How to Disable Microsoft Account on Windows
Microsoft has been aggressively pushing online accounts on local machines as far back as Windows 8, if I recall correctly. Beginning with Windows 10, now the operating system constantly demands the user is recommended to login via an online account instead. All of my Windows installations are virtual, and logging into my actual Microsoft account doesn’t give me any additional benefit.
Instructions
Let’s tackle the problem with Registry Editor.
- From Registry Editor, navigate* to the following path:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
- Right-click to create a new DWORD (32-bit), and name it
NoConnectedUser. - Set the value of the newly created DWORD to
3**. - Restart the machine.
*Depending on your system language, copy-pasting the path may not work. I have experienced weird glitches where Windows would omit backward slash on Korean systems.
**Setting it to 0 would return to default (allow), 1 would disable adding Microsoft account, 3 would disable adding and login to Microsoft account.
Afterthoughts
I do recommend using an online account, especially for personal use, on a primary machine. Some of the security features require online activations, services similar to Find My on Apple ecosystem. I can’t speak for Windows’ accessibility features on the use cases where a user would need someone else’s supervision, but traditionally any additional security features or accessibility features relied heavily on staying online for extra authentication.
That being said, Windows is not just OEM operating system. Users can explicitly choose to install Windows OS on any machines, and sometimes not all features are welcome. On the Linux side of the business, especially my go-to distro, Ubuntu, the OS is offered in many variations to suit varying use cases. Same goes with Raspberry Pi and its Raspberry Pi OS. I wonder what’s stopping Microsoft to streamline its offerings.