Local account/Microsoft account hazard

Question

I have a working Microsoft account that works smoothly in browsers without any issues.

My current situation:

I am logged in via a local account(supposedly) on a Windows 10 PC.

However, as you can see, there is no “Sign in with a Microsoft account instead” option, which is the main issue right now. My Windows account settings are not functioning properly, and I do not know why.

This is the second part of the issue:

This is the second part of the issue: although I am supposedly using a local account, the Microsoft account that was locked for some reason—and that I am trying to remove—still appears as a signed-in Microsoft account. There is also no option to change “All apps can sign me in,” and when I click it, nothing else appears.

If I click “Manage,” it takes me to the sign-in portal, which is locked. I cannot seem to remove or delete this account no matter what I try.

Here's what I want:

To use my working Microsoft account, which works fine in the browser. I have even set up phone authentication for it. Through which I've confirmed that login works on my phone as well—there are no issues with my account—this is the final proof:

Despite this, whenever I try to log in through this working account (add another account in "Emails and Accounts" settings), it shows "You've tried to log in too many times with an incorrect account or password" and "Let us verify if you're a human" and runs the human verification. I couldn't be wrong; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to log in to browsers. After I complete the verification, this window pops up: "Something went wrong"

At this point, I am helpless. There's nothing wrong, yet I can't solve the issue.

(There was no work or school account ever set up on my PC, nor did I ever create one.)

Answer 1

Hello Mahmudul Haque Adnan,

Thanks for the detailed follow-up. Let me try to address each point.

First of all, yes, it IS an administrator account that I'm using right now.

An administrator account and the special built-in Administrator account are different.

A normal account can have administrator privileges, while the built-in Administrator is a separate Windows account identified by a SID ending in -500. Please run: whoami /userOnly a SID ending in -500 confirms that the current account is the built-in Administrator.

You said that Windows treats this account differently; how exactly? How does that affect the usage of Microsoft accounts?

The built-in Administrator is intended primarily for system administration and recovery. It runs with elevated behaviors; Windows Setup normally disables it and creates a separate local account that belongs to the Administrators group.

That is why I wanted to identify the account type before interpreting the missing Microsoft-account option. If the SID does not end in -500, this distinction does not explain the problem.

“The locked account under Email & accounts can be stored only for Microsoft apps, so it does not necessarily mean you use that account to sign in to Windows.”

Windows maintains two separate relationships:

• Settings > Accounts > Your info identifies the account used to sign-in to the Windows profile.
• Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts can contain additional accounts used by Microsoft Store, Mail, OneNote, and other applications.

Therefore, Windows can display Local Account under Your info while retaining a Microsoft account under Email & accounts for application sign-in. The presence of the locked account there did not necessarily mean that it was being used to sign in to Windows.

“If the Microsoft account connects correctly in the new profile, the original profile’s account linkage is likely damaged." If this statement is true, how come the login worked?

That statement was conditional: if the account worked in a new profile but failed only in the original profile, profile-specific damage would have been likely. However, the account also failed in the new profile, so that condition was never met.

Since sign-in worked after you removed the passkey and reset the password, the evidence now points more toward an authentication or sign-in-method issue than Windows profile corruption. However, I cannot confirm whether the passkey itself, the previous password, or the temporary sign-in restriction was the exact cause.

Based on the successful sign-in, I do not see evidence of a remaining profile problem or a threat to the working account. The missing “Sign in with a Microsoft account instead” option appears to be a separate issue.

Answer 2

Hello Mahmudul Haque Adnan,

The locked account under Email & accounts can be stored only for Microsoft apps, so it does not necessarily mean you use that account to sign in to Windows.

First, please check whether the current profile is the built-in Administrator account:

1. Open Command Prompt.
2. Run: whoami /user

If the SID ends in-500, this is the built-in Administrator account. Windows treats that account differently, so create a normal local administrator account under Settings > Accounts > Family & other users, sign in to it, and then try Settings > Accounts > Your info > Sign in with a Microsoft account instead.

If the SID does not end in-500, create a temporary local administrator anyway and test the working Microsoft account there.

If the Microsoft account connects correctly in the new profile, the original profile’s account linkage is likely damaged. In that case, the safer resolution is to move your personal files to the new profile rather than modifying account-related registry entries.

Answer 3

The screenshots match a Windows profile/account-link problem, not a problem with the working Microsoft account itself.

A supported path is:

1. In Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts, select the Microsoft account that is still listed under Accounts used by other apps and choose Manage. If Windows does not let that account be removed cleanly, continue with the next step.
2. In Settings > Accounts > Your info, switch the current Windows sign-in to a local account if the option appears. The documented path is Accounts > Your info > Sign in with a local account instead, then complete Next and Sign out and finish.
3. Restart the PC.
4. After restart, try linking the working Microsoft account again.
5. If the account still cannot be linked, create a new local Windows user profile and test there:
   • Go to Settings > Accounts > Other users.
   • Select Add another person to this PC.
   • Choose I don’t have that person’s login information.
   • Choose Add a user without a Microsoft account.
   • Create the local user.
   • Change that new account type to Administrator.
   • Sign out and sign in to the new profile.
   • From the new profile, try adding the working Microsoft account again.

Why this path fits the symptoms:

• Windows can show a local account on Your info while still having a Microsoft account listed under Email & accounts for app sign-in.
• If the Microsoft account works in the browser but fails only inside Windows account linking, the accepted resolution in similar cases is to remove the account link from the device, restart, and relink it.
• If that still fails, the likely issue is a corrupted Windows user profile. Testing with a newly created local profile is the next supported step.

Two useful checks before retrying sign-in:

1. Restart the device. This can clear temporary sign-in issues.
2. If sign-in problems continue generally, try Safe Mode with Networking and test whether the sign-in behavior changes. If sign-in works there, that indicates the basic drivers and default settings are not the cause.

Important:

• If the current profile is corrupted, continuing to force account linking in that same profile usually does not resolve it.
• Creating a new profile is the cleanest way to confirm whether the problem is tied to the Windows profile rather than the Microsoft account.

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References:

• Change From a Local Account to a Microsoft Account in Windows
• Troubleshoot Problems Signing In to Windows
• I cannot log into my Microsoft account. - Microsoft Q&A
• Cannot login with Microsoft on only this specific laptop and account - Microsoft Q&A