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I was happily using local account on my Windows 8/8.1 machine. Was. Today I wanted to install some app from Windows Store. I wanted to assess some UX scenario in it. To do so I had to sign in using my Microsoft account. So I did.

Not only I signed into Windows Store, but Windows also quickly connected my local account with Microsoft's one and somehow changing it for an online one. I've realised that when I restarted my machine and I had to logon using my Microsoft account credentials rather than my previous local ones.

What I tried

I found on the net, that I can disconnect my Microsoft account from my user account. I followed these simple steps:

  1. Open Charms > Settings > Change PC Settings > Accounts > Your account > Disconnect
  2. Windows asked me for my current Microsoft account password (for obvious reasons) and I clicked Next
  3. It then asked me to provide local account credentials that I want to use from now on

My username was already pre-filled with my previous name (I'm not sure whether this has to do with previous local account username as it's the same as Display name on my Windows account). So I entered my local account password twice and my password hint as required and clicked Next.

Error

Windows is already using that name. Please enter a different user name.

Unavailable username

I've read on the net that if I did provide a different user name I'd end up with a new local account which is not what I want here as I don't want to loose all my account related data.

How should I revert to my local account without risking my profile data?

Should I try providing a new username and verify whether my old account's data is persisted or is that too much risk and I should take some other steps?

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1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Simple enough process

First go to your account settings:

enter image description here

Next click Disconnect enter image description here

Enter Your Password to your Microsoft Account: enter image description here

Create your local account: ( your old local account technically is still there so select a nw username ).

enter image description here

Verify this process

enter image description here

Proof is in the pudding: enter image description here

Source

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    Thanks. I was doing these steps but was worried about losing my profile data of I provided a new username. So I did and changed it later back to original in Computer manager. Thanks for the heads/thumbs up.
    – Robert Koritnik
    Feb 12, 2014 at 23:47
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    Thanks for this. MS replaced my local login with my Microsoft account when I tried to use the 'Send Feedback' app for Windows 10. They didn't ask, warn, or inform me of the fact that creating the Microsoft account would automatically replace the local login that I've had for years. Dodgy, dodgy software/business-practices. But at least it's possible to undo the association.
    – aroth
    Aug 30, 2015 at 6:06
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    In Windows 10, you can follow mostly the same procedure. Just one minor difference: "Disconnect" is now labelled "Sign in with a local account instead" (very confusing label but it's actually the same thing!).
    – ADTC
    Jun 28, 2017 at 12:23

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