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Recently, a member of my family got a new laptop with Windows 11 Home pre-installed on it. During the initial setup process I noticed that it seems to be impossible to skip some of the setup steps, in particular the one which asks the user to connect to a Wi-Fi or LAN. At that point my family member told me: “Can't I just use my new laptop as a typewriter? Is it impossible to avoid connecting to our home Wi-Fi network?”

So my questions, related to this little story are the following: Are some steps of Windows 11 first run and setup process unskippable? (In particular the Wi-Fi setup one.) Am I forced to connect to a Wi-Fi or LAN to use such operating system? Don't I have the freedom to use a new laptop as a typewriter under the Windows platform?

Pestro
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1 Answers1

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Usually you might be able to run the OOBE\BYPASSNRO - bypass the network requirement. (wifi or wired)

To do this - when prompted to connect to network (wifi or wired) - press Shift+F10 and on the command prompt - type in OOBE\BYPASSNRO. It will restart the machine and at the next restart - you might have the option "I don't have internet" presented to you. Follow the "I don't have internet" option.

Note: There are also some reports that the command does not work... so your mileage might vary.

Source of information:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/all/set-up-windows-11-without-internet-oobebypassnro/4fc44554-b416-4ecb-8961-6f79fd55ae0f

Darius
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