Despite Microsoft's best efforts, Windows 10 remains popular worldwide. Despite the fact that Windows 11 has been around for years and has received numerous updates, many users stubbornly continue to use the old OS. The reasons for this are many. Aside from the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," other reasons for not upgrading include Windows 11's strict system requirements, the lack of truly compelling new features, and the often criticized need to create a Microsoft account. On this last point, I agree with Elon Musk.

And now Microsoft is trying to more aggressively encourage Windows 10 users to use online accounts as well. According to our sister site Windows Central, Microsoft is going to start pushing notifications to users to ditch their Windows 10 local accounts and use Microsoft accounts. The change is described in the "Features and Improvements" section of the release notes for the Windows 10 19045.4353 preview build. General availability is expected sometime in May.

Specifically, "A Microsoft account connects Windows and Microsoft applications. This account also backs up all your data and helps you manage your subscriptions. It also allows you to add additional security procedures to ensure that you are not locked out of your account."

It states.

If that's all I could do with my Microsoft account, I would have few problems. I don't want the most valuable company in the world to have access to my data and do whatever they want with it.

Thankfully, Microsoft will not lock you out of your local account if you refuse to switch. It will just nag you to do so. You can turn off notifications by going to Settings > Privacy and Security > General and deselecting all.

It is clear that Windows 10 is going nowhere. If Microsoft can't get users to upgrade, they will have to find other ways to get users who retain Windows 10 to become part of Microsoft's data machine.

The good news is that if you are thinking about moving to Windows 11, it is not difficult to get around the online account requirement. Follow this handy guide by Andy Edser.

To set up a Windows 11 PC with the out-of-box experience:

1. When the "Is this the right country or region" screen appears, press Shift + F10 to Open a command prompt window.

2. Select the window, type "oobebypassnro" (no spaces) and press Enter.

This will restart your computer.

3. When you return to the same screen, press Shift + F10 to open the command prompt again, this time typing This time press Enter and type exit to close the window.

5. Go through the normal setup process until you get to the "Let's connect to the network" screen, select "I don't have internet" and then select "Continue with limited setup.

For a clean install of Windows 11 from USB:

Create a bootable Windows 11 USB installation drive using the RUFUS USB Creator Utility.

Congratulations! You can now set up the rest of your Windows installation without a Microsoft account.