Is there any way around this? Why is Windows doing this? Don't get me wrong, I got the laptop to install a Linux distro anyway, but it's helpful for others (especially my older family members) to just use Windows when they need to print a paper or do a small task, so I would have liked to keep it. Microsoft really lost me here.
Edit:
Thanks everyone for the answers. For reasons I will not delve into now, I ended up installing Windows 10 from the official iso Image, then upgrading to Windows 11. This is the longest and shittiest way to avoid the login as it simply used the local account I created on Windows 10, and that's the road I took (not recommended). Also I ended up installing Mint with dual boot and I love it. I have windows on the smallest partition size possible (about 66G).
It is the actual way...I have to setup dozens of computers for my company with this method.
If you have another computer you can use a win11 iso + Rufus to automatically create a local account but be aware it by default will have your password expire after 6 months. To fix this (requires 11 pro) go to start menu and type "lusrmgr.msc" find your account, right click "properties" and uncheck "password expires"