- Microsoft just blocked a popular workaround to install Windows 11 with a local account
- Some people like to avoid having a Microsoft account linked to the OS due to privacy (or other) concerns
- While alternative workarounds remain, it’s likely they could be cut off too – and Microsoft is very much going down the wrong path here
Microsoft appears to be moving to block Windows 11 users who want to install the operating system using a local account, meaning that they want to avoid having to use a Microsoft account (and be online) when setting up the OS.
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 those are the folks who want to just 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 workaround – but the software giant has just blocked this.
As Windows Central makes clear, that method of swerving around the requirement to use a Microsoft account was to fire up the command prompt and enter ‘oobe\bypassnro’ – but in the latest previews of Windows 11, Microsoft has stripped out that ability. Specifically, this is preview build 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 that particular fudge in a different way – by editing the Registry, as Windows Latest shows us. That’s clunky – and possibly dangerous for less tech-savvy users, as the Registry can mess up your system if you put a foot wrong with your editing – but luckily there’s a better workaround.
Windows Central noticed that as highlighted on X by WitherOrNot, there’s a different command to achieve this particular trick. It’s ‘ms-cxh:localonly’ and again, this is entered in the command prompt, which is reached by pressing ‘Shift + F10’ during 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 of doing 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 roadblocks in place before long – but this shouldn’t be happening at all
To summarize the current situation, there are still two ways (at least) that you can interrupt the Windows 11 setup process, and install without using a Microsoft account, just operating with a local account instead (with no ties on the OS to Microsoft, which some folks prefer purely from a privacy point of view).
However – and it’s a big however – I fully expect that Microsoft will block the alternative Registry fudge mentioned above pretty swiftly. And it’s likely that the other solution presented on X will be sent to the great graveyard of Windows 11 workarounds in the sky before long, too – now that it’s become common knowledge. Well, maybe not common knowledge, but a lot better known, anyway.
Microsoft is likely to block off all avenues of evading its requirement to have a Microsoft account when installing Windows 11. Clearly, this is an overarching policy which is being put into place, and I’d expect it’ll be followed through. Maybe not all that swiftly, but I’m betting that when Windows 11 25H2 arrives, it’ll have a few more of these blocks in place.
For those who really don’t want a Microsoft account with their Windows 11 installation, there’s likely to be only one course of action eventually – simply to create a dummy Microsoft account that’s a blank slate, which you don’t do anything with. You can then create a local account, post-setup of Windows, following Microsoft’s advice on how to do that (a support document that, very controversially, disappeared for a time).
Complaining about Microsoft stamping out these workarounds is kind of missing the point, though. There shouldn’t be any need for these fudges in the first place, because Microsoft should be giving us the freedom to choose if we want a local account, or a Microsoft account-linked installation, during Windows setup (as was the case in the past).
Of course, Microsoft argues that having an account linked gives you syncing of its services (and your files) across devices, and better security (OneDrive backups and such), but there are other ways of achieving 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, as it happens, but the point is there should be a freedom of choice here.
By all means, load up that choice screen with caveats warning less tech-savvy users about the benefits they’ll miss out on due to not having a Microsoft account hooked up – but put the choice in, please.
On a more serious note, there may also be technical gremlins that interfere with the installation of Windows 11 when linking it to a Microsoft account online. Here at TechRadar we’ve experienced frustrating login fails on review hardware, for example, which meant a local account was necessary to get the OS installed (presumably due to server-side glitches on Microsoft’s part). In those scenarios, a local install option – or workaround – is not just nice to have, but actually of critical importance.
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