Windows 10 setup - Selecting "Domain Join Instead" at MS login screen causes an endless loop

Hi, I’m Nicole, I’ll be happy to help you out today.

It sounds like there might be an issue with the Windows installation or the settings in your Lenovo Thinkpad. Here are a few things you can try to resolve the issue:

Check for any updates: Make sure your Windows installation is up to date by going to "Settings" > "Update & Security" > "Windows Update" and clicking "Check for updates."

Disconnect from the internet: Try disconnecting your laptop from the internet and see if you can set up a local account without getting looped back to the Microsoft account sign-in page. Once the local account is created, you can reconnect to the internet.

Use a different Microsoft account: If you have a different Microsoft account, try signing in with that one and see if the issue persists.

Disable automatic sign-in: If you have set up automatic sign-in for your Microsoft account, try disabling it by going to "Settings" > "Accounts" > "Sign-in options" and turning off "Require Windows Hello sign-in for Microsoft accounts" and "Require sign-in" under "Privacy."

Try a clean installation: If none of the above steps work, you may want to consider doing a clean installation of Windows on your laptop. You can use the Windows Media Creation Tool to create a bootable USB drive with the latest version of Windows and then use it to install a fresh copy of Windows on your laptop.

If none of these solutions work, it may be worth contacting Lenovo Support for further assistance.

Regards.

Also experiencing the loop issue, going back to the MS account sign-in page. Installing Windows 11 Pro on a few HP Z2 Mini G5 machines. Very unhelpful and annoying issue

I am running into this issue as well with some new HP EliteDesks. Clicking "Domain join instead" during the OOBE causes a loop back to the MS account sign-in. This behavior has changed since last I was setting up new machines during the fall 2022. Mind you these are brand new machines, and it is happening on everyone I have tried to setup. Makes me assume this is an intended change on MS side or some kind of Issue with the OS (Win 10 Pro, OEM from HP).

Please let me know how to skip the MS account sign and directly domain join the machines, this is not a helpful change or beneficial "feature".

Try to set up microsoft account first then once you done setting up the account you can try to set up local account instead on account settings.

I tried disconnecting the machine from the internet, it then took me back to the step telling me to connect to the internet, and the "I don't have internet" option was not present.

I could not access the Settings app since this was the out-of-the-box setup, I cannot get to any settings without first getting past the account setup stage. I tried using Shift+F10 to open CMD but this did not work.

I do not have a different Microsoft account to use, the problem is that I do not want to use a Microsoft account at all, I want to set up a local account only, which I am normally able to do by selecting "Domain Join Instead".