Windows 8.1 sign in to Microsoft account without using Microsoft online password?
With Windows 8.1, Microsoft appears to be pushing users even harder towards signing in with a Microsoft account rather than a local user account.
My Microsoft account has a secure (long, hard to type/remember) password, which is fine when I'm logging in to a website because my password manager helps - but that's no good for logging into Windows. I don't want to make my Microsoft account less secure just to log onto Windows more easily.
Ideally I'd like a short/insecure Windows login password which takes me to an account associated with my Microsoft account. Is there a way to achieve this?
Solution 1:
I've found a couple of options, neither ideal:
- Use a picture password
- Use a PIN
Frustratingly, PINs are limited to 4 digits. It's a shame (in my opinion) that Microsoft didn't add a 'Use a simple password' option too for exactly my scenario - but I assume that having two passwords would be too confusing.
Solution 2:
- windows+r
- netplwiz
- highlight the user account you want to sign in with
- uncheck user must enter a name and password to use this computer
- when dialogue box pops up enter your password twice, apply then reboot.
IF you are using a Microsoft login, change the user name in the dialogue box to your [email protected] or [email protected] etc, whatever your Microsoft login is and then enter the password twice and apply/reboot.
I looked for a while and tried the above steps without changing the user name to my Microsoft email login name and had no luck, but after using the login credentials like you would to login to Microsoft.live.com it works.