Microsoft changed my local account to a Microsoft Accountt

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This started after upgrade to Windows 10 20H2

A pop up in the notification area had a warning that Microsoft had a problem with my account.  “Most likely it was a problem with the password” and I should fix it.

When I clicked on the notification it opened “Shared experiences” and a link to Fix now.  I got suckered on Sunday and clicked on it.

The sign in for my Microsoft Account popped up, I entered my password and suddenly my Local Account on Windows 10 was gone and it was changed to a Microsoft Account on my Windows 10.  Spent hours trying to get my local account back.  Finally had to use system restore.

Several discussions pointed to a link to use a local account instead, but that link was gone.  Once Microsoft took over my Windows 10 local account the way back was removed.

Today they tried again.  Since I can now show a picture of the trap, I thought I would post this.  I had learned here how to open Windows 10 while I was off line so I could have a local account.  I was really angry when I was tricked into losing it.

I only have one device.  My desktop.  I don’t need or want Microsoft’s generous offer to coordinate everything for me.  I think it is something Microsoft does to collect information, not help me.

I have a Microsoft account.  I used it to buy Office 2019 so I could recover it if anything happened.  That is all I have used it for.

It is happening with the Office apps as well.  It is not happening with Office outlook, but Word and the others have a warning triangle at the top  and I am told to sign in, when I am already signed in and every this is working.

The dropdown from the triangle says sorry can’t connect to Microsoft Account.  I don’t want to connect to Microsoft Account.

Very annoying and afraid to do anything so ignoring.

Moderator Note: Personal information removed from attachments. Please remove personal information before posting.

HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-0050 – 64 bit
Windows 10 Home Version 21H2
OS build 19044.1706
Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019
-Version 2205(Build 15225.20288 C2R)

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Yep, it’s insidious. I had to re-install office twice on a fresh install to get it to work while logged out of the application after setup. You “should” be able to click the signout link and it “should” still work

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This is what I get when I click sign out.

If I sign out, will the Office apps still work?  I am afraid it will disable Office Outlook 2019 which I use for email.

Does anyone know if my Microsoft Office for Home and Business 2019 will still work if I sign out?  I only really use Word and Outlook.

HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-0050 – 64 bit
Windows 10 Home Version 21H2
OS build 19044.1706
Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019
-Version 2205(Build 15225.20288 C2R)

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This is what I get if I click sign in:

Moderator Note: Attachment with personal information removed for security reasons.

I am afraid even if I click Microsoft apps only, my Microsoft account will take over Windows 10 again also.

I don’t know why this is happening.  Microsoft has never bothered me before and harassed me to sign in using Microsoft account on everything.

HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-0050 – 64 bit
Windows 10 Home Version 21H2
OS build 19044.1706
Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019
-Version 2205(Build 15225.20288 C2R)

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[mpw]

Fixed it.  Thanks again.

So I went ahead after creating a restore point and I signed in and clicked Microsoft apps only.  I think I only have the apps associated with MS Office 2019 and that made all the alarms go away.  I also am still signed into Windows 10 20H2 with a local account.

I found some stuff about this from August 2019.  It is apparently a “feature” that MS forces people to be signed in with a Microsoft Account to use MS Office 2019.  It will not be changed until enough people complain.  Probably millions have to complain so I guess it will not change.

I am satisfied this is not what took away my Windows 10 local account.  Must have been the “shared experiences” trap that changed my local account sign in to Windows 10 to a Microsoft Account sign in.

I can periodically sign in to my Microsoft Account and clear any stuff MS Office 2019 took and filed there I guess.

HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-0050 – 64 bit
Windows 10 Home Version 21H2
OS build 19044.1706
Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019
-Version 2205(Build 15225.20288 C2R)

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by mpw.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by mpw.

1 user thanked author for this post.

rexr

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mpw wrote:

Moderator Note: Personal information removed from attachments. Please remove personal information before posting.

Thank you.

HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-0050 – 64 bit
Windows 10 Home Version 21H2
OS build 19044.1706
Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019
-Version 2205(Build 15225.20288 C2R)

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MPW,

After reading your post I checked and sure enough I was logged on to my MS Account (I use Office 365).

I wish I had captured that screen because I decided to test by clicking the link (can’t remember what it said). I was then offered the option to return to my Local account which I did.

I then decided to go back by clicking the link “Sign in with Microsoft account instead” which got me back to where I was but this time the Settings->Account page showed 2 links.

So I clicked the “Sign in with a local account instead” link. This time it ran me trough a bunch of verification screens requiring my MS account password and my Local account userid & password (watch the wording on this screen as it says for your NEW or EXISTING local account!) I entered my EXISTING local account information and I was back to where I wanted to be.

I can confirm that neither Outlook 365, Word, or Excel works when you are logged out of your MS Account in the Office Apps!

However, you can still be logged into Windows as a Local user.

HTH 😎

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

mpw

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@RetiredGeek, FWIW, I have never had a Microsoft account on any of my machines.  Everything is local accounts only.  All of my PC’s/laptops are upgraded from Windows 7 Pro, and I have declined every opportunity to setup a Microsoft account on any of them.

When I need to sign in to one of my Microsoft accounts (recently I added my daughter as a user to my Microsoft 365 account) I only sign in online.  Once I’ve taken care of whatever it is I want to do, I sign out.  And everything just works.

Create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates, in case you need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do. We don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

Kirsty

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[mpw]

To Retired Geek

Thank you for your reply.  I looked on every page listed on the left of the Accounts page and I could not find any offer to sign in with my local account instead.  I have Windows 10 20H2.  It just was not there after the MS forced sign in with MS Account.

I did find offer to create a local account on the on the Family and other users page. But this would require rebuilding my local account all over again.  When it says create a local account, it means a new account entirely.

And MS Office 2019 is a standalone one user, one device, onetime pay version of office and I did not think I would be able to use it in another local account.

I fortunately had backed up my computer the night before and had a handy restore point and it worked.

HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-0050 – 64 bit
Windows 10 Home Version 21H2
OS build 19044.1706
Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019
-Version 2205(Build 15225.20288 C2R)

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by mpw.

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I use Office 365 and have always signed out after installingt and it works. After a fresh install nothing would work when signed out. Went back and installed an older version and was able to sign out of Office and it continued working as you can see in screen capture. It also seems to have updated and respecting my settings. What a mess.

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I’ve had those popups from time to time, but I don’t click on anything, I just dismiss the popup (click the X in the top right).  Then I go to the Microsoft online login and login to whichever account has been noted (I have four).

That clears whatever issue Microsoft was supposedly having with my account(s), and has no effect on my local accounts whatsoever.

I use the same procedure for Microsoft 365; I login online, not on my PC, then logout, and everything works as it should.  I don’t lose any functionality.

I have two PC’s (one is my NAS) and a laptop, as well as a Windows Phone, but I don’t want or need everything synchronized across all of them.  It’s simple enough to duplicate what I want to duplicate via my home network.  I won’t guess at what Microsoft is trying to do with these popups, and the so-called account problem has never been an actual problem, but they are simple enough to get around whatever it is that Microsoft is trying to do.

Create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates, in case you need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do. We don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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bbearren wrote:

I use the same procedure for Microsoft 365; I login online, not on my PC, then logout, and everything works as it should.  I don’t lose any functionality.

I don’t have Microsoft office 365.  I have Microsoft Office for Home and Business 2019.  It is a standalone, one device, one user, onetime payment program.

I don’t like it but MS requires the user to be signed in with MS Account or indeed it does not work.  What happens is Outlook keeps automatically signing in to your MS Account and can’t be stopped.  At least that’s what I found out on the internet when I went googling.

Even if you don’t buy it from the Microsoft Store it cannot be activated without a MS account and that is when MS traps it.

HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-0050 – 64 bit
Windows 10 Home Version 21H2
OS build 19044.1706
Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019
-Version 2205(Build 15225.20288 C2R)

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[RetiredGeek]

Hey Y’all,

Further testing revealed that signing in to your Account in Word, to get it to work, changed my Windows login back to a MS Account!

So from my testing you can stay logged in to your MS Account in your Microsoft 365 Applications but if you sign out and back in it will change your Windows login to your MS Account. You can then go to Settings->Accounts and change back to your local login and all is good (well almost). Use the “Stop signing in to all Microsoft apps automatically” link to accomplish this! Note: As long as you were signed on to your MS Applications they will continue to be signed on even after you switch back to your local login despite what the misleading verbiage in the link might say!

BTW: when your are switched to the MS account and you switch back it kills my setup with Sysinternals AutoLogon!

HTH 😎

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by RetiredGeek.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by RetiredGeek.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Kirsty

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I’ve noticed odd things at times with MS Accounts at work – you may think you have signed out after using OWA or other MS Office programs, only for the next person on that PC to open up Word or Excel and see the previous person still logged in to Office. I’ve even seen it where you log out of that account in the standalone MS Office programs, only to see that a second person’s account was also logged in, forcing me to log out twice if I wanted no user logged in to Office.

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If you want to keep your information private it is up to you.

You have to really understand how all the accounts are used and login for each one, and take care when a login request pops up. I have my PC setup to login with a local account, use email for my personal, non-microsoft, and work, microsoft, email. I periodicity  have to login to office 365 or things will stop working, for a short period then logout. I have turned off everything in the OS that I can that requires microsoft to get any information, I do the same for google and all other vendors. I would never use any microsoft browser or application other that what I have to. Microsoft is like google, both want to know way to much about you and what you do. I post nothing on any social site and when I post on anything try hard to make sure it has no access to information about my accounts.

If microsoft every forces me to use there account for my PC account I will convert to Linux for all my work. Not a big deal since I use it at work for everything.

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I help several neighborhood seniors (as in elderly) with their computer problems. It gets extremely frustrating for people who live alone to deal with layers of security just to play solitaire on their own private computers.

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“Microsoft is like google, both want to know way to much about you and what you do.”

Except that Google respects your settings once you choose them and doesn’t change them without your permission, nor does Google straight up lie to users.

Microsoft straight up lies to it’s users.

There was never anything wrong with any of the peoples’ accounts in the comments above.

Other than their accounts not being what MS wanted them to be.

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I want to thank you all for this very informative discussion.  The only Windows software I use is Windows itself. I have MS Office preinstalled on the computer but I prefer LibreOffice. I do email with Thunderbird and Firefox is my browser of choice.

I will be getting a new laptop later this spring. My local computer shop will give me “naked Windows”, and then I will be very careful reinstalling my stuff. I got an MS account when I set up this laptop several years ago because I thought I had to, although I never use it. Will I be able to go strictly local with the new computer or am I stuck with having an account?

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You can always use a local account. Do not connect the laptop to the internet until after you have done the initial setup and you will be able to create a local account.

When Windows is running, connect to the internet and let Windows Update do its thing, then install your apps. And make an image backup.

cheers, Paul

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I think that’s what I did but somewhere along the line learning the differences between Windows 7 (old computer) and Windows 10 (new computer) I got the MS acount. The computer shop will install Windows with all the updates to the date they do the install. So I can install my software and never use the MS account unless I find something that needs it.

Thank you!

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The shop shouldn’t install Windows, they should put the base image on and let you perform the setup – this is what OEMs do.

cheers, Paul

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