Here are all the known ways and methods to skip & bypass Windows 11's OOBE MS online account requirement and use a local account instead.
1st Method
Start the Windows 11 installation. When in OOBE and Win11 requires you to connect to the network,
press SHIFT+F10 to open a CMD window and type: OOBE\bypassNRO
The PC will restart, OOBE will start again, but this time it will offer the option "I don't have an internet connection". Continue for there.
2nd method
* By accessing the Developer Console, users can trigger a local account setup screen.
1. Start Windows 11 Setup > Select region and keyboard layout.
2. Press CTRL + SHIFT + J to open the Developer Console.
3. Type: WinJS.Application.restart("ms-cxh://LOCALONLY")
This opens a GUI to add a local user account.
* Note: This command is case-sensitive.
* You can use Tab-completion to help you type it quickly & accurately.
Press Escape to exit the Developer Console and return to the OOBE screen.
3rd method (similar to method 2)
1. Start Windows 11 Setup > Select region and keyboard layout.
2. Press SHIFT+F10 to open CMD and type: start ms-cxh://LOCALONLY
This opens a GUI to add a local user account.
4th method
If you're upgrading from a previous installation of Windows (or booted from WinPE):
1. Mount the Windows 11 ISO file: Right-click it and select Mount (or select open with > Windows Explorer)
It should receive a drive letter, let's say E:\ .
2. Open CMD and type:
cd /d E:/Sources
setupprep.exe/product server
3. Continue installation as usual (you can ignore the "Server" label, it will install Windows 11).
5th method (similar to method 4)
If you're upgrading from a previous installation of Windows (or booted from WinPE):
1. Mount the Windows 11 ISO file: Right-click it and select Mount (or select open with > Windows Explorer)
It should receive a drive letter, let's say E:\ .
2. Open CMD and type:
cd /d E:
setup.exe /product server
3. Continue installation as usual (you can ignore the "Server" label, it will install Windows 11).
6th method
Start the Windows 11 installation. When in OOBE and Win11 requires you to connect to the network, press SHIFT+F10 to open CMD and type the following commands:
:: This creates a standard limited user.
:: The asterisk * tells the system to ask for a password (for security, the input is hidden)
:: If you prefer, you can type the password directly in the command: net user "YOUR_USERNAME" "YOUR_PASSWORD" /add
net user "YOUR_USERNAME" * /add
:: This adds the user to the local Administrators group
net localgroup Administrators "YOUR_USERNAME" /add
:: Make the user account active/enabled
net user "YOUR_USERNAME" /active:yes
:: Make sure the password never expires
net user "YOUR_USERNAME" /expires:never
:: Optional - Deactivate the built-in Administrator account
net user "Administrator" /active:no
:: Delete the temporary setup account, it's no longer needed
net user "defaultUser0" /delete
:: To check/verify that all the steps we've done so far were performed OK
net user
:: Next, we need to adjust a few registry settings
reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE" /f /v DefaultAccountAction
reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE" /f /v DefaultAccountSAMName
reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE" /f /v DefaultAccountSID
reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE" /f /v LaunchUserOOBE
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE" /f /v SkipMachineOOBE /t REG_DWORD /d 1
:: If you want, you can bypass the BitLocker auto enforcement
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BitLocker" /f /v PreventDeviceEncryption /t REG_DWORD /d 1
:: Reboot the PC
shutdown /r /t 0
:: You should now be able to continue setting up Windows
NOT TESTED YET, BUT MAY WORK:
control userpasswords2
netplwiz
start ms-settings:otherusers
lusrmgr.msc
start ms-cxh://SETADDNEWUSER > I don't have this person's sign-in information > Add a user without a Microsoft account
