How can the Microsoft Account be removed?

alkaufmann · 23 Mar 2022

A friend has an old poorly working laptop that she wants to give to some needy student. This laptop has Windows 7 Home Premium installed. I have the Windows 10 installation media on a USB drive and I used that to format the hard drive in the laptop and install Windows 10 Home. Then it got to the point where it REQUIRED a Microsoft account before it would proceed with the installation. I provided my Microsoft account because I read I can later change the sign in to a local account.

The question I would like answered is, when I switch to a local account will my Microsoft account and any associated information be removed?

Thanks,
Ak

bro67 · 23 Mar 2022

Do not connect it to wifi or ethernet.

Callender · 23 Mar 2022

Format then Clean install again offline.

See 4 here

Clean Install Windows 10

alkaufmann · 23 Mar 2022

Thank you for the replies, I will re-install it offline.

Ak

NavyLCDR · 23 Mar 2022

alkaufmann said:

Thank you for the replies, I will re-install it offline.

Ak

You should be using audit mode to set it up.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...iew=windows-11

Netrick · 23 Mar 2022

If you log into your Microsoft Account and view devices, there is a link to view device details. Click on that to find a link to remove the device (unlink it from your account). After that, navigate to Microsoft Store device management and unlink the device there too if necessary.

alkaufmann · 24 Mar 2022

More thanks are required! I signed into my Microsoft account and removed the device. Formatting the drive and doing a clean offline install is not enough.

Now I wonder if the 10 year old drive should be replaced too. An SSD would make the laptop quicker and stop a Geek from finding anything by using an undelete program. I will warn my friend about that possibility.

Thanks,
Ak

Bree · 24 Mar 2022

alkaufmann said:

Now I wonder if the 10 year old drive should be replaced too. An SSD would make the laptop quicker and stop a Geek from finding anything by using an undelete program.

That's true, but age alone does not wear out a drive, use does. I have healthy drives that are over 11 years old.

You can read the SMART data from a drive to assess its health. In particular, if the raw value of 'reallocated sector count' or 'pending sector count' is anything other than zero it's a sign that the drive may be wearing out.

You can read the SMART data with CrystalDiskInfo, I prefer the Portable App version that doesn't require installing.

CrystalDiskInfo Portable (disk health monitoring) | PortableApps.com

Megahertz · 21 Apr 2022

There are many things you can do to an old laptop to improve performance without spending much.
- If you have 4 G or less memory you should install Win 32 bits or add more memory to use Win 64.
I just reinstall Windows on an 12 years old laptop. I've installed a small SSD (128G) for Windows and programs and replaced the ODD drive (CD / DVD) with a caddy to hold the HDD (500G) Total cost (US$ 19+6).

x509 · 21 Apr 2022

[QUOTE=Megahertz;2413874]There are many things you can do to an old laptop to improve performance without spending much.
- If you have 4 G or less memory you can add more memory to use Win 64 or install win 32 bits
I just reinstall Windows on an 12 years old laptop. I've installed a small SSD (128G) for Windows and programs and replaced the ODD drive (CD / DVD) with a caddy to hold the HDD (500G) Total cost (US$ 19+6).
/QUOTE]

Unfortunately from my perspective, newer laptops don't have on ODD drive, so a replacement caddy for an HDD isn't an option. For my older Lenovo T series machines, I always installed such a caddy. With a second HDD, the laptop was pretty heavy, but more useful than my Lenovo T560. I'm forced to carry around that HDD as an external drive, which is a pain in the tuchus.