When building a new computer, installing Windows can be a big challenge. You could be hampered by not owning a copy of the operating system yourself, or it could be because you have specific needs for your machine. Luckily, Avram has some ways to get Windows 11 for cheap and to install Windows without the usually required Microsoft Account.

How to get Windows 11 CheapFor most, Windows comes with your existing computer. However, if you build your computer yourself, where does Windows come from? Microsoft would like you to pay $129 to buy Windows, but that's a lot of money. You could be building a $500 PC, but if you have to add another $129 for the OS, there goes the budget. What we know is that HP and Dell spend a lot less than that, so why can't you?

Everyone can download Windows and create a bootable USB drive to install it. However, without a product key, you'll get a message in the corner of the screen and you won't be allowed to change your wallpaper (without tricks). Luckily, that's not a huge problem, but it can be annoying. An easy way to get a product key is to grab it off of an older machine. If you don't have an old copy of Windows, you can purchase in the OEM market, from sites such as Kinguin, for $18-30 for Home and $35 for Pro.

Get around Microsoft AccountThere are requirements to install Windows 11 on your computer, such as TPN 2.0, Secure Boot, and 4 GB of RAM. However, you can bypass these requirements by making a small addition to the system registry. To do this, press ctrl-f10 in the setup process and edit the registry by typing regedit. Then, head to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> Setup. Here you will add a new key called LabConfig. From here, you can add new values to bypass certain checks, such as TPMCheck, SecureBoot, and minimum RAM.

However, what if you don't want to skip connecting a Microsoft Account to your machine and just use a local account? For example, what if you're building it to give away to charity, a friend, or to sell? It's not an obvious process, but it can be done.

When you get to that screen, remove the internet conection to the computer. You can do this by disabling your wifi card, unplugging an ethernet cable, or unplug your router or modem. You can also go back to the command prompt to release your ip address by typing ipconfig -release.

However you accomplish it, once you've gotten rid of the internet connection, you can then go back and enter local information. You will hit the back arrow and enter a name and password without the need for a Microsoft Account. You can also enter no@thankyou.com as the email address and any password and you can create a local account, though that could change in the future.

All of this currently works for Windows 11 Pro, but that feature is planned to be retired in the next major version.