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Are Local Windows Accounts History?

February 27, 2020

All of us old timers know of the days where you created your local login credentials as a default and secondarily joined a domain. Well, the tides have changed and Microsoft wants users to go the other way. As many Windows 10 users know, Microsoft really wants you to create a Microsoft account as opposed to establishing offline credentials. In other words, Microsoft wants to get rid of local accounts. To help those that don't understand the difference, local accounts are tied to the individual computer and can't be used across multiple devices. In contrast, a Microsoft account uses an email address and ties your logon across multiple services. As Bleeping Computer states, "By using a Microsoft account, Windows 10 will be more feature-rich at the expense of more visibility into your activity."

If you really want to create a local account for your Windows 10 computer, you'll need to disconnect from the internet during the setup process. Microsoft really wants you in the cloud, but you can follow the instructions identified by Bleeping Computer if you really want to create a local account.

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