Microsoft won’t let you use Windows 11 unless you agree to new rule

With Windows 11, Microsoft is finally bringing in a rule that has slowly been years in the making. With Windows 11 Home, Microsoft will force users to sign-in to a Microsoft account. If you don’t have one already, you’ll need to create one as part of the setup process.

While Windows 11 Pro users will be able to avoid this new requirement and set-up the desktop operating system with a local account. Windows 11 Home will require everyone to use an online account. It is possible to create a local-only account once your operating system is up and running. But the requirement to use a Microsoft account during the initial set-up means your model numbers and other hardware identifying data has already been sent to the US tech giant.

Longtime Windows users won’t be too shocked by the latest requirement.

After all, the Redmond-based company has been increasingly pushing users towards its online accounts. With a recent Windows 10 update, users accused Microsoft of hiding the “Use Offline Account” option in the set-up – pushing users to use a Microsoft account to create their Windows profile, rather than a local account.

Ranting on Reddit, one disgruntled Windows user wrote: “I always install Windows 10 without being connected to the Internet. It’s so annoying how much of a mess they made Windows 10 into when you do fresh installs. They had the annoying Cortana at 67% volume, they try so hard to force the online account, and then being connected to the Internet once you reach the desktop forces the ads and stuff on the start menu.”

With the transition to Windows 11, Microsoft seems to be no longer offering a way to skirt the requirement to use a Microsoft account.

It’ll be interesting to see whether Microsoft addresses why it’s happy to allow those paying for the Windows 11 Pro installation, which is typically found on high-end desktop PCs, laptops and enterprise hardware, the option to work without an active internet connection while those on Windows 11 Home, which will be used by more users worldwide, are left with an obligation to sign in or create a Microsoft account.

Microsoft unveiled Windows 11 at an event streamed from its headquarters last month. The all-new desktop operating system boasts an almost unrecognisable Start Menu, performance boost for gamers and access to the Xbox library via Game Pass, interactive widgets, and a dizzying number of new layouts to juggle multiple applications on-screen. There’s also new themes and deep integration with Microsoft Teams.

All in all, it’s a hefty upgrade. And best of all, Microsoft has confirmed that it will be completely free for anyone who is running Windows 10 at the moment. And of course, if you still have Windows 7 or Windows 8 on your machine, there’s still time to upgrade to Windows 10 for free (and therefore get the bump to Windows 11).