Microsoft Windows 10/11 and Microsoft Account? Yes or No?

Do you use a Microsoft account to log into your local install of Windows 10/11 for personal use?

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The_HAVOK

The_HAVOK

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Who uses a Microsoft account to log in to their Windows 10/11 machine, and why, or why not?

I personally use a Microsoft account to log into all of my machines nowadays. I used to use a windows domain controller to handle account logins hosted in my homelab back when my servers were running windows based server OS's, up until about mid 2021.
I like the simplicity of logging in and setting up new devices that can all easily be associated with my microsoft account. Not a big fan of all the tracking "features" however I make sure it is all disabled in addition to PFSense+PFBlocker blocking unnecessary tracking.
 
I have a couple of microsoft account (one work related, one personal) and a local account (just for gaming) on my main machine.

Share wifi password and a list of useful stuff on a new machine, a little bit of free onedrive space and I use the Microsoft account for Visual studio-Azure anyway.

At one point in the past it create like a onedrive-desktop/document type of folder that were synced with the cloud and complained when it reached the free 5GB, so now I watch out to make sure it is off to avoid possible issues, outside of that one I have to have encountered a single downside with them.
 
The laptop I use never accepted the email address I used to set up the computer so it ended up being a local account only. Every few days I get the ’set up your Microsoft account now’ but it never works…
 
I do for my normal home machine. It's an account I've had forever and it's tied to my Windows license, Gamepass, and a bunch of shit I've bought over the years.
At work I setup PC's for new employees and I never use it. I always use the [email protected] trick to bypass the process. Those all have OEM keys so the account doesn't matter.
 
There's a part of me that say those that don't drink the whole glass of MS Kool-aid are just future Linux users.
 
I've always used a local account, and don't feel any pressing need to switch to using a Microsoft Account.

To be clear, i'm not against the idea of using a Microsoft Account. I just choose not to, and appreciate having that choice.
 
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I use an MS account but I just create a special 'fake' account...same way I create a special Spam e-mail
 
Nope, and nope to logging in to a Google account on my phone as well. I'll log in to the Goog's account on the phone with a faker email to get updates and then I'll remove the account. Rinse, repeat. I have core files backed up zipped to password stored in Mega. My phone also serves mostly as my phone. I barely have any apps on it. And none are signed in. I sign in to each app every time and logout every time.
 
I have an old Live account I will use for the MS Store and for Bing Cashback, but I never use it or any account for installing Windows.
 
grim4593 said:
Yes. It really isn't any different than logging into your android phone with your google account. And it enables many similar features such as backups, settings sync, system recovery, etc.
We all sold our souls to corporations a long time ago.
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I don't log in to my android phone with a google account, I log in with a pin code that unlocks the sim card, and after that the phone is fully usable. Or do you mean logging in to the Play store? Yes I do that. Just as I log in to the microsoft store on windows with an MS account, that doesn't mean I log in to my computer with an MS account.

And I'll never use an MS account to log in to my computer, it is my computer, not MS's, it needs to be fully functional offline.
 
M76 said:
I don't log in to my android phone with a google account, I log in with a pin code that unlocks the sim card, and after that the phone is fully usable.
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For my iPhone, I need to log into my apple account only when I buy an app or a book. Otherwise, it's PIN, PIN, PIN all the way.

M76 said:
Or do you mean logging in to the Play store? Yes I do that. Just as I log in to the microsoft store on windows with an MS account, that doesn't mean I log in to my computer with an MS account.

And I'll never use an MS account to log in to my computer, it is my computer, not MS's, it needs to be fully functional offline.
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I don't use my MS account to log into my Win 10 systems. Are you saying that if I normally use my MS account, I can't use it if I'm offline. Like on a plane, or even a train without WiFi. On planes, they charge way too much money for crummy Wi-Fi.

Or in my doctor's office, I can't get onto the Wi-Fi until after I log into Windows and then log into their own website and "accept" their Wi-Fi TOS. Kind of a catch-22 here.
 
A microsoft account will let you create a local stored on your device pin (faster than reenter the password) and you will be able to log-in when Internet is down or unavailable.

My Internet was down often at some point in the past I do not remember being ever an issue in that regard.
 
In the sprawling labyrinth of the Windows' domain,
A land of demons and goblins, a realm of digital disdain,
Embarks a noble knight, armed with keyboard and mouse,
To rescue his beloved PC, held captive in this house.

Telemetry, the vilest of demons, with eyes of flaming coal,
Seeks to spy and pry, to swallow the knight's soul.
But fear not! With a swift stroke of the 'disable' key,
The knight blinds the beast, setting his privacy free.

Then, lurking in the shadowy crevices, the goblin hoard,
Garbage software, pre-installed, loathed and abhorred.
With his cursor, as sharp as a dragon's tooth lance,
He strikes 'uninstall', making the goblins wince and dance.

In the aftermath, like a ballad sung in a moonlit hall,
He carefully chooses his software, not letting his standards fall.
No unnecessary damsels, no unneeded knight,
Only the bravest codes, those worthy of the fight.

But lo! In the deepest corners, the ogre of surplus does dwell,
A monstrous pile of bloatware, an unsightly, mind-boggling swell.
It's as if a dragon, upon a whim, belched a storm of clutter,
A sight so absurd, it makes the knight sputter and stutter.

Through digital dragons and ogres, the knight holds his course,
Determined, unwavering, a force against force.
For in this realm of Windows, where data damsels are confined,
He battles for each byte, leaving no unwanted software behind.
 
LukeTbk said:
A microsoft account will let you create a local stored on your device pin (faster than reenter the password) and you will be able to log-in when Internet is down or unavailable.

My Internet was down often at some point in the past I do not remember being ever an issue in that regard.
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Not by default, you have to preemptively enable login by pin for that to work. And I have my doubts whether it works permanently or only temporarily.

Either way why would you do this to yourself? What possible benefit is there to announcing to big daddy microsoft each time you log in to your computer and letting them track you?
 
M76 said:
Not by default, you have to preemptively enable login by pin for that to work.
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I feel they ask you if you want to do it on the creation of the account (either a nip or hello or both)

M76 said:
What possible benefit is there to announcing to big daddy microsoft each time you log in to your computer and letting them track you?
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I fail to see any downside and being logged to my microsoft account make azure-git token management, syncing stuff from wifi passwords, credentials, etc... to a new device easier, give me 5gb of free cloud storage by account, I could login manually to all I am certain but why ?.

But what is the cost ? I will probably commit or pull something on github every time I work on my computer or some Azure provided service, I talk to big daddy microsoft and tell him much more precisely what I do all the time and much much more important stuff than my logging in to my session. Well I even have my work Skype/Teams at some point in the past that launch with my session, so.... they know right away either way.

Not sure, I get the cost I would ever encounter by their tracking.
 
LukeTbk said:
I feel they ask you if you want to do it on the creation of the account (either a nip or hello or both)
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IDK, I only ever used an ms account in windows once when a version refused to allow me to install without an ms account, so I created a fake one using a phony email and immediately switched to a local account after install.
LukeTbk said:
I fail to see any downside and being logged to my microsoft account make azure-git token management, syncing stuff from wifi passwords, credentials, etc... to a new device easier, give me 5gb of free cloud storage by account, I could login manually to all I am certain but why ?.
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Wifi passwords? You are not talking about a desktop computer then are you? Also not a personal home computer but a work one apparently. Or at least a mixed use one. Why would you log in to services separately? So they can't tie your accounts to each other. I know the mantra that "if you don't have anything to hide then why worry about surveillance" but I prefer my privacy intact, even if I don't do anything currently considered illegal. I'd never use cloud services for anything remotely personal and private either. And my credentials for the important stuff is never saved in password managers.
 
I question how much privacy any of us really have even if we're supposedly opting out of all this stuff. Sure, it makes us feel nice, but I'm not sure I believe our data is any safer or we're less apt to be spied upon. If anything, it might keep some personalized ads disabled and such, but I dunno about the rest.
 
M76 said:
Wifi passwords? You are not talking about a desktop computer then are you
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When I got a new laptop (or in the past Microsoft phone-tablet) it make that easy.

M76 said:
Also not a personal home computer but a work one apparently. Or at least a mixed use one.
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Work from home, use a local gaming account but maybe should have went for a microsoft one to sync save game more easily between device for non steam game.
 
Domingo said:
I question how much privacy any of us really have even if we're supposedly opting out of all this stuff. Sure, it makes us feel nice, but I'm not sure I believe our data is any safer or we're less apt to be spied upon. If anything, it might keep some personalized ads disabled and such, but I dunno about the rest.
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I remove all of that telemetry crap and bloatware as much as I can for performance/optimization reasons. But I'm definitely not so naive to think that actually prevents Microsoft from data-mining the crap out of me. I just try to reduce the data-mining footprint as much as I can.
 
Shoganai said:
I remove all of that telemetry crap and bloatware as much as I can for performance/optimization reasons. But I'm definitely not so naive to think that actually prevents Microsoft from data-mining the crap out of me. I just try to reduce the data-mining footprint as much as I can.
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In all fairness, I think that's all we can do. IMHO, just because we're talking Microsoft, I wouldn't count on them getting this all "correct". I'd look to Google if you want rich info (they don't publish the good stuff though).
 
I wwork around adding my MS account during install, forcing a local account. But then later log-in to connect with "necessary"/useful services. So I'm semi-connected.

-bZj
 
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