Setting up Windows 11 with a Local Account

A few days back I was spring cleaning my laptop when I realized that if I reinstall Windows 11 using my Microsoft account, the folder created for my profile is named rajti or something similar. This did not make much sense to me. The only other option I had to avoid this conundrum was to reinstall Windows 11 with a local account.

I had done that a couple of times before, but it had been a while and I had forgotten the commands. A quick search told me the old methods still work on Windows 11. Here's the one I used, as a reminder for future me in case I need to reinstall Windows 11 again:

1. Reset your PC the way you normally would
2. When the setup screen asks you to select your network, press Shift + F10
3. This opens a Command Prompt window where you need to type start ms-cxh:localonly and press Enter
4. The local account creation screen appears
5. Fill in your username and password, and setup continues from there

That's it. Once you create the local account and follow the rest of the on-screen instructions, you will have Windows 11 set up with a local account instead of a Microsoft account. If you are not comfortable working in a terminal, use Rufus to create a bootable USB drive with the local account option enabled.

Although I wish there was an official way to do this, the way there used to be in the early days.