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While this is a workaround, I would not call it "straightforward" because there is no world where I can explain this to my family members :)

Straightforward would be a small text-based link at the bottom saying "skip this step"...

Straightforward would be a big button saying „skip this step“.

IMO, that's the difference between straightforward and obvious. It's not obvious because Microsoft doesn't want it to be obvious. But one can totally tell a family member "press these keys, then type this command and press Enter" - non-technically inclined people couldn't care less about further explanation, only about the end goal. I've done more complicated troubleshooting over the phone...

"hack" or "workaround", in this context, have the same meaning.

So the comment is correct: you can't install (specific versions of) Windows without internet.

It's a built-in and supported workaround, just intentionally hidden (because Microsoft wants the average Joe / the masses to use an online account). That's not something that a random person came up with, even if it's not advertised.

That would be the hack I mentioned, yes. "Normal" users would never do this.