Windows 11: Microsoft account requirement is tightened

Microsoft plans to force more users to install Windows 11 (

here in the mega test
) with a Microsoft account. In the future, Windows 11 Pro will also require a Microsoft account during installation. Until now, this was only the case with Windows 11 Home, which bugged us in July 2021 in the following article:

Annoying: Windows 11 Home requires a Microsoft account
.

Tip: Windows 11 Pro for 70 euros in the PC-WELT software store

In the release notes for the recently released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22557 (

here is our report
about what’s new in this preview build for Windows Insiders) under “Other Changes” there is a passage announcing the following change for Windows 11 Pro, which we have translated into German:

“Like Windows 11 Home Edition, Windows 11 Pro Edition now only requires an Internet connection during initial device setup (OOBE). If you want to set up your device for personal use, setup also requires an MSA. Please look forward to future WIP flights.” to require a Microsoft account.”

In other words: Similar to Windows 11 Home, a fresh install or first boot of a newly purchased Windows 11 Pro device (OOBE stands for Out-of-Box Experience) completes the Windows 11 setup not only requires an existing Internet connection, but also Linking a Microsoft account is required. Previously, Windows 11 Pro could also be installed and used in offline mode and without a Microsoft account.

Microsoft account compulsion can (still) be bypassed in Windows 11 Home

As already mentioned, in Windows 11 Home there is already an obligation to link a Microsoft account. The old trick from the Windows 10 days of unplugging the computer doesn’t work anymore. However, there is a new trick that works as follows:

Sign in Windows as Microsoft account and enter any password in the next step. Then the error message “Sorry, there was a problem” appears, indicating that the password for this account has been entered too many times. Home Edition now also allows the operating system to be used with a local user account via “Next”.

You can find more information about it in the following article:

Using Windows 11 without a Microsoft account: the pros and cons

Who is affected by the tightening of the Microsoft account requirement

What is clear is that users already using Windows 11 Home or Windows 11 Pro will not be affected by the change when they are expected to roll out with Windows 11 version 22H2 later in the year to all Windows 11 users. Users starting Windows 11 Pro for the first time from this point on to complete setup will be affected. So after a fresh install or after purchasing a new Windows 11 Pro device.

Whether this can be avoided or whether Microsoft will take stricter countermeasures than before remains to be seen. We stay tuned…

Great FAQ: everything you need to know about Microsoft account