How do I remove an erroneous work or school account associated with my personal email address?

Question

I have been unable to resolve the following error:
"Sign in with your Microsoft account to continue app experiences across your devices"

This error shows up under Settings > Apps > Advanced App Settings.

I am already signed in to this computer with my Microsoft account and use 365. Share Across Devices is set to My Devices Only (I have 4 devices, i.e. computers, under my Microsoft account).

When I attempt to Sign In using the button next to the Error Message, it auto-populates my personal email address (which is correct), however when I select Next it says that "<my personal domain> isn't in our system.". When I select Can't Access Your Account? It takes me to a different login pop-up titled Get Back Into Your Account, where I enter my personal email address. But I get another error message saying: The email or username you entered does not exist.

Note that I have a personal domain and use it for my personal email address. It is not a business and has never been used to establish a Microsoft school or work account (at least as far as I recall).

Under Settings > Accounts > Email & Accounts, there are a total of 3 accounts of this computer all of which list my personal email address. The first one is under Accounts Used by Email, Calendar and Contacts and identifies my personal domain name underneath my personal email address. The other two are under Accounts Used By Other Apps. Underneath my personal email address, one is identified as Microsoft Account, the other is identified as Work or School account.

When I select Manage under the Email account it opens an Account Settings window listing my personal email address with an Outlook icon next to it (even though I've never setup Outlook on this computer). There is an entry field with my personal domain name listed (presumably allowing me to change it if I wanted to). There are two additional buttons: one to Change Mailbox Sync Settings and one to Delete Account from this device. The Change Mailbox Sync Settings presently have Email disabled, but Calendar and Contacts enabled.

When I select Manage under the Microsoft account, it automatically logs me into my online Microsoft account (account.microsoft.com) and all the information looks right (4 devices, etc).

When I select Manage under the Work or School account, it takes me to a different login page at login.microsoftonline.com. This is effectively the same as entry point as I described at the top, and I get the exact same results.

I appreciate any clean solutions to this problem. My other devices are working right, so it must be something unique to this particular computer. It goes back to 2019. Not looking forward to wiping this computer and starting over.

Answer 1

Hi Mark Major,
I came across this Microsoft support article: Reset Microsoft 365 Apps activation state, and I believe it’s relevant to the issue where a personal email address is mistakenly recognized as a Work or School account, causing persistent sign-in errors like "Sign in with your Microsoft account to continue app experiences across your devices."

This can help clear out cached identity tokens and licensing data that may be tied to an incorrect account type (e.g., Azure AD instead of Microsoft Account). If your device has lingering Work or School credentials associated with your personal domain, running this script might help reset the app's identity context and allow it to properly recognize your Microsoft Account.

Relevant thread, Removing "Work or school account" when "This PC isn't joined to a domain."

 

Kind regards,

John Oli