- Microsoft just blocked a popular solution to install Windows 11 with a local account
- Some people like to avoid having a Microsoft account attached to us because of privacy (or other) concerns
- While there are alternative solutions left, they are likely to be cut off too – and Microsoft goes down a lot on the wrong way here
Microsoft seems to be moving to block Windows 11 users who want to install the operating system using a local account, which means they want to avoid having to use a Microsoft account (and be online) when they create us.
Not everyone wants to tie their copy of Windows 11 directly to their Microsoft account – or they may not even have such an account at all – and these are the people who just want to use a local account (only tied to the PC itself).
While Microsoft officially removed this choice from Windows 11’s setup experience some time ago, there was a commonly used solution-but software giant just blocking this.
As Windows Central makes clear, this method of swinging around the requirement to use a Microsoft account to shoot up the command prompt and enter ‘oobe bypassnro‘ – But in the latest previews of Windows 11, Microsoft has removed this ability. Specifically, this Preview Build is 26200.5516, which is possibly the first step on the path to Windows 11 25H2, this year’s big update.
However, it is still possible to use the particular fudge in a different way – by editing the registry that Windows latest shows us. It is unclear and possibly dangerous for less technical-savvy users, as the registry can ruin your system if you put a foot wrong with your editing-but fortunately there is a better solution.
Windows Central noted that, as highlighted on X of the Wighterornot, there is another command to achieve this particular trick. It is’MS-CXH: Localonly‘And Again, enter this in the command prompt which is reached by pressing ‘Change + F10‘ Under the Windows 11 setup process.
Check out how it works in the video clip on X below, but it’s a much easier and more streamlined way to do this than the old method.
Improved bypass for Windows 11 Oobe: 1. Shift-F102. Start MS-CXH: Localonlyonly required on Home and Pro editions. pic.twitter.com/zua89zpbi3March 29, 2025
Analysis: Expect Full Road Shutter in place soon – but this should not happen at all
To summarize the current situation, there are still two ways (at least) that you can disconnect the Windows 11 setup process and install without using a Microsoft account that just works with a local account instead (without tapes on us to Microsoft, which some people prefer cleaning from a privacy point of view).
However – and that is a big however – I fully expect Microsoft to block the alternative register mentioned above pretty quickly. And it is likely that the second solution presented on X will be sent to the large cemetery of Windows 11 solutions in the sky soon – now that it has become common knowledge. Well, maybe not ordinary knowledge, yet much better known.
Microsoft is likely to block all options to avoid its requirement to have a Microsoft account when installing Windows 11. It is clear that this is an overall policy that will be introduced in place and I would expect it to be followed through. Maybe not so fast, but I bet that when Windows 11 25H2 arrives, it will have a few more of these blocks in place.
For those who really do not want a Microsoft account with their Windows 11 installation, there is probably only a course of action in the end -just to create a dummy Microsoft account that is an empty slate that you do nothing with. You can then create a local account, after setting up Windows, after Microsoft’s advice on how to do so (a support document that disappeared very much for a time).
However, complaining about Microsoft that stamps out of these solutions lacks a kind of point. There should be no need for these fudges in the first place because Microsoft should give us the freedom to choose whether we want a local account or a Microsoft account installation under Windows Setup (as was the case in the past).
Of course, Microsoft claims that having an account associated with gives you synchronization of its services (and your files) across devices and better security (OneDrive security copies and such), but there are other ways to achieve these ends in many cases. And it should fully be the choice of the user – if I want a local account, I should be able to have one. I don’t do that as it happens, but the point is that there must be a free freedom of choice here.
In any case, load this choice screen with warnings that warn less technically knowledgeable users about the benefits they will miss because of not having a Microsoft account connected-but set the choice in, please.
On a more serious note, there may also be technical gremlins that interfere with the installation of Windows 11 when you link it to a Microsoft account online. Here at Techradar we have experienced frustrating login failing on review hardware, for example, which meant a local account was necessary To get us installed (presumably due to glitchs on the server side of Microsoft). In these scenarios, a local installation option – or solution – is not just nice to have, but actually of critical importance.
