"Sign in with a local account instead" option is missing

On 1/20/25, I began setting up 17 new HP Mini PCs for a dental office to replace their old Windows 10 PCs. (Love Windows 10!) The PCs all came with Windows 11 Pro. An IT employee at the office attempted to run the initial setup by walking through the setup wizard. I haven't seen the latest initial setup wizard but apparently, in typical Microsoft fashion, even the most basic thing like setting up a new PC is too difficult for an experienced IT Tech, let alone a novice user. Because the PC was plugged into the Internet, and in spite of not actually needed a Microsoft account for the office to function, the tech was forced to create and login with an new MS account to continue setting up the PC. Apparently however, there was further confusion as to how to go from there and the tech apparently answered a question wrong which lead to additional problems after the initial setup was complete. Doesn't really matter what it was, it was stupid and confusing. I guess Microsoft expects everyone to be a computer expert just to get started on a new PC.

Eventually the tech got into Windows using a home MS account so I remoted in with Teamviewer and took over the setup from there. I then proceeded to attempt to setup a local account for the computer so I could connect to the Windows 2019 Server at the office and reinstall her software. Of course the Local account stuff is completely different than Windows 10 now, and because of the way the tech followed the setup wizard, the option to convert the account to a local account were missing. Missing also were the options to successfully create a separate local account that I could use.

To access the local account I eventually created, I must use a PIN, however, there is no way to set a PIN for a local account. The other option is to use an email address and password to login to the local account, not a username and password, and email and password, but of course there's no way to set an email for a local account and it doesn't even ask you for the username like it always has with every previous version of Windows.

I want to thank the OP and Bane Williams for their attempts to help people navigate this issue. Unfortunately, Baine's trick to edit the registry didn't work for me because my registry doesn't have the settings in the same place as his did. So rather than fight it for yet many more hours of wasted time and frustration, I gave up and just reset the PC to start over.

30 years of PC administration dating back to Windows 2.0 and every iteration of Windows since, and even I was at a loss. How is the average PC user suppose to operate a PC anymore with hiring someone to set it up? Knowing that chasing the missing features down any further would result in me throwing the PC through a window, I gave up and reset the PC so I can walk through the setup process with her all over again. This time I'm going to attempt to use the known secret of creating a local account during the initial setup by leaving the PC totally disconnected from the Internet before I start the setup. Absolutely ridiculous!

I posted this question because "Sign in with a local account instead" option is not shown

Hi there!

It took me forever to find the solution to this myself, for me and many users it appears as if these settings that people in here use simply do not appear for us.

This is pretty technical so I only suggest doing this if you have good knowledge of registry editing and such.

I strongly recommend creating a second administrator account and backup your local user data (downloads,documents,etc) before doing this. I was fine, you may not be. I renamed the step 3 rather than deleting, but it seemed to have worked.

1. Assuming your Microsoft account is: ******@xx.com, Windows+R open Run, type regedit in the Run input box, click OK to open the Registry Editor and search for the Microsoft account name: ******@xx.com.
2. Generally it is HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\IdentityCRL\UserExtendedProperties*@xx.com and HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\ IdentityCRL\StoredIdentities*@xx.com, then go to delete ******@xx.com and log out of the Microsoft account in the Start menu.
3. After logging in again, it shows a local account, but the Microsoft account still exists, delete the IdentityCRL in HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\ and the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IdentityCRL in the HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\ entries, log out of the account again in the Start menu.
4. After logging in again, under Settings - Accounts - Email and Applications Accounts, Click ******@xx.com, click "Delete".

Edit: If this works for you, please thank Lenka over here https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/new-computer-sign-in-with-local-account-instead-is/dbe7cf3f-179b-45ed-909e-3f3e7f5d06df

Hello Mohamed, thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community. I'm here to help with your questions or issues. Just note – this is a place where passionate Microsoft users help each other, we don't work directly for Microsoft.

Unfortunately, the "Sign in with a local account instead" option isn't showing up anymore, but here's a workaround:

1. Open "Settings" and choose "Accounts" from the menu on the left.
2. Scroll down to "Other Users" and click "Add Account."
3. Choose "I don’t have this person’s sign-in information," then select "Add user without a Microsoft account."

Let me know if this helps!

No sir, there's no accounts added as a work or school