Facepalm: Microsoft has long offered several "tricks" to customize the Windows setup process. Users especially value their ability to skip signing in with an online Microsoft account, much to the company's chagrin. Soon, those easy workarounds will no longer be available.
Microsoft has released a new Windows 11 preview build for beta testers in the Insider program. Build 26220.6772 (KB5065797) introduces several changes that will gradually roll out to the stable version of the OS – but one so-called "improvement" is likely to frustrate many customers, power users, and system administrators.
The new build modifies the Windows Out Of Box Experience (OOBE) by removing known methods for creating local user accounts. Microsoft said these methods were "often" used to bypass the requirement to sign in with a Microsoft account during installation. The company justified the change by citing failures in the OOBE process that left some devices only partially configured. Microsoft now requires users to complete OOBE with an internet connection and a Microsoft account to ensure proper device setup.
Microsoft tried to sweeten the hard-to-swallow pill by providing a new OOBE trick that lets Windows 11 place the online user account in a customized folder. Otherwise, the OS will still generate a proper profile folder name from the user's Microsoft email address.
Microsoft has long pushed customers to use an online account on Windows and is now actively closing pre-existing loopholes that allowed users to set up local accounts. The company did not provide specific details about which bypass methods it plans to remove from the Windows 11 OOBE or whether any of these loopholes will remain in future Windows releases.
For now, users and administrators are waiting to access the preview build so they can test the scope of these new limitations. The Microsoft account bypass tricks have long offered a quick way to set up a local account during OOBE. However, they represent just one mechanism among many setup customization options that Redmond has supported throughout Windows' history.
Resourceful users still have plenty of ways to "go local" and avoid a Microsoft account even after build 26220.6772. These methods include unattended setup images, third-party tools such as Rufus and Ventoy. Microsoft may face more dissatisfaction from power users, but those determined to avoid using an online account during Windows installation will likely continue doing so for the foreseeable future.