New
#1
How to connect Microsoft Account without changing local account login
Short version:
How can I connect my Microsoft account to my windows account without it forcing significant account-wide changes, the most abhorrent of which is forcing a password or pin log-in?
Long version:
I hate the way that adding a Microsoft account hijacks my local account, forcing me to log-in with a password on my home PC that nobody else uses. I have this OCD thing about my computer where I have to be the one in charge of everything, not the OS or software. So, I've never linked a Microsoft account; I feel like it takes way too much control away from me. Even after unlinking the Microsoft account, or unchecking the box in netplwiz that allows me to bypass the password sign-in, I still feel like my account is changed forever, "tainted" in a way, and it doesn't go back to the way I would prefer it.
Interestingly, I re-installed windows 10's most recent build (version 2004) on my laptop today, and installed the newest Chromium-based Edge. I was exploring options of backing up and restoring my Edge favorites, and I noted the Microsoft account sync option. On my laptop, I begrudgingly went ahead and did this: connecting Edge to my Microsoft account in order to sync favorites and browser settings etc. I didn't add the account intentionally anywhere else (ie: via Account settings etc).
It seems now that my laptop windows account, not just Edge, is now connected to my Microsoft account, but it is not requiring me to login at the login screen! This is what I want! In Windows' Account settings --> Sign-in Options, when I click "Password", it even tells me there is no password associated with my account. Perfect! Things are still the same, the way I want them. When I open up netplwiz, the checkbox that says "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer." is not even there. I really like this. I feel like my account has not been hijacked or altered against my wishes at this point.
My question is this: Is there a way to do this--linking my Microsoft account to my local windows account--without the Microsoft account hijacking everything, from the get-go? Or did I simply discover an odd "workaround" that might get "patched" in the future?