Install Windows 11 Home or Windows 10 Home without a Microsoft account

updated November 2024

Microsoft keeps changing Windows, so the bypass technique has to change to keep up with it.  This method is tested and working as of November 2024.  Do NOT connect your computer to the internet with a wire or wirelessly until you have created your local account. 

1. Follow the Windows 10 or 11 install process until you get to the "choose a country" screen.
2. While holding down the Shift key, tap the F10 key one time. A black window with white letters might appear. If you see this black window, skip to step 4.
3. If you don't see the black window, while holding down the Shift key and the Fn key (lower left of keyboard) together, tap the F10 key one time.  If you see a black window, continue to step 4.  If you still don't see a black window, it means that you are installing an antique version of Windows that doesn't require the creation of a Microsoft account, so skip to step 21 below.
4. Click on some empty blank space in the black window so you can type in it.
5. Type this command   oobe\bypassnro
6. Hit the Enter key.
7. The computer will reboot and then it will return you to the "choose a country" screen.  This can take 1-2 minutes.
8.  Select your country and continue the installation.
9.  When you get to the screen where it asks you to connect to a network, click on "I don't have internet" at the bottom,  then skip to step 22 below

If Microsoft has changed things so you don't see the option "I don't have internet", then turn off the computer by pushing and holding the power button for 30 seconds, wait 10 seconds for the computer to be completely off, then turn the computer back on.  Continue with the instructions below.

10. When you se the "choose a country" screen, press Shift-F10 (or Shift-Fn-F10 if needed) to show the black window with white letters.
11. Click on some empty blank space in the black window so you can type in it.
12. To list the available network connections on your computer, type this command: netsh interface show interface
13. Hit Enter.
14. The computer will list one or two interfaces. Each interface has a name. On most computers, they are titled Wi-Fi and Ethernet.
15. For the first (or only) interface listed, type the following command, substituting the actual listed name that it listed instead of the words ListedName (Note that the quote marks are required.) netsh interface set interface "ListedName" disable
      For example, if one of the interfaces was named Wi-Fi, the command would be netsh interface set interface "Wi-Fi" disable
16.  Hit Enter.
17. If your computer has two interfaces, type the same command, but substituting the second listed name for ListedName.
      For example, if one of the interfaces was named Ethernet the command would be netsh interface set interface "Ethernet" disable
18. Hit Enter.
19. Close the command prompt by typing Exit and hitting the Enter key.
10. Continue with the installation, choosing the country, keyboard and second keyboard (if any).
20. A screen saying "Let's connect you to a network" appears, warning you that you need Internet.
21. Toward the bottom of this screen, in small blue letters, it says "I don't have Internet." Click on "I don't have Internet."
22. On the next page, at the bottom, click where it says "Continue with limited setup."
23. It will ask you to create a username and password. Write them down! 
24.  If you skipped steps 10-21, then skip ahead to step 27.
25. When Windows installation completes, open an elevated command prompt (click on search, type CMD, then right-click on the black Command Prompt icon)
26. To turn networking back on, repeat steps 10-17, but use the word enable instead of disable in steps 13 and 15.
27.  Once your local account is created, now connect the computer to the internet, either with a wire or wirelessly.  To connect wirelessly, click on the internet icon near the lower right corner of the screen, and choose your WiFi network from the list.  If you don't see the icon, go into Settings, Network, WiFi, then "show available networks."
28.  Congratulations!  You now have a local user account and do not need to create nor use a Microsoft account.

CAUTION - newer versions of Windows 11 will automatically encrypt your hard drive, and there is no way to retrieve the encryption key if you are using a local account.  So I strongly recommend decrypting the drive.  Go to Settings  and search on the word "Bitlocker."  It will steer you to the security setting where you can see the device encryption and turn it off.  Decryption takes time, sometimes several hours, and you can watch the progress as the bar turns color.  Do not restart or turn off the computer while the decryption is in progress.  It's OK for the computer to go to sleep, but not to turn it off until decryption is complete.