Solved The complete insanity of Microsoft accounts

There was a big data breach the other day, so I changed the passwords on my 2 Microsoft accounts. Ever since then, I have been living a nightmare. Windows, completely on its own, switched me to the other account <<3 times>>. Also, when I try to remote desktop, it's insisting that I use my old password but when I logon locally it uses the old password.

Finally, on my desktop I have a watermark asking me to activate Windows. But I go into settings it says that Windows is activated!!!!!

Note that the watermark issue is happening on only one machine so far, everything else is global on all my machines.

Finally, I use outlook on all machines. On an Android tablet, it keeps repeatedly asking for the password for my Microsoft accounts as well as google (I use Outlook for all 3 accounts). For my google account I want to be clear that it is asking for my password, not a pin, but the field for entering a password will only accept numerals, no letters! I fixed this by uninstalling Outlook and reinstalling it.

Anyone see anything like this?

I have in the past liked using a Microsoft account, but this is going to force me to use local accounts only with no MS account. The only problem with that is that I can no longer install apps I have purchased because they key to the Microsoft account.

I've always had a Microsoft account and never seen anything this bizarre! I'm passwordless with my Microsoft account for security. I'm curious why you have two Microsoft accounts?

LOL, I too have always had an MS account, but this is just crazy town. I too have never seen anything like this.

Reason I have 2 accounts....

Office family can be installed on 5 (or 6, not sure) machines on an account. But you can share it with like 6 people and they each get their allotment of the same number of machines. So, I "share" office with my other account so I can install on more machines. Technically speaking, I think that this is within rules so I go with it .

The reason this was just so frustrating to me is that I recently suffered a pretty bad injury. I am in pain 24 x 7 and am unable to walk without a walker, and even then, it is extremely difficult. I need reliable networking to my other machines for Remote Desktop because there is no way I can walk around to other machines in the house.

Hopefully, I'll be better soon, but for now I just need this stuff to work reliably

I almost forgot: Another reason that I have a second MS account is that MS wants an alternate e-mail address for account verification purposes sometimes. I have a second MS account for that, but I also have a GMail just in case a service outage occurs that affects all MS accounts.

Do you use Windows Hello? Someone else was looking for confirmation if you switched between different MS Accounts while using Office, whether that forced Windows to ask you to re-enter the Hello PIN afterwards.

And if using Windows Hello, how would you know which Windows account you're logging into? Could this be the cause of your bizarre confusion?

I'm not me, I only have one MS Account that's tied to Office. But the report was 24H2 appears to more readily ask you for a PIN compared to 23H2 when switching identities (logged out of Office, back into another account).

garlin said:

Do you use Windows Hello?

Click to expand...

I do use Windows Hello. On my primary laptop I have Pin, facial recognition, and fingerprint sensor. On all other machines Pin only.

TraderGary said:

And if using Windows Hello, how would you know which Windows account you're logging into?

Click to expand...

I only use one account per machine. For example, the machine in front of me uses my primary account. All my important machines use that account. On my "junk" machines and machines for testing I use the other account.

For someone as knowledgeable as you to get in this mess is testament to what grief using a MS account can and does cause some folks. Without a doubt, I trust you'll work your way out of this weirdness because you know how to.. Others not so much when we can't even explain it to them. I's a kick in the head for sure. I have 3 MS accounts so keep track of how you get out of it in case I get caught in the same bear-trap someday. I need to change my password, too, but don't think I'll touch it after hearing this.

glasskuter said:

For someone as knowledgeable as you to get in this mess is testament to what grief using a MS account can and does cause some folks. Without a doubt, I trust you'll work your way out of this weirdness because you know how to.. Others not so much when we can't even explain it to them. I's a kick in the head for sure. I have 3 MS accounts so keep track of how you get out of it in case I get caught in the same bear-trap someday. I need to change my password, too, but don't think I'll touch it after hearing this.

Click to expand...

Microsoft and insanity -- whoever would have thought it. !! No wonder they need a good dose of A.I to get themselves out of a mess. Actually if you use things like UUPDUMP to get new releases and install other software via 3rd party or the developers own web sites and don't use the store I can't ever see the need for an Ms account unless you subscribe to something lile office/365.

Cheers
jimbo

Contrary to popular belief you do not have to be signed into a Microsoft user account in order to use Office 365. You do have to be signed in to your MS account online to purchase Ofc365 and to install/re-install/repair Ofc365. I know because I just helped a guy do it. He uses a local account on all his 5 computers and saves his files locally. . Dear old Chatgpt gave me the how-to..
Even if your Windows login is a local account, you can still:

1. Install and use Office 365 apps
2. Sign in to Office apps (not Windows) with your Microsoft 365 account
3. Access cloud features like OneDrive and Outlook email

🛠 How to Use Office 365 with a Local Account

1. If not already installed:​

• Sign in to Login | Microsoft 365 using your Microsoft 365 account.
• Download and install Office from your account dashboard.

This installation does not require your Windows account to be a Microsoft account.
2. After installation:

• Open an Office app (like Word).
• Click Sign In (top right corner).
• Sign in with your Microsoft 365 account (the one with the subscription or license). If you do not use an Office 365 app at least once every 30 days, you may be required to manually login to verify it. He's been using his for months and as far as I know has not had to signin again.

This links your Office license to your user profile in the app, not to your Windows login.

3. you want to sync files to OneDrive:​

• Open the OneDrive app (search “OneDrive” in Start).
• Sign in using your Microsoft 365 account.
• This will set up a sync folder on your PC.

Note: This step is optional and doesn't require switching your Windows account type.
Important Notes

• You do NOT need to convert your local Windows account to a Microsoft account to use Office 365.
• You can stay fully local on Windows while using all Office 365 features within the apps themselves.
• If you’re in a business environment, your IT department might enforce sign-ins or policies—check with them if you have issues.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. @glasskuter, the info you provided is especially helpful.

In the meantime, I've already performed a clean install on 2 PCs. I installed Microsoft 365 (office) with no difficulty before seeing your post. I had to provide my Microsoft account info to get it installed, and I believe that it was the first time I launched an Office app that it asked me to agree with the terms and gave me an option to sign-in with a user account or use that account for Microsoft apps only. I select MS apps only.

A few minutes later it automatically switched the Edge browser to using my Microsoft account, but I resolved that in mere seconds by deleting that profile in Edge.

So far, as far as I can tell, all is working well.

As for the initial mess that I got into, bear in mind that I do a lot of testing and I probably do a few pretty crazy things. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this mess was somehow purely self-induced. I have to be honest and at least admit that. I'm just glad to see that others have not run into this kind of thing.

One of the reasons that I liked using the MS account was that Edge would sync my web login passwords between all my machines. Install Windows on a new machine? Within minutes everything is synced to that machine and all my passwords auto fill. Now with a local account I'm going to need a good password manager.