At the beginning of the year, Microsoft said it wanted to refocus its Windows 11 efforts on improving the experience “in ways that are actually meaningful to people.” That’s a welcome shift, especially since Windows 11 has had a pretty bumpy run over the past few years — buggy updates, an increasing push toward AI features, and not nearly enough attention on the usability issues many users actually care about.
Things do seem to be heading in the right direction, though. Microsoft recently outlined several upcoming improvements aimed at rebuilding trust in the OS, including finally letting users move the taskbar, making Windows Update less of a headache, and improving File Explorer’s speed and reliability.
While all of that admittedly sounds great, one long-standing frustration still hasn’t been addressed. Right now, setting up a Windows 11 PC requires signing in with a Microsoft account, with no straightforward option to create a local account like you could in previous versions of Windows.
This has always bothered me since I build a lot of PCs, and it’s a sticking point for many users who just want to quickly set up a PC without a Microsoft account. However, after all these years, it seems Microsoft might actually be on the verge of fixing it.
Microsoft VP says he is “working on it”
It’s not set in stone yet, but the odds are looking good
Recently, Scott Hanselman, a Microsoft Vice President, replied to criticism on X about Windows 11 requiring a Microsoft account during setup, to which he responded, “Ya, I hate that. Working on it.”
This is the clearest sign yet that Microsoft may actually be working to eliminate the account requirement during device setup.
However, while Hanselman has publicly expressed his dislike of it and said he’s “working on it,” there isn’t any official commitment from Microsoft yet or a release schedule, so it may still be quite a while before this actually becomes a reality.
Though I think that Microsoft’s renewed focus on actually improving Windows 11 usability this year, and the fact that a Microsoft vice president was so critical of it publicly, just increased the likelihood of it happening sooner rather than later.
Another thing I’d really like Microsoft to fix during Windows 11 device setup is the requirement for an internet connection, which has caused me more than a few headaches.
For example, after swapping in a new motherboard and CPU in a PC build I did and doing a fresh Windows 11 install, the system had no drivers. That meant no Wi-Fi or Ethernet — so I couldn’t finish the setup because the PC had no way to connect to the internet. Instead, I had to jump into the Command Prompt and use a workaround just to get through it, so I could reach the desktop and install drivers.
Overall, I really hope Microsoft prioritizes improving device setup for Windows 11 this year. Eliminating the account requirement would be great, as Hanselman said he is working on, but removing the need for an internet connection during setup would be even better.
I’ve been using Windows 11 since its launch back in 2021, and this is the most optimistic I’ve felt about it in a long time, so hopefully Microsoft can actually deliver on these improvements this year.
