Switch to Local account without logging in?

[Larry Sabo]

TL;DR: How can one change the Win10 login process from using an MS account to using a local account -- without first logging into the MS account?

This week, I had an ASUS X551C laptop with an MS account login and wanted to switch it to local account, without asking the user for their MS account password. The laptop belonged to my client's 80+ y.o. mother and it was so infested that he just wanted it refreshed/reset. Although the customer said it's running W10, I didn't want to fresh install 10 then find out it didn't have W10 digital entitlement. (It came with Win8 installed.) There was no way (that I could find) to change it to a local account without first logging into the MS account, and my client was not available to get his mother's MS account password when I wanted to do the job.

Strangely, Active@ Password Recovery let me clear the local user password and activate the Administrator account but the former was no help because of the demand for MS account login, and the Administrator account never displayed as a login account choice. Booting to W10 installation media and trying Refresh and Reset both failed because the disk was locked or a required partition was missing(?), respectively. Restoring to factory default (F9) also failed because a required partition was missing. <sigh> I ended up slaving the hard drive, backing up user data with Fab's, then doing the fresh install and restoring the data. Fortunately, it was indeed on W10.

It's academic now, but I'd like to know, for next time.

 

[nlinecomputers]

I didn't want to fresh install 10 then find out it didn't have W10 digital entitlement.

Why not? It's still July it would upgrade!

 

[Larry Sabo]

Why not? It's still July it would upgrade!

I thought one had to do the upgrade to establish digital entitlement. If the laptop was actually running 8/8.1 and I wiped it to fresh install W10, I risked having activation fail. The factory recovery refused to run because a required partition was missing, it said when I tried it. With no COA sticker but a UEFI BIOS, I would have to hope that W8/8.1 would activate with a generic OEM installation media, since I don't have ASUS's installation media and the factory restore or some other required partition was corrupt/missing.

The question remains, "How can one change the Win10 login process from using an MS account to using a local account -- without first logging into the MS account?"

Edit to add: I never have any luck selecting Upgrade during W10 installs booting from media, and always have to delete all existing partitions before I can install W10. IIRC, it tells me the upgrade must run from within the current OS and I can't do that because I don't know the MS account password.

 

[nlinecomputers]

That hasn't been correct since the 1511 update last nov. You can upgrade from nuke and pave as it will validate the key during the install.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Great! Thanks for that. Do you have a solution to the primary question? It's important because if I can't log into the MS account, I need to change settings in the BIOS to disable safe boot, enable CMS and change boot device priority to boot to a PE to back-up user data--or remove the drive and slave it to my PC to do so. The latter requires disassembling the laptop to get at the drive in many new PCs, and that's what I had to do this time. I had to re-jig the BIOS to do the W10 install anyway so could have run the recovery from a PE but didn't think of that until it was slaved then re-installed. After installing W10 and restoring user data I found I could not restore the default BIOS settings and get Windows to boot; had to leave it as modified. Not one of my better jobs.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Can't you run Fabs from your PE disk?

 

[nlinecomputers]

There is also PCunlocker which as I understand it will let you boot one time into the system.

 

[pcpete]

you can use the sticky keys method to get an admin commnand prompt. Once you have an admin command prompt you can use these two commands to create a new user and give it admin privledges. This allow you to boot to the system and take control of the files of the MS account, but you will not be able to actually log in

net user /add <username>  <password>
net localgroup administrators <username> /add

We normally use the following code for changing a password is any system with a local account

net user <username> <new_password>

 

[NJW]

There is also PCunlocker which as I understand it will let you boot one time into the system.

@Larry Sabo PCunlocker will allow you to change an MS account to Local.

 

[frase]

TL;DR: How can one change the Win10 login process from using an MS account to using a local account -- without first logging into the MS account?

This week, I had an ASUS X551C laptop with an MS account login and wanted to switch it to local account, without asking the user for their MS account password. The laptop belonged to my client's 80+ y.o. mother and it was so infested that he just wanted it refreshed/reset. Although the customer said it's running W10, I didn't want to fresh install 10 then find out it didn't have W10 digital entitlement. (It came with Win8 installed.) There was no way (that I could find) to change it to a local account without first logging into the MS account, and my client was not available to get his mother's MS account password when I wanted to do the job.

Strangely, Active@ Password Recovery let me clear the local user password and activate the Administrator account but the former was no help because of the demand for MS account login, and the Administrator account never displayed as a login account choice. Booting to W10 installation media and trying Refresh and Reset both failed because the disk was locked or a required partition was missing(?), respectively. Restoring to factory default (F9) also failed because a required partition was missing. <sigh> I ended up slaving the hard drive, backing up user data with Fab's, then doing the fresh install and restoring the data. Fortunately, it was indeed on W10.

It's academic now, but I'd like to know, for next time.

Some info may or may not be usefull
http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-automatically-login-in-windows-10/

 

[Larry Sabo]

Can't you run Fabs from your PE disk?

Yes, I know. As mentioned, I didn't think of using the PE until after I had removed and imaged the drive, and used Fabs to back up the user data.

There is also PCunlocker which as I understand it will let you boot one time into the system.

Thanks; I'll look into that.

@pcpete: Thanks, but Active@ Password Changer is so much simpler and usually effective. Not this time though. It enabled the Administrator account and cleared the user account local password but that didn't allow me to log in as a local account user, nor did it list the Administrator account at the login screen, just the MS account of the user.

@NJW: Thanks for that; I'll definitely look into PCunlocker, once I get my back-up system up-to-date. My main PC motherboard died yesterday and won't be replaced under warranty for 1-3 weeks. Good think I kept the old PC as a backup!

@fraise: Thanks, but that process requires that you be able to log into the system first, if I'm not mistaken.

It sounds like PCunlocker is what I'm after for future problems of this nature. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

 

[cypress]

Just wanted to jump in here and ask for those that are using PC Unlocker, what version are you using Professional or Enterprise? I just looked into right now and I'd like to purchase this as well.

Sorry @Larry Sabo not trying to hi-jack just wanted to learn more about this tool lol.

 

[Larry Sabo]

No problem at all, @cypress. I had a brief look at it this morning and the features and price are excellent. $29.95 for the Pro version, IIRC. I'll be buying that version as soon as I can get QuickBooks installed on the backup PC.

 

[NJW]

Just wanted to jump in here and ask for those that are using PC Unlocker, what version are you using Professional or Enterprise?

I bought the Standard Edition. I didn't want the domain or server features and it boots fine from Easy2Boot or Zalman, if you need USB.

 

[cypress]

I bought the Standard Edition. I didn't want the domain or server features and it boots fine from Easy2Boot or Zalman, if you need USB.

Cool thank you both. I will be buying it this weekend then. Definitely worth the price.

 

[Matthew Bradley]

Only the enterprise version will create UEFI compatible CD/USB drives. Any OEM PC the last couple years is going to be UEFI so you might as well spring for the enterprise version.

 

[cypress]

Only the enterprise version will create UEFI compatible CD/USB drives. Any OEM PC the last couple years is going to be UEFI so you might as well spring for the enterprise version.

Yeah I was thinking the same when I did the product comparison.

 

[frase]

Windows Boot Genius does this as well used it numerous times.
http://www.tenorshare.com/products/windows-boot-genius.html

 

[NJW]

Only the enterprise version will create UEFI compatible CD/USB drives.

This is true, but at the time I bought it, there was some uncertainty (both here and on the PCUnlocker site) about its ability to unlock a Microsoft account, so I went with the cheap option in case I had to abandon it.

On the UEFI-boot machines that I've used it on, the BIOS has had to be changed to Legacy boot, of course, but it works fine.