Windows 11 forces you to connect to the Internet during setup and link it to a Microsoft account.
To Bypass Windows 11 forcing you to sign in with a Microsoft account:
- On the Microsoft account sign in screen, press Shift + F10 (sometimes it can be Shift + FN + F10) to bring up a command prompt window.
- Type “netsh wlan disconnect” without the quotes and press enter (This will force kill the wireless and force Windows to create a local account)
- Exit command prompt and press back on the Microsoft account sign in screen and it should go straight to setting up a local account.
If above fails proceed below.
- Disable the Internet connection before starting the installation. To do this, you can disconnect the LAN cable or disable Wi-Fi.
- Windows will show you the “Let’s connect to a network” or similar screen. The upcoming Windows 11 version 22H2 no longer allows you to skip this step to create a local account.
- On the screen that appears, press Shift + F10 to open a command prompt window.
- Type “OOBE\BYPASSNRO” (without the quotation marks) and press the Enter key.
- Windows will automatically restart and return to the “Let’s connect you to a network” screen. Only this time you can select “I don’t have Internet” to skip this step.
- Then select “Continue with limited configuration” to create a local account during configuration.