How to Install Windows 10 Without a Microsoft Account

Last updated on October 29th, 2026 at 02:40 am

To install Windows 10 without a Microsoft account, choose a local (offline) account when setup reaches the account screen. On Windows 10 Pro, look for Domain join instead in the lower-left corner. On Windows 10 Home, disconnect the PC from the internet before setup reaches the network screen, then look for an offline or limited setup option. If neither appears, finish setup with a Microsoft account, then open Settings > Accounts > Your info and select Sign in with a local account instead. You end up with the same local account either way.

Applies to: Windows 10 Home and Pro, version 22H2 (the final version of Windows 10). The setup screens and their wording changed between Windows 10 releases, so the exact labels on your PC may differ slightly.

Local account or Microsoft account: what changes

A local account exists only on the PC. You sign in with a user name and password stored on that machine, and nothing about the sign-in is connected to the cloud. A Microsoft account is the email address and password you use for Outlook.com, OneDrive, Office and Xbox. Signing in to Windows with it connects the PC to those services.

Both are supported ways to sign in to Windows 10. Microsoft recommends a Microsoft account, and setup is built to steer you toward one, but a local account is a normal Windows feature, not a hack.

What you want	Local account	Microsoft account
Sign in without an internet connection	Yes. The account lives on the PC.	Tied to an online email address and password.
Sync settings and files across devices	No.	Yes, through OneDrive and settings sync.
Reset a forgotten password online	No. You rely on the security questions you set up, or a password reset disk.	Yes, from Microsoft’s account recovery pages.
Enroll in Windows 10 Extended Security Updates	Windows asks you to sign in with a Microsoft account to enroll.	Yes, if the account is an administrator and not a child account.

That last row is the big one now. Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025. A PC running it only gets security updates if it’s enrolled in the consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, which runs until October 12, 2027, and enrollment is tied to a Microsoft account. More on that in the security updates section.

Before you start

• Installation media. You need a blank USB flash drive with at least 8 GB of space and a working PC to build it on. Anything already on the drive is erased. The full walkthrough is in creating a bootable Windows 10 USB drive.
• A backup. A clean installation removes personal files, apps, manufacturer customizations and changes made in Settings. Copy anything you want to keep to an external drive first.
• Your edition. Check whether the license is for Home or Pro. The local account option looks different on each, as described below. If the PC is already running Windows 10, the edition is shown under Settings > System > About.
• A way to go offline. For Windows 10 Home, be ready to unplug the Ethernet cable or skip Wi-Fi during setup. On a laptop, simply not choosing a Wi-Fi network is enough.
• The user name and password you want. Pick something you’ll remember. Microsoft can’t recover a forgotten local password for you.

Step 1: Install Windows 10 from the USB drive

The account choice only comes after Windows has been copied to the disk and the PC has restarted, so the first part is a standard installation.

1. On a working PC, open Microsoft’s Download Windows 10 page, select Download tool now, then run the tool. You need to be an administrator on that PC. Accept the license terms.
2. Choose the option to create installation media for another PC, select Next, and pick the language, edition and architecture (64-bit for nearly every modern PC). Choose USB flash drive and wait while the tool downloads Windows 10 and builds the installer.
3. Plug the flash drive into the PC you’re installing on and start it from the drive. If it boots straight into its old system, you need the boot menu or a change to the boot order; the keys vary by manufacturer, and booting from USB in Windows 10 covers the common ones.
4. On the first setup screen, choose your language and keyboard, then select Install now.
5. Enter a product key if you have one. If you’re reinstalling on a PC that already had Windows 10 activated, you can skip the key and choose the edition that matches your license.
6. Accept the license terms, choose Custom: Install Windows only (advanced), select the drive to install on, and select Next. Deleting partitions here erases everything on them, so double-check you’ve picked the right disk.
7. Windows copies its files and restarts a few times. Remove the flash drive when the installer finishes so the PC doesn’t start from it again.

Home users: disconnect from the internet now, before the first-run setup reaches the network screen. Unplug the Ethernet cable, and don’t join a Wi-Fi network when Windows asks.

Step 2: Choose a local account during first-run setup

After the final restart, Windows starts its first-run setup (Microsoft calls it the out-of-box experience). You’ll choose a region and keyboard layout, then reach the network and account screens. This is where Home and Pro differ.

On Windows 10 Pro: use Domain join instead

1. Work through the region, keyboard and network screens. Pro can stay connected to the internet.
2. If Windows asks how you’d like to set up the PC, choose the personal use option. If it shows Set up for an organization instead, that path also leads to the same link.
3. On the screen that asks you to sign in with Microsoft, look at the lower-left corner and select Domain join instead. Despite the name, you don’t need a domain. Windows simply switches to creating a local account.
4. Type a user name and select Next.
5. Enter a password, confirm it, then choose and answer the security questions Windows shows. They’re used if you forget the password.

On Windows 10 Home: go offline first

Home has no domain option, and while the PC is online, setup usually shows only the Microsoft account sign-in. Being offline changes what it offers.

1. Make sure the PC is not connected: no Ethernet cable and no Wi-Fi network selected.
2. On the network screen, look for a link such as I don’t have internet and select it. If Windows then offers Continue with limited setup, select that.
3. If you reach the account screen instead, look in the lower-left corner for Offline account, then select Limited experience on the next screen that encourages you to sign in with Microsoft.

4. On the Who’s going to use this PC? screen, type a user name for the local account and select Next.
5. Create a password and answer the security questions.

These link names are not documented on a Microsoft support page and have changed over the life of Windows 10, so treat them as examples. Read the whole screen, including small text near the bottom corners, before deciding there’s no option.

Finish setup on either edition

1. Work through the remaining screens, such as privacy settings, activity history and Cortana. Pick what suits you; you can change all of these later in Settings.
2. Screens for linking a phone, OneDrive backup and Office appear mainly on Microsoft account setups, so you may not see them.
3. Setup ends at the Windows desktop, signed in to your local account. Reconnect the internet now so Windows can activate and download drivers and updates.

Method 2: Switch to a local account after setup

Use this if setup showed no local option, or if Windows is already installed with a Microsoft account. It’s the route Microsoft documents, and it works the same on Home and Pro.

1. Finish setup by signing in with a Microsoft account. If you don’t want to use your main one, a separate account you create just for this works too.
2. Open Settings (press Windows + I) and select Accounts > Your info.
3. Select Sign in with a local account instead. This link only appears while you’re signed in with a Microsoft account.

4. Confirm your current PIN or password if Windows asks.
5. Enter a user name, a password and a password hint. The user name must be different from every other account on the PC.
6. Select Next, then Sign out and finish, and sign back in with the new local user name and password.

Microsoft’s steps for switching in either direction are on its Change from a local account to a Microsoft account page. Your files and apps stay where they were; only the sign-in changes. If you also want the Microsoft account’s details gone from the PC afterward, see removing a Microsoft account from Windows 10.

Method 3: Add a second, local-only user

Sometimes the cleaner answer is to keep the first account and add a separate local one, for example a local admin account for yourself or a local account for someone else in the house.

1. Open Settings > Accounts and select the page for other users (labeled Family & other users or Other users depending on your setup).
2. Select Add account (on some versions, Add someone else to this PC).
3. If Windows asks how the person will sign in, choose the option saying you don’t have their sign-in information, then select Add a user without a Microsoft account.
4. Enter the user name, password and security questions, then select Next.
5. To make it an administrator, select the new account, choose Change account type, pick Administrator and select OK.

Microsoft’s Manage user accounts in Windows page covers the same option, and creating a local account on Windows 10 goes through each screen in more detail.

Which method should you use?

• Windows 10 Pro, fresh install: use Domain join instead. It’s the quickest and needs no tricks.
• Windows 10 Home, fresh install: go offline before the network screen and look for the offline or limited setup option.
• No local option appeared, or Windows is already set up: switch after setup (Method 2). It’s documented by Microsoft and always available.
• Shared PC: add a separate local user (Method 3) so each person has their own files and settings.

How to confirm it worked, and how to undo it

Open Settings > Accounts > Your info. If the page offers Sign in with a Microsoft account instead, you’re on a local account. That link only appears for local accounts, so seeing it confirms the setup worked.

The same link is your undo button. Select it, sign in with your Microsoft account, follow the prompts, and select Next and then Sign out and finish. Nothing on the PC is deleted when you switch.

Security updates and activation with a local account

A local account doesn’t stop Windows Update, but since Windows 10 reached end of support, Microsoft only ships security fixes to PCs enrolled in ESU. According to Microsoft’s Windows 10 Extended Security Updates page:

• The PC must run Windows 10 version 22H2 (Home, Pro, Pro Education or Workstations) with the latest updates installed.
• The Microsoft account used to enroll must be an administrator on the PC, and child accounts can’t be used.
• If you normally sign in with a local account, Windows may ask you to sign in with a Microsoft account to enroll, and the ESU license is tied to that Microsoft account.
• Enrollment options are syncing your PC settings at no added cost, redeeming 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, or a one-time $30 purchase (plus tax), and one license covers up to 10 devices.

Enrollment starts from Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update, and the full process is in enrolling in Windows 10 Extended Security Updates. If you’d rather keep a local account day to day, one approach is to enroll with a Microsoft account, then switch back to local with Method 2. Check the ESU status in Windows Update afterward to make sure it still shows as enrolled.

Activation is similar. Windows must be activated after a reinstall, and that usually happens automatically once the PC is online. Microsoft’s Reinstall Windows page notes that a digital license linked to a Microsoft account is applied when you sign in with that account, so if activation fails on a local account, sign in with the Microsoft account once, let it activate, then switch back.

Troubleshooting

Setup only shows the Microsoft sign-in

On Home, the PC is almost certainly still online. Go back to the network screen if setup lets you (or restart setup), unplug the network cable or forget the Wi-Fi network, and try again. If there’s still no local option, finish setup with a Microsoft account and use Method 2.

You’ll also see advice to type a made-up email address, run commands from a hidden Command Prompt during setup, or use a third-party USB tool that strips the requirement. Microsoft doesn’t document these for Windows 10, they can stop working without notice, and third-party installers add risk to a fresh system. The documented switch after setup reaches the same result.

The PC won’t start from the USB drive

Press the boot-menu key sooner, right as the PC powers on. If that doesn’t work, enter the firmware settings and move the USB drive to the top of the boot order; entering BIOS or UEFI in Windows 10 explains how to get there.

Sign in with a local account instead is missing

That link only appears when you’re signed in with a Microsoft account. If you see Sign in with a Microsoft account instead, you’re already on a local account. On a work or school PC, the organization may block account changes, so ask the IT administrator.

I forgot the local account password

Select Reset password on the sign-in screen and answer the security questions you created. Microsoft’s Change or reset your local account password page walks through it. A password reset disk made in advance is a second safety net, because Microsoft can’t recover a local password for you.

Windows isn’t activated

Connect to the internet and wait a few minutes. If it still isn’t activated and your license is a digital license linked to a Microsoft account, sign in with that account so the license is applied, then switch back to local.

FAQ

Can I still download Windows 10 from Microsoft?

Yes. Microsoft’s Windows 10 download page and media creation tool are still available, though the page notes that Windows 10 no longer receives free updates or security fixes after October 14, 2025. For the Pro edition specifically, see downloading Windows 10 Pro from Microsoft.

Does the Windows 11 method work the same way?

No. Windows 11 setup is stricter about Microsoft accounts, and the Windows 10 offline and domain links don’t carry over directly. The options are explained in Can You Install Windows 11 Without a Microsoft Account?

Will Microsoft Store apps work on a local account?

Free apps and built-in apps generally work. Paid apps and some downloads ask you to sign in with a Microsoft account. Read that prompt carefully: if it offers to sign in to the app only rather than switching Windows, choose that so your Windows sign-in stays local.

Can I use OneDrive or Outlook without switching the whole PC?

Yes. Sign in to the individual app with your Microsoft account. Your Windows sign-in stays local.

Should I install Windows 10 at all in 2026?

Microsoft recommends moving to Windows 11 on eligible PCs. Windows 10 still runs, but without ESU it gets no security fixes, so plan for either enrollment or an upgrade before using it online every day.

Once you’re at the desktop, open Your info to confirm the account type, reconnect to the internet, and decide how the PC will get its security updates.