How do I disassociate Microsoft account credentials from an account in Windows 10?

Question

I set up Windows 10 and have been using it for months on a spare laptop. When installing, I did not use a Microsoft account to enable all of the app connectivity because I don't need that functionality. I do not want these features active on this device, and I used a simple user name during the install.

Everything was going fine until I read about the Linux/bash features that are available in the anniversary update. I decided to try them out and entered my Microsoft Insider credentials to enable the features in the developer options of the Control Panel. I didn't realize the primary account on this device would now become linked to that Microsoft account.

Is there a simple way to disassociate the Microsoft account from the local account, or are they now linked forever in an unholy union? I can set up a new local account, but I'd rather not lose all the settings and folder preferences prior to my gaffe.

Answer 1

The process to disconnect your profile from your Microsoft Account is extremely easy.

Step 1: Press the Windows Key and then search for "Settings"

Step 2: Left Click on Accounts

Step 3: Left Click on Sign in with a local account instead and follow the on-screen directions.

You will have to verify your identity by providing your current Microsoft Account password. After you do that you will asked to provide a username and a password for a local account. You will then have to log out of the current user and back into the new user that you just created.

Everything except the username you use to log into Windows will remain exactly the same. You can use or select your old username before you connected the profile to a Microsoft Account.

Answer 2

The traditional answer to this question no longer works for everyone, as Microsoft have removed the "Sign in with a local account instead" option from the settings GUI (for some users). However the link to the Microsoft account is stored in the registry. It can be deleted by launching "regedit", navigating to

HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\IdentityCRL\StoredIdentities

And by deleting the subkey with your account name in it.

Answer 3

If the user account holder has lost access to their Microsoft account (and is unable to recovery it), then it's also possible to remove the association between the local account, and the Microsoft account using the chntpw utility under Linux. Unfortunately the functionality requiried isn't well automated, but it's not too tricky to do it by hand.

First backup the registry hive file: cp /windowsroot/Windows/System32/Config/SAM /windowsroot/Windows/System32/Config/SAM.orig

chntpw -l /windowsroot/Windows/System32/Config/SAM will list the relevant users. Take a note of the user ID number.

Use chntpw -i /windowsroot/Windows/System32/Config/SAM and select the registry edit mode.

Navigate the user of interest with cd \S\D\A\U, then use ls and a further cd to navigate to the user you wish to edit. Finally remove the keys starting with Internet, then save and exit.

I'd previously removed the StoredIdentities keys as per https://superuser.com/posts/1497389 - but I'm not sure whether both are needed or not. Probably best to do both as a precaution. If necessary you can use chntpw to enable the Administrator account (exact name may vary according to localisation settings), and run regedit from there within windows.