I was trying to install Windows 11 from a fresh ISO I pulled from the official site today for a throwaway VM and I stumbled into their recently added ridiculous requirement of forcing users to sign-in to their Microsoft accounts. Previously, there was an option in the UI to skip and create a local account but the ingenious product owners and salespeople decided that has to go, which I’m sure is delighting users all over the world.

I jotted down the steps I took to bypass it for my own future reference:

1. Proceed with the installation till it asks you to sign-in with a Microsoft account
2. Press ⇧ ShiftF10 which will bring up a command prompt
3. If you’re connected to the network:
   1. Type ncpa.cpl and press Enter which will open the Network Connections control panel
   2. Right-click and disable the network connection(s) listed in the newly opened window and then close it.
4. Type oobe\bypassnro into the command prompt and press Enter
5. Wait for the system to reboot
6. Go through the installation steps again until you reach a screen prompting you to connect to a network
7. Click the link button that says something like I don’t have internet
8. Click the link button that says something like Continue with limited setup
9. Proceed by entering a username and password for the local account
10. Continue with the installation as usual

If anyone sane from Windows team is reading this—please stop enshittifying Windows. You’re just pissing off your normal customers in the process.

H/T to u/radialmonster from Reddit for the instructions.