Currently I an running with a local account but I want to create a MS account ONLY to save my BitLocker recovery keys online in case my USB gets stolen along with my laptop in which my keys are saved to a USB. My USB is kept near my computer which doesn't make sense anyways.
So, I want to create a MS account but keeping my local account as my main primary account. Is there a way to do this?
Thanks
Go to https://account.microsoft.com, click Create account and fill the form:
With a Microsoft account you can then use OneDrive and Office Online apps for free. You can also use built-in native Windows apps which require a Microsoft account like Mail, Skype Preview, People, Calendar and download apps from Windows Store.
See steps 3 to 5 in this tutorial to continue using local account as Windows sign-in account even when / if you download apps from store and / or use Windows apps requiring a Microsoft account, to avoid Windows user account converting to Microsoft account: Store - Use when Signing in to Windows 10 with Local Account - Windows 10 Forums
Other tutorials you might be interested in when you have created a Microsoft account:
- Microsoft Account Two-step Verification - Turn On or Off - Windows 10 Forums
- Microsoft Account - Link to Digital License on Windows 10 PC - Windows 10 Forums
Kari
It will not work. If you want to save your bitlocker recovery keys to your MS account you need to sign on using a MS account.
If you don't want to sign on using a MS account then why not print out the recovery keys and leave them at a friends house? Or save them on a USB you don't keep with your laptop? The USB you use to unlock bitlocker (if you use one) need not be (and should not be) the same one as you save the recovery keys on. Like you say it makes no sense to do that.
Last edited by lx07; 15 Nov 2016 at 07:43.
I know that, but my question was, that once I setup a local user account, then I would like to sign on using my MS account only to create the BL keys and then logoff from the MS Account and then log back on to my local account.
Sorry I was not being clear enough.
But even this, is way too much effort, so printing it out would be more suitable or even writing it down on a piece of paper and hiding it well away from the laptop.
Thanks
Yes you could certainly do that. You could also convert your existing local account to a MS account, encrypt your drive and save the keys and then convert it back again to a local account. No need to make a new account on your PC - I changed my MS account to local to get the screenshot above and then changed it back. It doesn't take long at all.
I've got my bitlocker keys saved in MS account, written in a notebook and stored on USB as it would be very annoying to lose them. I've also had to use them a couple of times....
You could also convert your existing local account to a MS account, encrypt your drive and save the keys and then convert it back again to a local account.
The only issue with this, is that when converting back to a local account, it will not let me use the same exact local account's username as I did before. I still want to keep my first and last name as my username for the local account.
Not true at all. You can convert the same user account back and forth between the same MS account login and local account as many times as you want. When you convert a local account to a Microsoft Account, in reality it does nothing to the local account but provide a different way to log into it. And when you convert Microsoft Account to a local account, in reality all you are doing is remove the MS username and password from the underlying local account.
I create a local account called Joe Smith, with a password of abc1234. I convert it to a MS account with a login of joe.smith@hotmail.com and password of xyz987. Then I enter the joe.smith@hotmail.com to login - it actually logs in to the exact same local account of Joe Smith. I'm just using a different username and password for the exact same account on the computer. When I convert it back to a local account, all I am doing is removing the joe.smith@hotmail.com username/password from the exact same local account and going back to only a local login for the exact same account.
Changing back and forth between a local account and a Microsoft account to log into Windows 10 with does not change the underlying user account on the computer - it only changes the login method for that underlying user account.
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