Overcome Windows 11 Setup Annoyances

Windows 11 requires individuals who configure a PC for personal use to connect to the Internet and sign in with a Microsoft account (MSA) during initial setup. This is reasonable and even desirable for most users, and we recommend that readers simply do as instructed. But power users who prefer to sign in with a local account---what Microsoft sometimes calls an offline account to differentiate it from online accounts like Microsoft accounts and work or school accounts---will need to bypass these requirements.

Here are a few ways to do so.
Bypass the network connection and Microsoft account requirements during Setup
To bypass the network connection and Microsoft account requirements during Setup, navigate to "Let's connect you to a network" and type SHIFT + F10. This will display a Command Prompt window, which lets you execute Windows applications from its command line interface. Make sure Command Prompt is selected and then type the following command:
oobe\bypassnro
When you press ENTER, the PC will reboot and Windows Setup will run again. Step through Setup as before. When you get to the screen titled "Let's connect you to a network," you will see a new link near the bottom left titled "I don't have internet."

Select this link to display a screen titled "Connect now to quickly get started on your device." Then, select the link "Continue with limited setup." Setup will display the license agreement screen (press Next) and then the "Who's going to use this device?" screen. Now, just enter a local account name in the Enter your name field and continue with Setup normally.

Bypass just the Microsoft account requirement during Setup
If you've already connected to your local network during Setup, no worries: you can still bypass the Microsoft account requirement.

When you get to the "Let's add your Microsoft account" phase in Setup, enter [email protected] in the Sign in field and then select the Next button. Then, in the Enter password field, enter any password and then select the Sign in button. The message "Oops, something went wrong" will appear.

Select the Next button and the "Who's going to use this device?" phase will appear. Now, just enter a local account name in the Enter your name field and continue with Setup normally.

Create install media that removes Setup annoyances
A third-party utility called Rufus helps you create a version of the Windows 11 installation media on a USB memory stick that can optionally several Setup annoyances, most notably the Microsoft account requirement.

The PC must be offline during Setup
The Microsoft account workaround requires that the PC on which you're installing Windows 11 is not connected to the Internet during Setup.
Rufus can also remove the Windows 11 Setup requirements for TPM, CPU, RAM, and disk space, and it can configure the install media to automatically skip over the privacy choices during Setup. We examine this usage of Rufus in Upgrade to Windows 11 on Un...