delete old account login

Question

I have an old account login that keeps popping up on my PC. The account no longer exsists on Microsoft but it persists on my local pc

Answer 1

The solution depends on where on your PC you can still see the old account you want to remove.

1

If that account appears on the login screen.

Click your Start Button, then just type netplwiz and press Enter.

On the resulting utility do you see the old account?

If so, select the account there, and click Delete.

2

If that is not where you see the old account, please provide a screenshot of where you see the old account your want to remove, and please hide any Email address that may appear in the screenshot.

Answer 2

Try these Windows cleanup steps in order:

1. Remove the old account from Windows
   • For a personal Microsoft account: Start > Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts
   • Select the old account, then choose Remove account > Remove.
2. If it was a work or school account
   • Go to Start > Settings > Accounts > Access work or school
   • Select the old account.
   • If Disconnect is available, use it.
   • If only Manage appears, the account may still be registered more deeply in Windows.
3. Clear saved sign-in credentials
   • Open Control Panel > User Accounts > Credential Manager
   • Open Windows Credentials
   • Remove entries related to the old account, especially Microsoft 365, Office, Outlook, or Teams entries.
   • This removes cached authentication tokens that can keep old sign-ins appearing.
4. Sign out and restart the PC
   • Restart after removing the account and credentials so Windows reloads account state.
5. If the old account still appears in Teams
   • In Teams, select the profile picture and choose Sign out.
   • To remove the account from Windows for Teams:
     • Personal account: Start > Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts
     • Work or school account: Start > Settings > Accounts > Access work or school
6. If the old account appears in Outlook
   • In classic Outlook: File > Account Settings > Account Settings > select account > Remove
   • In new Outlook: View tab > View settings or File > Account info > Accounts > Your accounts, then Manage > Remove

Important:

• Removing an account from Outlook or Teams does not delete the Microsoft account itself.
• Removing an account from Outlook deletes offline cached content for that account from the PC.
• If the Microsoft account itself no longer exists and sign-in still fails, use the Microsoft Sign-in Helper tool to confirm the account state.

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References:

• Sign out or remove an account from Microsoft Teams
• Add an email account to Outlook for Windows
• I can't sign in to my Microsoft account
• How do I remove a microsoft account that I no longer have access to? - Microsoft Q&A
• when I try to login to Outlook, the old tenant appears. How can I delete the old tenant from my PC? - Microsoft Q&A
• I have recently opened a paid account - Microsoft Q&A
• How do I delete user logins for websites I no longer own, where I had MS work/business accounts but have closed them down and now only have a family subscription? They come up all the time but I can't access them anymore. - Microsoft Q&A