If I unlink my microsoft account from my PC, will the games linked to that account be removed/inaccessible?

Hello there! I am Charity, I'm an Independent Advisor. I'm glad to help you today!

Thank you for the information. If you unlink your Microsoft account from your PC, several things will happen regarding the games and services linked to that account, such as Minecraft and OneDrive.

Games: Games like Minecraft that are tied to your Microsoft account will likely become inaccessible on your new PC if you unlink the account. This is because the game's license is associated with the Microsoft account. You will need to sign back into Minecraft with the same Microsoft account to access the game. However, you can sign in again with the unlinked account after switching to a new one if you want to regain access to the game.

OneDrive: Unlinking your Microsoft account will stop OneDrive from syncing, but your local files won't be deleted. They will simply stop syncing with the cloud. You can re-link OneDrive to continue syncing or access your files directly through the OneDrive web interface.

In summary, unlinking your Microsoft account will not delete your files or installed games, but you will lose access to services like game licensing and cloud syncing until you sign in again with the original Microsoft account.

Please let me know if you have any more questions, I'll do my best to respond as soon as possible.

Kind Regards,

Charity (Active hours 10PM~10AM GMT+08:00)

No problem at all!

When setting up a new PC, if you choose to "Restore from previous PC" during the setup process, the backup used for this restore must be linked to the Microsoft account currently signed into the new PC.

Backups are typically linked to the Microsoft account that was signed in when the backup was created. If you created a backup while signed into your old PC with your original Microsoft account, that backup will remain associated with that account.

If you switch accounts on the old PC: The backup created under the old account will not automatically transfer to the new account. Therefore, if you were to sign into a new PC with a different Microsoft account, you would not be able to restore from a backup created under the previous account unless you sign into that account again on the new PC.

In Summary,

Local Files: Will remain unaffected by unlinking and switching accounts.

Backups: Remain tied to the Microsoft account used when the backup was made. To restore from a backup, you'll need to use the same Microsoft account that created the backup.

If you want to keep using the backup from your old PC, you'll need to continue using the same Microsoft account that was used to create that backup when setting up a new PC. If you switch to a new account, those backups won’t be accessible unless you sign back into the original account.

Please let me know if you have any more questions, I'll do my best to respond as soon as possible.

Thats very helpful! I apologize for asking so much but!: Im curious of a few things if i decided to unlink the old PC instead:

I've had the computer for about 3 years and the latest back-up was a few days ago.

If I unlinked the old PC from it's current microsoft account and relinked it with my other account, I assume the same thing would happen (needing to re-signin to OneDrive and Minecraft).

However, if I did so, would my back-ups and local files remain unaffected?

As a hypothetical: lets say I got another new PC and signed in using the new microsoft account i would have linked to the old PC.

Then, I would proceeded to set it up by clicking "Restore from previous PC" during the set-up process.

Would the back-up i made while the old PC was still linked with the previous MS account still be available to restore on a new PC, even if the MS account had changed?

Tldr: do backups remain unaffected regardless of which microsoft account they were backed up under?

Thanks again!

Yes, you can sign in again with the same Microsoft account after unlinking it from your PC.

After you unlink your Microsoft account from your PC, the Minecraft icon on your desktop should remain, and the game should still be installed. When you open Minecraft, it will prompt you to sign in. You can use the same Microsoft account that you unlinked. This will restore your access to the game without any issues.

Similar to Minecraft, after unlinking your account from your PC, you can go to the OneDrive app or website and sign in with the same Microsoft account. This will re-establish the connection, and your files will sync as usual.

Impact on the Old PC: Unlinking the Microsoft account from your new PC will not affect the old PC. The old PC will remain linked to the Microsoft account, and everything, including Minecraft and OneDrive, will continue functioning as before on that device.

Please let me know if you have any more questions, I'll do my best to respond as soon as possible.

Hello! So just to clarify:
After I've unlinked the account, I can go through Minecraft's Microsoft signin (either online or via the game's icon on the Desktop) and simply sign in again with the same Microsoft account (being the one that I had unlinked from the computer itself)?
And same question for OneDrive!: I simply sign in again via OneDrive's website using the account I had unlinked from the PC?

And, just per chance, do you know if the Desktop icon for Minecraft will disappear once I unlink it, or if it will remain on the Desktop and I'll simply have to sign in again?

Also, this will have no impact on the Old PC's data, correct? My old PC will still be linked, and thus Minecraft and OneDrive will be unaffected on the old PC?
This is so helpful and means so much to me. I've been worrying about this all day.