While Microsoft has made it more difficult to sign into Windows using a local account. If you are someone who prefers to use a local user account rather than a Microsoft account. In our quick notes we provide you with a number of different options to use a local account.
Whats the difference between a Microsoft account and a local user account?
Unlike a Microsoft account, a local user account will store a users profile directly on the computer. Which will include any system settings, desktop themes, passwords, user created content, documents, photos, or media files.
The advantage of this is that what’s on your computer will be private to you. However, the disadvantage is that if you jump to a new computer, you will have to manually transfer files and settings yourself. Something you wont need to do if you use a Microsoft account.
Why you might want to use a local user account.
The problem is that Microsoft integrated their cloud storage solution with having a Microsoft account. They then started to make it more and more difficult to create local user accounts in Windows. Which in turn forced more users to switch to using a Microsoft account.
While this may not sound too bad, as you will get 5GB of free online storage. You have to remember that because your data is now sitting on a Microsoft cloud server. In theory Microsoft also now has full access to everything you do or create.
Which in the age of AI, where companies like Microsoft are trying to teach their AI systems by scraping large bodies of data. Using a Microsoft account has the potential for personal thoughts, ideas and works being stolen and used by AI without your consent or knowledge.
Note: At the time of posting, the following options should work with both the Home and Pro versions of Windows 11. However, this could well change over time as it seems that Microsoft are set on ultimately preventing the creation of local accounts.
