Microsoft insists you to use a Microsoft Account when installing Windows 11—How to Bypass it ?

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Microsoft insists you to use a Microsoft Account when installing Windows 11—How to Bypass it ?

Microsoft has confirmed that the popular “bypassnro” command, which let users to skip connecting to the Internet and signing into a Microsoft Account, is being removed, when setting up a new Windows 11 PC.

Microsoft is now requiring every Windows 11 device be set up with an internet-connected account.

Windows 11 PCs that have already been set up without a Microsoft Account will be unaffected. This change only affects the Windows 11 install and setup experience, where the OS requires an internet connection and a Microsoft Account to progress.

There are still ways to bypass these requirements, Currently, it’s also possible to manually re-add the bypassnro command to your system by typing the following into a command prompt: “reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE /v BypassNRO /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f shutdown /r /t 0”

However, there’s no guarantee Microsoft will allow this additional workaround for long. There are other workarounds as well, such as using the unattended.xml installation, but this requires a lot more work and includes creating a new Windows installation image from scratch.

Steps to Create an Unattended XML File for Local Account

1. Basic `unattend.xml` to Skip Microsoft Account:

Here’s a minimal XML file that configures a local administrator account and skips OOBE (Out-of-Box Experience) prompts:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <OOBE>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <HideOEMRegistrationScreen>true</HideOEMRegistrationScreen>
                <HideOnlineAccountScreens>true</HideOnlineAccountScreens> <!-- Skips Microsoft account -->
                <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
                <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
            </OOBE>
            <UserAccounts>
                <LocalAccounts>
                    <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
                        <Password>
                            <Value>YourPassword123</Value> <!-- Change this -->
                            <PlainText>true</PlainText> <!-- Set to false if hashed -->
                        </Password>
                        <DisplayName>LocalAdmin</DisplayName>
                        <Name>LocalAdmin</Name>
                        <Group>Administrators</Group>
                    </LocalAccount>
                </LocalAccounts>
            </UserAccounts>
            <AutoLogon>
                <Password>
                    <Value>YourPassword123</Value>
                </Password>
                <Enabled>true</Enabled>
                <Username>LocalAdmin</Username>
                <LogonCount>999999</LogonCount>
            </AutoLogon>
        </component>
    </settings>
</unattend>

2. Save the File

Save as autounattend.xml (for USB boot) or unattend.xml (for deployment tools).
Place it in the root of your Windows 11 installation USB or inject it into the ISO.

3. Use the File During Installation

Boot from the USB, and Windows Setup will automatically apply the settings.
No Microsoft account prompt will appear.

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Microsoft insists you to use a Microsoft Account when installing Windows 11—How to Bypass it ?