[_nickwhite]

This news about Windows 11 Pro "requiring" a Microsoft Account is a bit of sensationalism. You can still bypass it and create a local account if you know what you're doing, as has been the case for several years with Windows 10. Here is how:

When you see the “Let’s Connect You To A Network” page, hit “Shift” and “F10” simultaneously. This will bring up the Command Prompt to which you type the command: taskkill /F /IM oobenetworkconnectionflow.exe

When Windows 11 setup detects networking is not possible, it will let you create the local account as always.

[nneonneo]

I’m not sure whether to take this as a joke or not. Not using a Microsoft account requires using a terminal to kill a process? Is there seriously no other way?

If so, I suspect that Microsoft have succeeded in their goal to get everyone to use their accounts, because I don’t see the vast majority of users going down this route.

[temac]

> as has been the case for several years with Windows 10

It was not mandatory in Windows 10, thus there was nothing to bypass (on Home maybe you had to ensure you are not connected during OOBE though, at least on some versions)

IIRC in the official specs of Windows 11 Home they specify that you must have an Internet connection and an MS account for the initial setup.

I doubt killing processes during OOBE is officially supported...

[Tijdreiziger]

IIUC, the news is that Microsoft will be disabling this workaround and requiring an active network connection on setup.

[layer8]

No, the news is that they are extending the online account requirement from Home to Pro. This means that when Windows 10 goes EOL in 2025, the large majority of (non-enterprise) Windows users will be using an online account. And then it will only be a small step to completely drop support for local accounts (maybe for Windows 12). At least that’s my theory what Microsoft is aiming for.

[Tijdreiziger]

Yes, our comments don’t contradict each other, right? Here’s what MS themselves wrote [1]:

> Similar to Windows 11 Home edition, Windows 11 Pro edition now requires internet connectivity during the initial device setup (OOBE) only. If you choose to setup device for personal use, MSA will be required for setup as well. You can expect Microsoft Account to be required in subsequent WIP flights.

Tweakers.net reported that they already blocked the Shift + F10 workaround in Home [2], so I can only assume they’ll be bringing that to Pro too…

[1] https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2022/02/16/announc...

[2] https://tweakers.net/nieuws/193418/windows-11-pro-installati...