Warning – In order to use Windows 8.1 Preview you must sign in to your PC with a Microsoft account. The option to create a local account will be made available at the final release of Windows 8.1.
So according to this you can’t install it and bypass Microsoft account and additionally, there is no option to skip connecting it to Microsoft account and creating a local account instead. However, there is a way to do this.
Update: It seems that this “feature” has made it into the final version as well. But the following methods to avoid it still work:
Method 1:
1. Click on link Create a new account (near the bottom of screen, below the “Don’t have an account?” text)
2. When sign up form appears click on Sign in without a Microsoft account (also on the bottom).
Method 2:
1. Disconnect your Internet connection before installing Windows 8.1 (or
after the first part of installation has finished). Windows detects at
some point if there is an active Internet connection – if it isn’t
available, it will skip the screen where Windows wants you to Connect this PC to your Microsoft account and offer you to create a local account instead. This is the simplest method of skipping this screen.
Method 3:
You can keep your Internet connection enabled. When a screen called Connect this PC to your Microsoft account appears it will ask you for Email Address and Password
(for Outlook.com or similar Microsoft service). If you have one you may
put it in or if you don’t have it (or use Gmail instead), you have an
option to create one. I suppose you want neither otherwise you wouldn’t
be reading this right?
1. If you don’t want to create Microsoft account enter some invalid email here for example:
3. On the side a text will appear – “The email address or password is incorrect. If you don’t remember your password, create a local account now and set up your Microsoft account later.”
4. Click on create a local account now part of the text and you’re now creating a local account.
It is likely that Microsoft did this on purpose to test the
resistance against mandatory cloud services. As this is a beta version
and not the one which will sell, it certainly looked like a perfect
opportunity to do this test. If they really wanted, they could easily
disable logging in with local account but instead they advertised it
like “it can’t be done” even though they left a small gap to squeeze
through.- Email Address: localhost@localhost.localhost
- Password: whatever you like, doesn’t matter (I entered 12345678).
3. On the side a text will appear – “The email address or password is incorrect. If you don’t remember your password, create a local account now and set up your Microsoft account later.”
4. Click on create a local account now part of the text and you’re now creating a local account.
It is also possible that they wanted to use this beta to increase a number of accounts for their Outlook.com service (once people sign up, some of them are likely to continue using it).
As for the first impressions here is something you might also be interested in:
- Start button is a fake – instead of start menu it opens start screen. It is back but that’s not really it. There is an option though to show only applications – it is called Show the Apps view automatically when I go to Start (right click Taskbar, then select Properties and finally click Navigation tab).
- To boot directly to desktop right click Taskbar, then select Properties and finally click Navigation tab. The checkbox option is called Go to the desktop instead of Start when I sign in.
Source: http://www.infobyte.hr/blog/337/windows-8-1-preview-how-to-install-without-microsoft-account-skip-microsoft-account/
