"Sorry, we couldn't connect to Microsoft services right now." message pops up when I try and add my account onto my Windows 8 computer

I have the same exact problem and just talked to a Microsoft Tech yesterday.

None of what they told me did anything, and the "solutions" were really basic things that I KNOW WOULD NOT fix the problem. I also know that it is not just a certain computer; I formated one of the partitons on a spare laptop that was DESIGNED for Windows 8.1 and when the page came up to set up the account with my Microsoft account, it said the same thing "...cannot connect to Microsoft services right now.". So there is no way that it is just a certain computer. I usually use Windows 7 or XP and this is somewhat new to me; the whole "complete connectivity" thing. Windows 7 had none of these problems and usually was easy to find the problem and fix. This is just ridculous that they won't find a fix to this problem. Besides, Windows 8.1 is STILL in mainstream support, so they NEED to fix it. To be honest, I really don't want to know what Windows 10 will be like when I HAVE to go to it. Anyways, I will reply if I find a fix, hack or workaround on this subject. :)

I have been living with this problem for more than 1 year and tried all options (except reimage which I don't want to do that as I have data and s/w) and nothing works. I don't know how many hours spent searching for the solution and no luck till today. The problem started as soon as I switched to "local account". I am not able to switch back to MS account to connect to store. Not worth it :-(( Looking for new OS which is simple (like Windows-5 or XP or older version) and easy to use instead of wasting lot of time/money with advance technology with no use :-( 

Any how thanks for keeping me busy!!

Hi Nicolas,

You seem to have an issue with the **Microsoft Account Sign-in assistant,**I would suggest you to go through the following and check.

Make sure that Microsoft Account Sign-in assistantis running and Startup type is Automatic.

a. Press Windows Key and R key together.

b. Enter services.msc and press enter to open services Window.

c. Right-click Microsoft Account Sign-in assistant and choose Properties.

d. In Startup type, choose Automatic or Manual, then click OK.

e. Restart the computer and check**.**

Having the same problem, ran all the Custom tool for trouble shooting possible.

Followed all the instruction from here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/sign-in-cant

I  tried all of these:

Please follow the methods and check if it works fine.

Method 1:

Disable proxy server and check if it works fine.

a) Open Internet Explorer and click on “Tools” and then “Internet Options”.

b) Now, select the “connections” tab and then “LAN settings”.

c) Uncheck the box next to “Use a proxy server for your LAN”.

d) Click on “Ok” and check.

Do get back to us and let us know. We will be happy to help.

Method 2:

You need to make sure that the date and the time are set correctly.

Refer the steps-

a) Click on “Start” and type “date and time” (without quotes).

b) Click on “Settings” and select “date and time”.

c) Now, click on “Internet time” and then select “change settings”.

d) Click on “Update now”.

Method 3:

Run network troubleshooter and check if you can connect to store.

Follow the steps to run the Network troubleshooter:

a. Press Windows key + C on your keyboard to show the Charms bar.

b. Type Troubleshooting and clickTroubleshooting underSettings.

c. Now type Network Troubleshooter in thesearch option.

d. Click on Network troubleshooter to run the troubleshooter.

Method 4:

Reset Store cache.

Follow the steps and check.

a) Right click on Start Screen 

b) Click on Run

c) Type in WSReset.exe

d) Hit Enter

e) Restart the computer and check.

Nothing worked

Nothing fixes it. Can't update Windows and that's really a pain.

FYI: Refresh or Reset is NOT an option, would take me days to reinstall/setup everything again.