Local Admin Account Help

it seems like I've been from one end of the internet to the other, but I've not found the help i need. There is lots of information on how to set up Local Accounts which I have followed using " I want to log in with a different account" (or something like that). After filling in the user name and password, the local account was set up with admin privileges and, It appears, that the Microsoft account was deleted. Login using this account went ok and all seemed to be OK until I tried to access the local account information. A window asking for the Microsoft account popped up and it would not accept the previous email and password and insisted that I set up a new account. Is this a glitch or a normal process? If normal, what is the purpose of having a local admin account if you must also have the microsoft account?

I read that, by default, the built in admin account is disabled "because in is normally not needed" a one website stated without elaboration. Is it necessary to enable the built in admin account before the local admin account that I set up will work? Nothing I've read suggests that that is necessary.

My intent in the beginning was to set up a regular local account for day to day use and an admin account for when needed. Then there is " Open as administrator". When you implement that, does it then ask for the local admin account password? Or, is that a substitute for the local account with admin privileges?

Sorry that's so long

checkout the tutorials on this forum, I am sure Brik has one for this, I will have a look

It appears that you forgot what your sign in options were for your local account and Microsoft accounts. They were probably different.

I originally set up my new laptop with Windows 11 Home with a local account. The first account you create is by default has type Administrator. I used a Password to log in.

Note: Windows tried hard to force me to create or log in with a Microsoft account but I eventually got past that.

I eventually realized that in order to sync certain settings between my computers I needed to log in with my Microsoft account. I clicked on the Sign in button to start the switch.



One difference was I logged in with a Pin instead of a Password.
I can always switch back to using a local account by clicking on Sign in with a local account instead




It is important to remember for each type of login what sign in option you used.
When you set up the account you are given several choices for the sign in option such as:

• Windows Hello (facial recognition)
• Windows Hello (fingerprint recognition)
• Windows Hello (PIN)
• Password

Note depending upon the computer not all choices are available.

MisterEd, I understand what you say about sign-in options, but that is not my issue. I have a local account with admin privileges and I login with it using a password. That part works fine. However, when I go to Accounts > Accounts, manage my accounts that is with Microsoft pops up and insists that I use the Microsoft Account and it will not accept the user name and password or pin that I once used. Why is that even necessary?

The Hive, I skimmed through the list of tutorials and they look like good how tos. However, I think I need to get past this log-in issue with Microsoft log-in issue first. Please let me know if something else needs fixing first.

I am not clear what you initially did. Did you change how you logged in or did you create an entirely new account? I have kept the same account but merely changed how I logged in. I.E., Local account login or Microsoft login.

When you log in what are your Sign-in options?

When I change back to a local account I was asked to create a new password. I didn't and just used the same password that I used for this account before.



The strange this is that when I logged in again I was asked for my PIN.



If you click on sign-in options you will see that PIN is the default.



However, it gave me the option to log in using my password instead

Because I am now logged in with my local admin account, the menus look a bit different, but as I recall, under settings, I went to Accounts and then selected the menu item for Account Settings. Under that, on the right in blue was a selection for "sign in with a different account other than Microsoft" or something like that. That resulted in the first screen you show and I went from there. I haven't had the other issues you mentioned, but I know I can change the log in options for my local account.

I just discovered that under Accounts and Email & Accounts, I can manage the Microsoft Account and change the log in or even remove it (tempting but I haven't yet)

After posting the above, I created another user account using the local admin account and the family and other users selection under Accounts. That worked out fine in that the new user can log in and it is easy to switch back and forth between them. However, as the new user (no admin privileges) I tried to downlod and install Firefox from Mozilla.com. As expected, before installation, it asked for an admin password which I provided from the local admin account. It seemed to go through the install process, but in the end, it did not get installed. Tried twice with the same result.

willyou said:

After posting the above, I created another user account using the local admin account and the family and other users selection under Accounts. That worked out fine in that the new user can log in and it is easy to switch back and forth between them. However, as the new user (no admin privileges) I tried to downlod and install Firefox from Mozilla.com. As expected, before installation, it asked for an admin password which I provided from the local admin account. It seemed to go through the install process, but in the end, it did not get installed. Tried twice with the same result.

Click to expand...

Did you intend for the new user to have an account type of Standard User? If you want you can log into any admin account and change the new user's type to Administrator.

Standard users aren't supposed to be able to install programs. That's reserved for users with admin privileges.

Yes that was the intent. Isn't that why the admin password was asked for and provided? After providing the password the system did try to install the program. As I recall, using Win XP years ago, that was the way it worked.