Was this a recent windows 11 version, from Microsoft directly? And what version of 11 (Home, Pro, etc) And what region?
The OOBE changes based on a lot of factors, but generally speaking, most users will encounter the forced account creation screen.
You can get around it by typing in “no@thanks.com” or some other bullshit. Or use the “Domain join instead” option, and then just…don’t join it to a domain.