet connection.
6. You can now close the command prompt and continue with the installation.
7. Choose the region and keyboard settings.
8. Windows will display the Let’s Connect You to a Network screen. Simply click on “I don’t have internet” to continue.
9. A new login screen will appear asking “Who is using the device”. Enter a username for your local account, click Next, and set a password.
10. You can now complete the rest of the installation process as you normally would.
Following these steps will allow you to set up Windows 11 without the need for a Microsoft account.
Create a Windows 11 disk that allows bypassing a Microsoft account
Now let’s move on to the second part. You can also create an installation disc that has the No Internet Connection Required setup already included. To do this, you will need an additional computer or desktop. Here are the steps:
1. First, download the Windows 11 ISO file from a trusted source. Also, download and Install Rufus version 3.19 or newer.
2. Insert the USB flash drive you want to use. Remember that the drive will be completely formatted during the process of making it bootable, so be sure to back up any important files beforehand.
3. Launch Rufus on your device and select the USB drive (if it is not already selected).
4. Now, choose the downloaded Windows ISO file and click on the Start button at the bottom.
5. A dialog box will appear with some options to customize your Windows installation.
6. Toggle the option that says “Remove Microsoft account requirement online” to On. and click OK.
7. If you see a warning message from Rufus that all data on the USB flash drive will be destroyed, click OK. This is expected because Rufus will overwrite all of the drive’s contents.
8. Rufus will take a few minutes to copy the files to a USB flash drive. Once this is done, you will have a bootable flash drive ready for installation.
9. You can now proceed to setup Windows as you normally would.
By following these steps, you can create a bootable USB flash drive that will allow you to install Windows 11 without a Microsoft account.