Microsoft’s official guide to switching from a Microsoft Account to a local account in Windows has been reinstated

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It also has a new guide for creating a password reset disk.

Microsoft Windows sign-in
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft’s official guide to switching from a Microsoft Account to a local account in Windows has been reinstated. Microsoft’s support article entitled Change from a local account to a Microsoft account has always informed Windows 10 and 11 users how to switch to its favored online account sign-in option. However, last month we noticed that it had erased the set of instructions that novice users may have required to reverse this decision.

It is easy to understand why Microsoft wants new Windows users to sign into the OS using an online account. The company gets lots of useful data for monetizing users this way. On the user’s side of the equation it can also be quite convenient, with a Microsoft Account across several devices signing you into popular services like Edge, Office, Outlook, Skype, OneDrive etc – as well as remembering Windows settings and preferences. However, power users resent being forced one way or another.

In our prior investigations over the missing local account switching guide, we noticed that these particular switching instructions appeared when the guide article was fresh, on June 12, but were removed on June 17 this year. We also provided our own little guide on how to switch away from a Microsoft Account to a local account, to save readers time hunting through the Wayback Machine or third-party guides.

(Image credit: Future)

We are happy to see Microsoft has reinstated its official step-by-step guide explaining how to switch from a Microsoft Account to a local account. Users may also be happy that the new guidance will work with the latest versions of Windows that are being distributed. That might sound odd to say, but Microsoft has been making it harder and harder to install new Windows releases without an online account sign-in. Notably, it recently removed an easy bypass to the Microsoft Account sign-in request during installation, where a user could simply insert a ‘bad’ email address and then be offered the local account option, instead.

New Microsoft guide for creating a password reset disk

Microsoft warns that local account users should create a password reset disk, as “if you don't do this and then forget your password, you won't be able to recover it.” Helpfully, it has published a new guide for this task. 

In brief, anyone using a local account should prepare a USB flash drive, open the control panel, type ‘create password reset’ in the search box, select this option, and then follow the on-screen instructions. Clearly label and keep the USB flash drive safe.

Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

16 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ezst036
    Admin said:
    It is easy to understand why Microsoft wants new Windows users to sign into the OS using an online account. The company gets lots of useful data for monetizing users this way.

    Needs to be seen again and again.

    Microsoft deserves credit for restoring this page, however large or small that credit is. Most users won't use it and MS knows that.
    Reply
  • vijosef
    Too little, too late. My next PC will be linux only.

    MS made too many fouls. It has lost all credibility, and I only expect it to become worse and worse. I'm sure it will keep falling down.
    Reply
  • cknobman
    vijosef said:
    Too little, too late. My next PC will be linux only.

    MS made too many fouls. It has lost all credibility, and I only expect it to become worse and worse. I'm sure it will keep falling down.
    Exactly.

    I'm done with Microsoft.
    Honestly there isnt anything left that makes Windows a "must have" for me anymore and Microsoft keeps giving good reason for it not to be the OS I want to use.

    Besides I have work issued laptops with Microsoft's virus of an OS on them.
    Its alarming the lengths my companies go to modifying the Windows installation in order to make them "comply" with privacy issues.
    One company is one of the largest health insurance companies in America and still has everyone on Windows 10 because they are trying to make 11 "secure", LOLOLOLOL
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    Every other company that requires an account to use a product: No big deal! Falloutthumbsup.jpg

    People when Microsoft wants one: YOU ARE THE DEVIL! YOU MUST BE BOYCOTTED! I SWITCHING TO LINUX! YOU MUST PAY!!!


    Heck, TomsHardware is no doubt monetizing you for visiting the site without an account and monetizing you for creating an account to post, as is Google or whomever hosts your email account, and on and on.
    Reply
  • ezst036
    Alvar Miles Udell said:
    Every other company that requires an account to use a product: No big deal! Falloutthumbsup.jpg

    People when Microsoft wants one: YOU ARE THE DEVIL! YOU MUST BE BOYCOTTED! I SWITCHING TO LINUX! YOU MUST PAY!!!


    Heck, TomsHardware is no doubt monetizing you for visiting the site without an account and monetizing you for creating an account to post, as is Google or whomever hosts your email account, and on and on.

    What "other company"???

    Why didn't Windows 10 monetize its users with ads? "But it did!" Fine.
    Why didn't Windows 7 monetize its users with ads?
    Why didn't Windows XP monetize its users with ads?

    You can't escape this one Miles.

    We have the advantage by leveraging Microsoft's own history. We can just go back another level. Microsoft never had to be exploitative against its user base. It chose to be exploitative against its user base. You people who push this extremely bizarre line of comparing a website to an operating system want to act like Microsoft never published an OS before.

    Where'd this Microsoft thingy come from? Windows is an OS? Who knew! Where'd dat come from?
    Reply
  • JRStern
    I'm not the most ignorant guy on the planet, and I'd need about 1,000 words on this to fully understand what the issue is, and what Microsoft is recommending or not recommending, defaulting and not defaulting.

    I suppose that means you can't repeat it all in every news update like this, but I'm guessing it does leave others like me mystified.
    Reply
  • Grobe
    vijosef said:
    Too little, too late. My next PC will be linux only.
    this.
    cknobman said:
    Exactly.

    I'm done with Microsoft.
    and this.

    Guys, have you spend any considerable time using Linux as a daily OS?

    No? Then I dare bet you still use MS a year from now. Old habits are crazy hard to get rid of.

    Alvar Miles Udell said:
    Every other company that requires an account to use a product: No big deal!
    Ok. I'll share some thoughts on this issue, if you don't mind.

    Ok - say we have this large pit, filled up by different tech companies. Somewhere in that pit, there is Microsoft - it may not even float at the top so you can spot it right away.

    However - there is a thing that makes Microsoft stand out compared to the other. When your granny goes and buys a computer, she get Windows. That's it - the only option, at least on the rock that I live on.
    So - in theory, yes you can install whatever OS and software you want on a computer that is yours - but in practice, that is not true. For me living in Scandinavia, go get a Linux laptop in a computer store is just plain impossible (have to buy from another country and thereby being subject to custom fees).

    But it's much worse for a granny, because in most cases she would be completely dependent on a tech-savvy family member or thrustworthy friend in order to get anything else than Windows.

    Getting to the point now: Most other tech companies in that pit either have competitors (granny have a real choice in the store) or the nature of the product make it only useful for professional users or at least tech-savvy ones.

    In a nutshell - most Windows users are not super users and doesn't feel there are any choices. For most other tech companies, the user base would have a better position to make other choices.
    Reply
  • ThomasKinsley
    Grobe said:
    Guys, have you spend any considerable time using Linux as a daily OS?
    It's doable. For those who would prefer a simpler experience, Chrome OS and Android (Dex) are fully useable by the average PC user that only needs email and browsing. They might even provide a more stable experience too.

    As someone who's used many OS's, it seems apparent to me that Microsoft should be leveraging their default OS status by introducing long-sought features and building good will with the Windows community. Instead, they are chasing people off and convincing tech users to go elsewhere by treating their customer base as poorly as they can. It has resulted in Windows steadily losing market share since 2009. At the current rate, Windows will continue to decline. Co-Pilot is not going to make a dent.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    What "other company"???

    Amazon, Google, Apple, Samsung, LG, Nintendo, Sony, TomsHardware Forums, restaurant apps, among basically every company who provides a product or service, not to mention your bank, insurance company, phone company, utility company, and so forth. All of them use your data to make money, so why is it such a big deal that Microsoft does for Windows? Heck, why is it not a big deal that TESLA requires an account to drive a Tesla yet it is for Microsoft to use Microsoft?

    However - there is a thing that makes Microsoft stand out compared to the other. When your granny goes and buys a computer, she get Windows. That's it - the only option, at least on the rock that I live on... For me living in Scandinavia, go get a Linux laptop in a computer store is just plain impossible (have to buy from another country and thereby being subject to custom fees).

    According to Statcounter, the OS breakdown for Sweeden is:
    Windows34.63%iOS28.2%Android22.73%OS X7.43%Chrome OS5.12%
    In Denmark, it is:
    Windows50.95%iOS19.38%Android15.29%OS X10.03%Chrome OS2.48%Linux1.18%

    The two most populated Scandanavian countries have a large Apple user share, both are very heavily majority iOS when it comes to mobile over Android, so there is very much an alternative to Windows that "granny" apparently uses.

    Oh, and if it is a tech novice "granny" using it, that's the exact person who NEEDS to be using a Microsoft account with automatic cloud backups, just as they would Apple with automatic backups.

    I get it, the hate against Microsoft on TomsHardware is real from the chief editor to the freelancers, and even Windows Central is fairly terrible so I have a feeling it's Future PLC pressing the hate to all their publications, but it's seriously not a big deal and not the end of the world.
    Reply
  • yahrightthere
    Alvar Miles Udell said:
    Every other company that requires an account to use a product: No big deal! Falloutthumbsup.jpg

    People when Microsoft wants one: YOU ARE THE DEVIL! YOU MUST BE BOYCOTTED! I SWITCHING TO LINUX! YOU MUST PAY!!!


    Heck, TomsHardware is no doubt monetizing you for visiting the site without an account and monetizing you for creating an account to post, as is Google or whomever hosts your email account, and on and on.
    No doubt what you say is true, however I don't & never will like it. When I buy a Microsoft Window OS, or any other product, I should own it without giving up my right to privacy & without consenting to have the company use my information, especially without recompense.
    Guess it's cheaper to payoff governments then to have them come after you for privacy right violations.
    To me the default should be opt in, not trying to find how to opt out, if there even is an opt out.
    As for DRM they should apply both ways, if any company wants to use my information they have to get my consent, & not by being forced to give my consent by agreeing to their DRM as part of buying & using their product.
    Yes I know this will never happen, but hey at least I can dream!
    Reply