Microsoft doubles down on local account restrictions in Windows 11 setup

Microsoft has made it pretty clear that it doesn't want users to create local accounts while installing Windows 11. The company previously highlighted the drawbacks that it sees with offline accounts, with the main spotlight being on the syncing feature.

In the previous versions, the company blocked the popular OOBE\bypassnro command, which allowed users to skip a portion of the initial setup process. This eventually allowed for the creation of an offline account. Now, Microsoft has doubled down on its stance.

As announced alongside the release of the latest preview builds, the initial setup process of Windows 11 now requires an internet connection. With this, Microsoft has made it more difficult to bypass the sign-in requirement during the out-of-box experience (OOBE).

The company argues that users would "inadvertently skip critical setup screens" while trying to bypass the sign-in process. Microsoft claims that through the creation of an offline account, users also leave the PC "not fully configured for use."

It's worth noting that during the OOBE screens, the company tries to sell its Microsoft 365 plan and makes users get their OneDrive set up. Through the newly added restrictions, the company seems to be making sure that users don't skip past these while setting up their Windows 11 PC (Geekom AX8 Max mini PC curr. $529 on Amazon).

Of course, the newly added restrictions are not the only thing that the new beta builds are introducing. Microsoft has also added handy features, including an enhanced dark mode. All these changes will eventually go live on the stable Windows 11 build after the company does a few rounds of testing.