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Ever since it launched Windows 10, Microsoft has been pushing hard for end-users to create and use a Microsoft account rather than a local account.
Apparently last year, with the October 2018 update, the company went so far as to hide the option to create a local account altogether.
The Windows 1903 update, released in May, rolls things back a little bit and restores an option that should never have been removed in the first place.
The situation ironically illustrates why I didn’t write about this at the time. I did some testing on Windows 1809 last year, but I didn’t allow it to connect to the internet to finish setup. Good thing I didn’t.
If you do, you can’t configure a local account.
If you allow the system to connect to the internet using Windows 10 1809 to get updates out of the way, the option to create a local account is removed.
When Microsoft launched Windows 10, it offered the local option as a straightforward alternative, even if it passive-aggressively shoved you towards the online option (the screenshot below dates to the Windows 10 original launch).
All of this was removed in 1809 if you connected to your Wi-Fi network first. The only reason I didn’t detect it at the time is that I don’t allow Windows to connect to Wi-Fi to finish installing itself.
Even the previous practice of entering a garbage email to nudge Windows into offering a local account didn’t work. The only way to force 1809 into allowing a local account after connecting to Wi-Fi is to disable your router.
You can also reboot the system and restart the installation process but since Microsoft doesn’t actually tell you that refusing to allow it to update via Wi-Fi will still allow you to create a local account, this option isn’t obvious to users.
I had no idea that when I refused this step, I was actually safeguarding my ability to create a local account.
The situation has improved somewhat with 1903. Microsoft still shoves you hard towards a non-local account, but if you click the “I don’t have Internet” option followed by “Continue with limited setup,” you will eventually be allowed to access your computer without setting up an online Microsoft account.