How about requiring a ms account to activate?

Have they closed the double install trick?

1. Install once with ms account and activate.

2. Reinstall offline with local account.

3. It will be activated when you go back online.

I suspect the remote server remember your computer hardware generated guid

Hm, when I set up the pre-installed Windows 11 on my mother's new laptop, I was able to set it up without any Microsoft account at all (she never had one and doesn't want one). I remember that it was possible by running some command at one point during the setup process. Is that also gone by now?

As someone who hasn't used Windows in a long time, could you explain the benefit of doing a double install like that? I.e., if you stopped at step #1, it's activated, so what purpose does step 2 serve?