Whatever your reasoning, if you don’t want to worry about connecting during setup, you have several options:
Use the command line
When installing Windows 11, after selecting a language and keyboard layout but before connecting to a network, press Shift+F10 to open Command Prompt (depending on your keyboard, you may also need to press the Fn key before pressing F10). Type OOBE\BYPASSNROpress Enter and wait for the PC to restart.
When it returns, click “I don’t have Internet” on the network configuration screen, and you will have retrieved the option to use “limited configuration” (i.e. a local account) again, like the older versions of Windows 10 and 11 offered.
This option has been removed from some test builds of Windows 11, but it still works as of this writing in 25H2. We may see this option removed in a future Windows update.
For Windows 11 Professional
For Windows 11 Pro users, there is a no-command-line workaround you can take advantage of.
Proceed with setting up Windows 11 as you normally would, including connecting to a network and allowing the system to check for updates. Finally, you will be asked if you are configuring your PC for personal use or for “work or school”.
Select the “work or school” option, then “sign in options,” in which case you will finally receive a button that says “join a domain instead.” Click on it to indicate that you plan to join the PC to a corporate domain (even if you don’t), and you’ll see the normal workflow for creating a “limited” local account.
The downside is that you start your relationship with your new Windows installation by lying to it. But hey, if you use AI features, your computer will probably lie to you too. Everything balances out.
