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KnowledgeBase   →   Installing Windows 11 without connecting to a network

The installation of Windows 11 requires a network connection, which is problematic when a network isn't available or when the user doesn't want their account to be linked to Microsoft's internet servers (that are known to track each user's activities, such as geographical location, IP addresses, logging in and logging out, etc.).

To proceed with the installation without a network connection, follow these steps:

  1. begin with the usual Windows 11 installation/setup procedure
  2. at the "Let's Connect You To A Network" step, press and hold the Alt key then press F4 (the next step of the setup should appear)

If you're installing a newer version of Windows 11, this step will configure the installation policy to add an "I don't have an internat connection" button to the "Let's connect you to a network" dialogue (even when the presence of wireless networks are detectded):

  1. begin with the usual Windows 11 installation/setup procedure
  2. at the "Let's Connect You To A Network" step, press and hold the Shift key then press F10 to access the DOS/Command Prompt
  3. in the DOS/Command Prompt window that appears, type oobe\bypassnro then press the Enter key
  4. after the Windows 11 installer reboots the computer, you can use the newly added "I don't have internet" (or "I don't have an internet connection" on some versions) button to bypass the network connection requirement

If that doesn't work, follow these steps (which only works on older versions of Windows 11):

  1. begin with the usual Windows 11 installation/setup procedure
  2. at the "Let's Connect You To A Network" step, press and hold the Shift key then press F10 to access the DOS/Command Prompt
  3. in the DOS/Command Prompt window that appears, type taskmgr then press the Enter key
  4. in the Task Manager window that appears, click on the "More Details" button
  5. select the "Network Connection Flow" task (you may have to scroll down to find it)
  6. click on the "End Task" button (the next step of the setup will appear in the background)
  7. OPTIONAL: to close the Task Manager window, click on the "X" in the top-right corner
  8. OPTIONAL: to close the DOS/Command Prompt window, type exit then press the Enter key

If the Windows Task Manager crashes on your computer (this is rare), you can follow these alternative steps instead (the last one is optional):

  1. begin with the usual Windows 11 installation/setup procedure
  2. at the "Let's Connect You To A Network" step, press and hold the Shift key then press F10 to access the DOS/Command Prompt
  3. in the DOS/Command Prompt window that appears, type taskkill /F /IM oobenetworkconnectionflow.exe then press the Enter key (the next step of the setup will appear in the background)
  4. OPTIONAL: to close the DOS/Command Prompt window, type exit then press the Enter key

Now you can complete the remainder of the installation procedure, without being connected to a network.  The user account you create will also be a local account that is not linked to Microsoft's internet servers.

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