Overview

• New Dev and Beta preview builds 26220.6772 and 26120.6772 remove known local-account workarounds in Windows 11’s setup flow.
• Previously popular commands such as start ms-cxh:localonly and Shift+F10 tricks now fail, and oobe\bypassnro had already been disabled earlier this year.
• Journalists testing the builds report that attempts to bypass the Microsoft account requirement loop or reset OOBE rather than enabling a local account.
• Microsoft says it closed these loopholes because they skipped critical configuration steps, and it now requires internet access with a Microsoft account during OOBE.
• The change is in preview with broader rollout expected in the coming weeks, advanced image-level workarounds still exist, and users can remove the Microsoft account after reaching the desktop; Microsoft is also adding a command-based option to set a custom user folder name during setup.