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To my knowledge you can create a Windows 11 offline account on Home Edition by standard.
However, Microsoft stated, that you cant create an offline account on Windows 11 pro, but you actually can.

During device setup, when setup asks you for your email, type in the following email:

a@a.com

This is a buggy fake email that will glitch the setup.
An error mesage will show up, that this email is invalid.
Click next and it will automatically take you trough the steps on how to create an offline account from Windows 11 Home.
Idk if this still works on 22H2, but ive used this multiple times on older Windows 11 Pro releases and it worked fine.

UPDATE: This works on 22H2.

The alternate solution to this is to click the "set up for work for school" option, select sign in options then click the "domain join instead" to get into the offline account. It looks like this:

1st: 2nd: 3rd: It works on VMware and even on real PCs when i do test installs for Windows 11.

MS keeps waging war on local accounts.

https://www.windowslatest.com/2025/10/07/microsoft-confirms-windows-11-to-require-microsoft-account-internet-during-oobe-tested/

My newest laptop is only 1.5 yrs old and it came with Win11 24Hx.

I know that for reinstalling it, all I had to do to install without an MS Account is Shift->Function->F10 (Home) at the "Let's Connect" screen to open a command prompt window, enter ncpa.cpl, DISABLE the wi-fi, then enter shutdown /r /t 0, and then when the install resumed it DID NOT SEE A NETWORK AVAILABLE so it ONLY THEN presented a "I don't have internet" link on the "Let's Connect" screen, click that link and it lets you install WITHOUT an MS Account.

Looks like it's going to be harder and harder:
https://www.theverge.com/news/793579/microsoft-windows-11-local-account-bypass-workaround-changes

Time to switch to Linux

The randomly named user mentioned in that article has always been able to be manually entered.

At the "Let's Connect" screen, again use Shift->Function->F10 (Home) to open a command prompt window and enter sysdm.cpl to access System Properties then click Change to access Rename Computer.

TO H#LL WITH LINUX Been there, done that, ain't ever found a d@mn one worth keeping around. "To each their own."

Microsoft isn't as smart as the folks that find the workarounds.
THERE WILL ALWAYS BE WORKAROUNDS.
Especially for those of us that use unattended answer files and debloat Win *BEFORE* it lands on the hard drive.

Typical Linux distro at least doesn't come with fucked up GUI out-of-box. Jumping through all these hoops, what's the point? Windows was supposed to be user friendly OS.

"Agree to disagree."

I have sat my GRANDPARENTS in front of Windows and in front of Linux.
Whether the Linux Fan Boys will like to admit it or not, my GRANDPARENTS can EVENTUALLY find their way around WINDOWS.

Sorry, SAD BUT TRUE!

Linux is *NOT* for everyone. Plain and simple.

Though sure, if it weren't for Microsoft including SOLITAIRE games, my grandparents would have given up on Windows also.
Maybe that's the sheer GENIUSNESS of Microsoft, that they were smart enough to know if they didn't include SOLITAIRE then "old farts" would never use their product.

UCyborg wrote: *

15 Oct 2025, 19:07

Typical Linux distro at least doesn't come with fucked up GUI out-of-box. Jumping through all these hoops, what's the point? Windows was supposed to be user friendly OS.

I guess your comment kind of confuses me.
Mainly because I AGREE WITH IT.

Vista's default green and blue whatever it's supposed to be desktop.
XP's green grass and blue sky.
10's "window", 11's "rose".

In my view, WINDOWS NINETY FIVE was the LAST version of Windows to have a GREAT default wallpaper.
ie, THERE WAS NONE, just a BLANK desktop with icons in the upper left corner. THE WAY I STILL USE A DESKTOP TO THIS DAY!

Windows started "F-ing Up" when they REMOVED the IE desktop icon (because of the context menu it provides).
Soon after that, they thought they should also remove the "My Computer" desktop icon.
Have to scroll through four or five settings boxes just to get it back (because I don't want the pinned icon next to Start).

So yeah, the default GUI needs to jump through hoops to get it to where one likes it.
But, um, SO DOES LINUX.
This "Type A" has no issue with admitting he is "Type A".
And no default Linux GUI exists that doesn't require me to jump through a few hoops.

But sure, Windows is WORSE in that regard (for the most part).
One of my biggest "beefs" with various OS Distributions like X-Lite or Nexus or you-name-it is how they **F UP** the ICONS.
Adding "icon themes" is great for a FIFTH GRADER. But I am no longer in the fifth grade.

But hey, again, "Linux does it also". **F-d Up GUI**

Reminder - YOU MUST DISCONNECT FROM THE INTERNET AND DISABLE WI-FI to get the "I don't have internet" link.

The-10-Pen wrote: *

16 Oct 2025, 05:07

Reminder - YOU MUST DISCONNECT FROM THE INTERNET AND DISABLE WI-FI to get the "I don't have internet" link.

Are you sure this still works with 25H2 ?

I do not have 25H2. Isn't your video link 25H2?
I admitedly only watched a portion of the video and screencaps in my previous post are from that video.
All I know for 100% is that I have a .txt file on my computer dated 4/17/25 and your video uses the same exact method.
My newest laptop install uses this method but no, it's the version just prior to 25H2, maybe even two versions prior.
I will not be updating to 25H2, it took me approx two months and over a hundred installs to get this version to my liking.
And I do not believe in upgrading for the sake of "support".
Once I get an install to my liking, IT NEVER RECEIVES ANOTHER UPDATE THEREAFTER... NEVER. "To each their own."
Windows Update is DISABLED, embedded Microsoft Edge is REMOVED, Action Center / Security Center is REMOVED, et cetera.

Downloading 25H2 as we speak.
Will *ONLY* try in a VM (assuming it will even install in a VM).
Download speed is bottlenecked on the server side so I sit and wait... and wait...
Should know by this afternoon "if" the SAME OLD TRICK still works for 25H2 (and if it does, I'll wonder what all the fuss was about, lol).

Well, I can only speak for 25H2 installed in a VM and there is no way to NOT install as a local account!
Perhaps it is something that VirtualBox "did". I didn't have to do ANYTHING. It installed as a LOCAL ACCOUNT without me doing ANYTHING.
ie, an ANSWER FILE will be the ONLY thing required to install as a local account on "real hardware".

Interesting.
We can see in your pic that it detects you as 'Not connected - Offline'. Maybe you have created a VM without any network device at all ?

The-10-Pen wrote: *

15 Oct 2025, 22:18

In my view, WINDOWS NINETY FIVE was the LAST version of Windows to have a GREAT default wallpaper.
ie, THERE WAS NONE, just a BLANK desktop with icons in the upper left corner. THE WAY I STILL USE A DESKTOP TO THIS DAY!

I was expecting you to mention Clouds.bmp

Fun fact: winnt(256).bmp, the default wallpaper of Windows NT 4.0, is aligned vertically on top of Clouds.bmp, perhaps as a way of saying that NT is one tier above 9x.

Edit: Fixed incorrect quote attribution

Duke wrote: *

16 Oct 2025, 22:13

Interesting.
We can see in your pic that it detects you as 'Not connected - Offline'. Maybe you have created a VM without any network device at all ?

Correct. I **NEVER** install any OS while connected. Call it paranoia, lol. But that shouldn't be relevant here. VirtualBox uses an "internal" ANSWER FILE to install Win 11 (to get around TPM, Secure Boot, and RAM requirements). Therefore, Q.E.D., all that is needed to install Win 11 with an OFFLINE ACCOUNT (ie, the topic-at-hand) is an ANSWER FILE.

I suppose I should also point out that I normally use Rufus to REMOVE the TPM/SB/RAM limitations for W11 VM installs but that did not work with 25H2 (at least not my older Rufus, did not think about looking for upgrade until posting this update). Which also means I could not use my preferred OLDER versions (plural) of VirtualBox. I did have to upgrade (temporarily) my VB in order to install 25H2 (via embedded answer file).

So if I did need to install 25H2 on "real hardware", that would be my starting point - track down the specifics of the answer file that VirtualBox 7.0 uses (ie, also intentionally an OLDER version of VB because I have a 5.x and a 6.x and neither of those would install 25H2). Important to note because even VB 7.0 already had 25H2 local account installation solved LONG before 25H2 was even released.

Can't say Linux is for me as a daily driver, though I found it useful for some tasks that are either difficult or impossible on Windows.

The most promising version of Linux in my view was Clear Linux.
Designed by Intel but works great for AMD processors as well.
Was the *FASTEST* and *SNAPIEST* version of Linux I have ever come across.
With Ubuntu being the *SLOWEST* version I have ever come across, really no clue why it is so "popular".
But Intel abandoned Clear Linux a few months ago.
To me, they are all nothing but "hobby projects" and I can't do any of my *real life work* without Windows.

The-10-Pen wrote: *

23 Oct 2025, 21:00

With Ubuntu being the *SLOWEST* version I have ever come across, really no clue why it is so "popular".

I wouldn't say that I am "attached" to Windows, rather, I use it because it's "superior" AND I CAN DO MORE.
Like it or not, there is a reason that Linux is a tiny miniscule measly little 6% of market share.
But hey, it used to only be 5%, so things are "looking up".

It's a HOBBYIST OPERATING SYSTEM.
Much like my Commodore 64 emulator.

Linux is for programmers and I'm not a friend of programming. I hold the same opinion about using legacy Windows versions. But Win11 is just becoming more and more unusable with each iteration. I don't know what happens when older Windows versions start showing signs of age.

UCyborg wrote: *

25 Oct 2025, 19:38

Linux is for programmers and I'm not a friend of programming.

Nah, not anymore. At least not with Mint or Zorin.

I always run into hurdles and even if things weren't as buggy as they are, I'd still miss Windows style font rendering (ClearType), mouse feel, System Informer, the way file system is organized etc...

There's just too many things that bother me about it that it's pointless.

UCyborg wrote: *

25 Oct 2025, 19:38

But Win11 is just becoming more and more unusable with each iteration.

Let's not kid ourselves, it's been that way FOREVER, it's not really a Win11-thing.
It's not even a Microsoft-thing.

My very first computer didn't even have a hard drive (they did exist, just nobody needed that much "space").
64 KB RAM for Commodore 64 and Apple IIe (would have to research Apple IIe, pretty sure it was 64k).
128 KB for Commodore 128.
256 KB for Amiga 1000.
1 MB for Amiga 2000.

I maintain "slimmed down" VirtualBox .vdi's of every OS most OS's that I've ever owned.
It's always kind of funny to witness how the size grows from one OS to the next.


Win3.1 = 20 MB vdi size
Win3.11 = 78 MB
Win98SE = 218 MB
WinNT4 = 236 MB
Win2k = 578 MB
WinXP SP3 (no .NET) = 634 MB
Win2k3 = 1.07 GB
Win7 = 1.28 GB
WinVista = 1.74 GB
Win10 LTSB (2016) = 1.84 GB
Win10 LTSC (2019) = 2.61 GB

I didn't keep my Win11 25H2 "test VM" (and nor was it "slimmed down"), but if memory serves, that .vdi was 6+ GB !!!

XP is really just too "fresh" in most of our minds.
But give it some time and it *WILL* be just like Win3.1, 98, 2k, and yes, even C64, just something to fire up for nostalgia, not to really "do" anything.