Do You Have To Create A Microsoft Account For Windows 11
Nichelle Gruger
So my problem is that my PC started its life as a Home license. Now that I have upgraded to Professional (in order to use RDP among other features), I am having issues with getting onto my PC by RDP using my profile's microsoft account. I did go into system properties and enable RDP sessions for the desktop I am trying to remote to.
I have a laptop signed in using the same microsoft account at home. I am using VPN tunnel to my office to get to the network. Once on the network, I enter my desktop.IP:port and would expect since I am logged in with the same microsoft account that it would sign me directly in. Instead, it says my password / credentials are not correct. It calls my username out as "MicrosoftAccount\user@Company portal .com", which makes sense, but the password I use to log in does not work through RDP. It works directly from in front of the problem desktop, it works directly on the laptop at home, and it works in a web browser to see my microsoft account, which shows me both my problem desktop and my laptop, confirming that I'm using the same microsoft account and not a case of personal vs work/school account separation. Not really sure where to go here. I've tried removing the microsoft account and adding it back.
I'd love to not have to copy all my profile data off the PC, reset it and start from the beginning, so please tell me there's a hidden registry bit switch somewhere that dumps associations to microsoft accounts permanently as if starting from a clean slate -- OR any equivalent thereof that is less work than a reset of the PC. I don't know that a reset while keeping my files would do the trick in this instance anyway since the issue is likely somewhere in the profile's hidden files.
[EDIT] - Turns out that any local user account will work via RDP, as does a separate 365 business standard account to sign in (not a permanent option btw). It is only the main profile I'm trying to RDP into, associated with my microsoft account, is the one that is balking at me. Interesting that a completely unassociated 365 business std account gets me to the login page as if I were sitting at the login screen personally... assuming that's part of the new Azure cloud rollout progressing its course.
I couldn't get RDP on Azure AD Accounts working with the built-in Windows RDP client (Blue icon).
Downloaded the RDP for Android and For Windows (via Microsoft store) - Red icon version... both platforms worked straight away.
Note that I had to apply RDP permissions via Intune Endpoint manager: -you-can-now-manage-local-groups-memberships-with-intune-preview/#.Y7c1PnbP1D-
Otherwise, using Autopilot / Intune, there isn't a user listed under computer management.
I used the second answer from the linked SuperUser question. It's much quicker and tidier than re-linking accounts. TLDR; The problem is account re-sync is necessary, to force it run the command: runas /u:MicrosoftAccount\[my account email] cmd.exe
I entered the password and a CMD prompt appeared (running as my email address). I tried the RDP connection again, and it worked straight away.
The credentials I used for the RDP session was my microsoft email address as the user, and the password I entered in the runas command.
User: myemail@Microsoft Corporation .com
Pass: EmailPassword
All I need to do is run command below once. It will ask for current password of current Microsoft Account. Enter it and the cmd.exe will not feed back any information but the password will be re-synced. So you can use RDP with changed password.
It turns out I have a case of the ol' Windows Hello gotcha trick. Been using the PIN login for quite some time and recently had to change my microsoft password online because I couldn't remember it to get signed into the new laptop. The desktop never blinked, kept on letting me in with the PIN. I've never logged into the desktop since the password change using the new password.
As a result, I was unable to login with my password at the login screen either. So, I had to disable this, log out, log in with my password, then re-enable this, just so my local machine would update with the new password.
By default, you must log in with a Microsoft account in order to install Windows 11 or go through the box (OOBE) setup process that triggers the first time you turn on a new laptop or desktop. Though Microsoft accounts are free, there are many reasons why you would want to install Windows 11 using a local account only.
Maybe you want to use a local account because you are installing Windows 11 on a child's PC or on a PC that you plan to sell, give to a friend or donate to a charity (without giving other people access to personal data). Or perhaps you just like your privacy and don't want to create an account with Microsoft in the first place.
Whatever your reason for doing so, it's easy to install or set up Windows 11 with a without using a Microsoft account. Below, we'll show you two methods: the first involves issuing some commands during the install / OOBE processor. The second, which only works for a clean install, requires you to create a modified USB install disk using a free tool called Rufus.
There's a simple trick for setting up a local account that involves issuing a command to keep Windows from requiring Internet to install / set up and then cutting off Internet at just the right time in the setup process. This works the same way whether you are doing a clean install of Windows 11 or following the OOBE process on a store-bought computer.
2. Insert a USB Flash drive you want to use as an install disk if one is not already inserted. Note that this drive will be completely erased during the process and it must be at least 8GB. If you are just installing Windows in a virtual machine, you can create an ISO file instead of writing directly to a Flash drive, but we'll assume you're not doing that here.
7. Toggle "Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account" to on and click OK. You may also want to toggle on the other options, which include Removing the Secure Boot / TPM 2.0 and RAM requirements. You can also toggle on "Create a local account with username" and enter your username here and it won't need to prompt you during installation. You can also toggle on "Set regional options to the same values as this user's" and it won't prompt you for the country or keyboard.
Rufus will take a few minutes to copy files to the USB Flash drive. When it's done, you will have a bootable Flash drive. Be sure to click "skip" when you see the ice cream cone on the screen during install.
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