Windows 10 is here and it is here to stay and along with it comes the almost forceful push to using a Microsoft Account. When you first buy your new Windows 10 device you are bombarded with the Sign In with your Microsoft Account. You can in fact just login in the old fashion way and login with a simple username and password even though Microsoft would rather you login with a Microsoft account so you can sync all your goodies while also allowing them to track what you do more.
If your Windows 10 user account is currently a Microsoft account (by choice or because you got roped into it) it is easy to revert it back to a local account if you know where to look. Read on as I show you.
Why Do This?
There are benefits to using a Microsoft account as your login but many people prefer to have their Windows login as a totally separate experience and entity from any online accounts they might have.
I have noticed a super annoying way that your local user account is automatically (without your permission) converted into a Microsoft account. Of which is when you first log into the Windows Store on your new Windows 10 PC your local user account (called “Ninja”) gets switched over seamlessly to whatever email address you use for your Microsoft account (say “[email protected]”). This Microsoft account can be one you created for several reasons. Maybe you have a Hotmail email or you use the Microsoft Office Suite of software.
A scenario that can happen is when someone who isn’t you logs into the Windows Store then it converts your local user account to a Microsoft account with their login credentials. You then will end up needing their password to undo the mess. If the computer is logged off, goodness, you then cannot get into the computer until you get their password. It is a very poor and quite underhanded way to get people to use a Microsoft-style login instead of the old way to login.
Reverting Your Microsoft Account Back to a Local User
If you’ve had a Microsoft account for a while and you want to switch it back to a local user. If you had a crazy and annoying experience where the Windows Store or some other App hijacked your entire user account, the way to reverse everything is pretty easy if you know where to look.
On the Windows 10 PC in question, goto the Accounts menu. You can do so in alot of ways but the fastest way is to simply type “accounts” in the search box on the Windows 10 start menu and select “Change your account picture or profile settings” as in the screenshot above.
When the Account Settings menu opens you will see in the screenshot to the left the email address of the now active Microsoft Account (top arrow). Below you will find a link saying “Sign in with a local account instead”.
Click on that link.
Confirm the account again and you will also be required to plug in the password. Click “Next”.
Enter a new local username and password (or the old username and password you had before things got all freaky). Click “Next”.
The last box is a confirmation and a reminder of some details you should read for you information. Click “Sign out and finish”. Now I did notice after signing out and going back to a local account that it didn’t change anything with the Windows Store app and I was still logged in under my Microsoft user account. Why couldn’t Microsoft had just allowed you to login to the Windows Store in the first place? I assume it is a move into more cloud-based applications.
