Ah, I misunderstood. If there's no Internet during initial install, pretty sure it'll just default to using local. I'm not 100% certain, though, as I've not setup a totally offline install in a long time. I also haven't used any edition of Windows that wasn't at least Professional or Enterprise, so I'm guessing there's differences there as well for account management.
Yeah that has been entirely removed in the Win 11 initial setup. It does not default to local account.
You literally have to disconnect internet, open a console window, type in oobe/bypassnro and then reboot. Only then will it default to a local account.
I travel. My Internet is off until I activate my hotspot. Whatever MS is doing, it ain't worth it to me. I went all in on Linux (I use PopOS btw) a couple years ago.