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by buccal 247 days ago
> * A microsoft account is only needed for Windows 11 Home. A "semi-power user" is hopefully not using that edition of Windows...

Both Home and Pro require Microsoft account to install and start using. Then you can create local only users in both editions and delete user joined to Microsoft account. This is standard operation even in OEM installs.
2 comments
jpk2f2 246 days ago
Pro does not. We only use Pro and Enterprise, and Pro certainly does not actually require a Microsoft account (as of last week, anyways). The options given do make it appear to be required, but it is not.
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whyoh 247 days ago
Neither Home nor Pro really require a MS account. You can skip that during setup (for example with "bypassNRO"). This might change in the future, but as of 25H2 the workarounds still work.
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jpk2f2 246 days ago
bypassnro no longer works for Windows 11 Home, unfortunately. If you're using an ISO built prior to the change (a few weeks ago?), you'll be fine.
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whyoh 246 days ago
This is the ISO I used, which, according to the MS website[1], is still the latest right now: Win11_25H2_English_x64.iso (SHA256: D141F6030FED50F75E2B03E1EB2E53646C4B21E5386047CB860AF5223F102A32)

I installed it offline in a VM, Home edition, US region. Shift+F10, oobe\bypassnro worked (with a warning/error at some step, but the local account was created fine). I read somewhere that it doesn't work if you connect to the internet during setup (which is always a bad idea IMO).

[1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

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