Do we think Win11 will break the EQ launcher?

All you had to do was temporarily disconnect from the internet during install. When it realized you weren't online it prompted you to create a local account.

Installing Windows offline (simply pull out the ethernet cable) also helps to avoid having to deal with an extra 2 hours of "patches" during install.

Even if your bootable USB stick is from a recent build, Microsoft has a tendency to install several GB worth of "updates". You probably just want to use your PC and have the updates load in the background, and not sit there for 2 hours in front of an install screen.

2 hours? You running slow internet or an HDD?

Thanks, that must be the secret I didn't know.

I usually remake the stick before an install unless it's only been a month or two. I would never install anything until Windows was fully patched anyway, so it doesn't matter if it updates during the install or right after. They generally only release one big patch per month, if that, so it's not a huge deal.