The PC will restart. Once back at the network screen, select and then Continue with limited setup . For Newer Versions (Builds 26120 and beyond) : Press Shift + F10 at the sign-in screen. Type start ms-cxh:localonly and press Enter .
"It just works," Mrs. Gable said, surprised. "It feels... quiet."
"On the Pro edition, you can just hit 'Offline Account' usually," Arthur said, closing the Task Manager. "But on Home, especially with the latest updates, Microsoft plays hardball. You either give them a fake email to trigger an error, or you kill the internet connection process." windows 11 add user without microsoft account
"Mrs. Gable," Arthur typed. He set a simple local password she could remember, answered the security questions (Name of first pet? "Fluffy"), and watched as the setup finally proceeded to the desktop, blissfully offline and unconnected to the matrix.
Jason exhaled. "Clean. No error messages needed?" The PC will restart
"That's the sound of privacy, Mrs. Gable," Arthur said, wiping his hands on a rag. "A local account. No tracking, no syncing. The computer belongs to you, not Redmond."
He cracked his knuckles. It was time for the "Command Prompt Cheat." Type start ms-cxh:localonly and press Enter
Microsoft has not removed the local user creation tool; they have buried it under layers of "sign in with Microsoft" prompts.
The screen flashed a bright, cheerful blue window. “Let’s add your Microsoft account,” it prompted. There was a field for an email. There was a field for a password. Arthur scanned the screen. He looked left. He looked right. There was no button that said "Skip." There was no button that said "Offline Account."
Click it, then select to create a local account.