How to get around PIN for Microsoft Account

Wither 4 said:

I bought a used computer which has Win 10.

During boot, Cortana asks a lot of questions about the system setup some including region, time/date, keyboard, etc.

Rule 1 : When acquiring a machine which has been previously used, irrespectiuve of the setup condition it comes to the new user, ALWAYS do a complete disk wipe and a clean install

Rule 2 : See Rule 1

(EDIT : Note that if it already has Win10/11, the license will be registered with MS. You won't need to know it to do a clean install of either W10 or W11

EDIT 2 : Jusy because Windows/Cortana/whoever asks for something, doesn't mean you have to slavishly obey. You can bypass most of these requests and just set up your device with a local account.

I would completely reinstall Windows 10 from a usb installation drive - you will need to create it from another PC.

Hello @Wither 4,

Whenever I get a used computer, the FIRST thing that I do is to perform a Clean Install. This way, you know that you have a nice clean system WITHOUT any hidden nasties which you can setup to YOUR liking rather than the previous owners.

> Clean Install Windows 10

I hope this helps.

Note: as per the tutorial- as part of the clean install, you delete all partitions on the disk which make up the O/S. In your case you should also format the disk.. to hopefully eradicate anything leftover.

It is possible to install Win 10 and use only a local account. Tutorial available in the huge searchable Tutorials section. Do have a look.

Whilst activation should be automatic, if you have Pro now, some manufacturers ebed a key in the firmware, so you may find you revert to Home. Another step is required to restore Pro.

When clean installing, plan ahead and consider where your personal data will be stored. Strongly recommended to place that in a different partition or on a different disk- not on 'C: ' so it's not affected by O/S mainentance, restoration, clean installs etc.

Then as sonn as you can after installing Win 10 and before madly installing programs start using 3rd party disk imaging regularly and routinely e.g. Macrium Reflect (free or paid) + large enough external storage for image files. That's your full backup and means of restoring your entire O/S as was when things go badly wrong.

Note: under your avatar you apparently run Win 7. Please remember to fill in system specs.

Just set a pin, then take it off when the system is loaded up.

Don't go down the route of putting Windows 7 on it; almost all browsers have stopped supporting it, and that's just going to cause you issues in the long run.

Wither 4 said:

First, I don't have a copy of Win 10 to reinstall with.


Second, Cortana will not let me get past the request to create a Microsoft Account, unless I set up a PIN. It doesn't recognize "No."

You can download the Win 10 (and win 11) ISO direct from Microsoft website

Doing a clean install, you won't be confronted with Cortana's (read : Microsoft's) dictatorial demands

But, that's all academic now.