How to Add Local User Account in Windows 11

Microsoft is promoting online accounts in Windows 11, and by default you have to sign in to Windows 11 through your Microsoft account, but in many cases, a local user account is more suitable, for example, on a public computer, or in an environment where Microsoft servers are not available, or you just don't want to use Microsoft online services, and so on.

But how do you switch to a local account in Windows 11? Here are a few ways to do it.

Add a local account via CMD

This is probably the easiest way. In Windows 11, search for CMD, and then open a command prompt with administrator privileges.

Then, enter the following command in CMD.

net user username password /add

Note that "username" is your account name and "password" is the account password, both of which can be customized. Press the Enter key and a local account is created.

Adding a local account using Settings panel

This method is not as simple, but it may be more straightforward for users who don't like to use the command line.

Let's open the Settings panel of Windows 11. You will find the “Accounts” option. Then in the Family & other users > Other users > Add other user section, click on “Add account”.

Windows 11 will ask you how to log in to the system, here select “I don't have this person's sign-in information”. Then, you can choose “Add a user without a Microsoft account” in the next page, and proceed to set the authentication.

Once you have finished setting the username and password and the security question, go back to the settings panel and you will find the local account.

Add a local account using user account management

In Windows 11, press Win+R to launch Run window, then enter "cmd" and press Enter to open it. Then run the following command:

Then, you can see the user account management page. Here, we can see the current user accounts on the system, and of course, you can add your own accounts. Click "Add" below to enter the process of adding a new user.

In the pop-up window, you can choose “Sign in without a Microsoft account” at the bottom, and then fill in the username and password information step by step, and you are done.

In conclusion, local user accounts are still quite useful in real-world scenarios, and Microsoft seems to be a bit too hasty to implement network accounts for Windows 11. If you need to use a local account to log in to Win11, you may want to try the method above.