Local vs. Microsoft Account Question - Windows 11 Home


mccnavy

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I'm currently using a Local Account but would like to encrypt my OS drive in Windows 11. When I toggle device encryption it says I'm required to log in using my Microsoft Account (under Accounts). Will this change my Local Account to Microsoft Account? If so, will I still be able to change back to Local Account later or is it permanent and required for device encryption? Thank you.
 
Windows Build/Version
11/22H2

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-7700K
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime Z-270A
    Memory
    32GB 2666Mhz (Kingston Hyper X Fury)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Nvidia 1050Ti
    Sound Card
    N/A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung C27F390
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Evo 512GB
Well...I'll try on my laptop...but on my desktop the answers are yes and yes. The minute I used the link to sign into my Microsoft Account and it automatically changed my Local Account to a Microsoft Account. There was a link to go back to being a Local Account...except...you can't have the same name as the Microsoft Account (mine is first and last name). I had to call it something else and it worked. I was then able to use netplwiz to restore original account and display name. Also, I had to re-do Microsoft Hello and use the /resetnavpane command to get it to work again. Hopefully everything is back to normal now.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-7700K
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime Z-270A
    Memory
    32GB 2666Mhz (Kingston Hyper X Fury)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Nvidia 1050Ti
    Sound Card
    N/A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung C27F390
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Evo 512GB
It seems to have worked on laptop as well...with less issues actually. After enabling device encryption I had to change to a Microsoft account to get rid of a warning message and, likely, to enable the passcode to be saved to my account. I changed it back to a local account and restored the original account name. So far so good. Now the wait for they drive to completely encrypt while I use it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-7700K
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime Z-270A
    Memory
    32GB 2666Mhz (Kingston Hyper X Fury)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Nvidia 1050Ti
    Sound Card
    N/A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung C27F390
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Evo 512GB

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