Microsoft Kills Windows 11 Local Account Setup Just as Windows 10 Reaches End of Life
Local account workarounds removed just before Windows 10 goes dark.
Microsoft has a track record of introducing features people never requested. Remember Recall? The controversial AI screenshot feature that captured everything on your screen raised serious privacy concerns.
The pattern continues with Copilot integration everywhere, from Paint to Notepad. Microsoft keeps pushing AI assistants into every corner of Windows 11, often making them seemingly impossible to disable.
These forced additions share a common theme: they require internet connectivity and cloud services. Microsoft wants your data flowing through their servers, wrapped in the guise of helpful features.
Now, it has quietly introduced another controversial change that removes user choice during Windows 11 installation.
Microsoft is testing a change that blocks all known methods to create local accounts during Windows 11’s initial setup (OOBE). Previously, people could run simple commands or tricks to skip the Microsoft account requirement. Those workarounds no longer work in Insider Preview builds currently being tested.
Windows Latest tested build 26220.6772 in the Dev and Beta channels and confirmed none of the bypass methods work anymore. If this change were to ship with the stable builds, Windows 11 Home users would need to sign in with a Microsoft account during initial setup.
