Cannot log in: local account replaced with MS account and MS account inaccesable

Hello Shawn

I have a very similar problem. Is it the same or is there another solution?

I upgraded to Win8.1 some months ago, and the installation virtually forced me to establish a Microsoft ...@outlook.com account.

After sitting idle since then I now find I cannot log in to the machine - at the blue login screen it will not accept what I am pretty sure is my password. (I was able to login to the outlook account on another PC using the password.) Gives message "Your PC is offline. Please sign in with the last password used on this PC".

I have tried some proprietary software, and "removed" the password, but this makes no difference to the login behaviour.

I have followed your initial instructions to use safemode, etc, but have the same result as amifu_ckedreally - no arrow and no sign of any other accounts, administrator or not.

So am following this discussion, but really find it disturbing the way Windows is going (at least for older users like me). XP was good - how about Windows Lite that just switches on, runs programs, and connects to the www.

David

I still cannot login to the 'User1' account (which is the account that has been "replaced" by the outlook.com account which is the original problem and the reason why I have started this thread).

Now I have managed to create account 'User2'.

In the "login screen" I can choose between account 'User2' and the outlook-account. Account 'User1' still is not shown (and hence I cannot login to it). In the Linux terminal session I do however see that account 'User1' still exists (which you also indicated that it should).

Now I am able to login to the newly created 'User2' account. Since 'User2' is an admin account I am hoping that it will be possible to use it to revert the outlook-account back to account 'User1'.

Is this possible? If yes pls let me know how and this nightmare will finally be over.

Well the User1 account was never really replaced or removed, only the display name gets changed (every user account in Windows 2000 onward has a username and a display name such as skeene versus Shawn Keene).

I've looked high and low and although I found the group policy setting I mentioned above, I can't find any way that an admin can unlink another account's connected service (which could be something other than a Microsoft account).

I really do think that the least amount of time and frustration would be to just go into C:\Users\User1 and drag the files you want out into User2 and just kill the old account.  But I have also asked some other experts if they know of a way to unlink an account without logging into it and I'll share what they tell me.

Follow instructions on this site to revert to using your local user account: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/windows-and-office/quick-tip-change-microsoft-live-to-a-local-account-in-windows-81/

That doesn't work for this user because he cannot login to the account in the first place.