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Tweaking Windows 10 – Version 20H2

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Settings For User Accounts

Account Types

With Win 10 Microsoft seems to want everyone in the cloud.
Traditionally home users had a Local account. Windows 8 introduced another option: the Microsoft account, which continues in Win 10.
In this article I will explain the differences and your options.

Sections:

Local And Microsoft Accounts Defined

– Local Account
– Microsoft Account
– Which should you use, a Local or Microsoft Account?
– Accessing Account Settings
– Switch to a Local Account
– Using the Windows Store with a Local account
– How To Login Automatically
Local And Microsoft Accounts Defined

 

Local Account
As a home user a Local account is the same type of account you’ve always had.
All settings, information, docs, multimedia, etc. are stored on your computer.

Microsoft Account
In a nutshell a Microsoft account allows you to use the Windows Store and backup and sync your PC via the cloud.

A Microsoft account (formerly knowns as Windows Live ID) is what you use to sign in to Microsoft services such as outlook.com (or Hotmail), Office, OneDrive, Skype, Xbox, Windows, and more. It makes your experiences on devices and services more personal and relevant to you.

Which should you use, a Local or Microsoft Account?
That is really up to you. Having everything automatically synced to the cloud can have a definite advantage for the average user. My personal preference is to use a local account. I don’t use Metro apps, and I’ve no need to sync setting across PC’s. I manually take care of my backups, and I use third-party cloud options like Dropbox when I need it. Essentially, I use Win10 pretty much like it was Windows 7. You can use the Windows store while using a local account (see further down in this article).

Avoiding Using A Microsoft Account During Install
Disconnect your computer from the internet during install. When offered the options choose “I don’t have internet” and “Limited setup.” Yep,  it’s that simple

 

Switch To A Local Account

Choose All settings

Choose Accounts

Choose Sign in with a local account instead

A couple of “Are your sure” screens, and then, Enter current user password

Enter the new User name, Password, and Password hint.

Sign out and finish.

 

Using The Windows Store With A Local Account

If you want to use the Windows Store with a local account, or rather use a Microsoft Account for only the store, just follow these steps:
Windows Store > User icon > Sign in > Microsoft account > choose Sign in to just this app instead.

 

How To Login Automatically
Setting your computer to Auto Login is a serious security risk. I recommend AGAINST doing this, but I know there are those out there who will want this.
Microsoft broke/removed this setting in 20H2 so first we need to bring it back.
Open an elevated (run as admin) command prompt or Power Shell console and copy/paste:

reg ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\PasswordLess\Device" /v DevicePasswordLessBuildVersion /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f



Press the Windows + R keys, and type netplwiz . In the resulting screen uncheck the box next to Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer and then click Apply. Enter and confirm password, click OK and OK again.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  4. Edward Kiefer says

    I notice in your Wise Disk cleaner part your showing version 8, there at version X which has Windows WinSxS (not show in version 8).
    not a big deal but thought I mention it.

  5. Steve B says

    Hey Eric,

    I guess gone are the days where we would pour thru Black Viper’s tables to figure out what to disable. Kudos to BV of course, but it’s nice we don’t have to worry about Windows services all that much anymore.

    I would recommend disabling 2 additional services — Remote Registry (maybe I’m old school and this doesn’t matter anymore, but the name of the service is still downright scary), and Connected User Experience & Telemetry (thanks but no thanks MSFT).

    Great guide and thanks as always for your efforts,
    Steve

  6. Richard Freeston says

    I’ve noticed a small typo on page 17 under File History. The seventh word has an extra ‘s’ in it (constinuously).
    Also the grammar of the first sentence does’nt seem quite right. I suggest leaving out the second and third words.

  7. 7 says

    Eric: The registry hack for removing the word “Shortcut” from new shortcuts doesn’t seem to work in my version of Win 10 Pro 64b (20H32 v19042.746 Experience pack 120.2212.551.0). Instead the hex for link appears to operate as an incrementing count. For instance, say the Hex is showing 17 00 00 00 when I open RegEdit; I can set the Hex to 00 00 00 00 but on restart it shows 18 00 00 00. I wonder if it’s me, or MS?

    • Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says

      Try:

      Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

      [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
      “link”=hex:1e,00,00,00

  9. Rita R. says

    (Libraries) Just an FYI copy pasting the folders to a new location is an unnecessary step. The move dialog will do the work of moving the files in those folders for you, save yourself a couple of seconds and an insignificant amount of bytes on the web.

    Peace, Love, Donuts,
    Rita

    • Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says

      A folder with the name of the library needs to exist in the location you want to move it to. The files are still moved. Copy/paste is just as fast and easy as your way.

  10. Rita Rodriguez says

    Since Windows 10 is funky, if anyone reads these comments I have something to add, particularly for y’all gamers.

    #1 Heed the warning and /do/ not remove windows apps from your machine with O&O, user only is enough. It deleted my app manifest so a batch reinstall did not work, and couldn’t find a way to restore it. Windows Store works fine for everything but Cortana, you need to do an extra step to get her back, even if only to disable, its a windows 10 trend that follows to my next suggestion.

    #2 Go into gaming settings and just disable Game Mode/Game bar, don’t remove the app from user or computer. While it has no affect, every game you run calls the game bar and will pop an error saying its missing, I assume it has to do with the processes that start up Full Screen Optimizations calling game bar as well, regardless if its disabled it will never load. It is safe to uninstall the console companion.

  11. DanS says

    In 20h2 there is no longer the option “sign in with a local account instead” after you have signed in with a Microsoft account. I had a coworker do this by mistake and now I cannot remove his Microsoft account from the workstation. Is there a way to manually remove the Microsoft account?

  12. Michael Damian says

    Hi Eric,

    you may provide a reg-hack which patches the Windows 10 version number (not product key) to a recent one?

    Reason:
    MS does not deliver any apps via [Get], in my case today the free HTML5 Video Downloader by Arcadio Garcia (link below),
    if they do not meet version # 10586.0 at least.

    Last December I updated the OS for the sake of another app which left me in a total language mix, missing device and BT manager, a deliberate removed group policy editor (gpedit) but a proper reinstalled Cortana, Edge and all the other stuff MS cr*ps users lawn with.
    Hence I re-installed my former shutupped/winslapped and outbound firewall protected v10240 again but been left in the rain
    now when it comes to add simple addons from MS.

    There is no rason whatsoever a downloader or else shan’t run on even older version than mine, just the usual
    MS ignorance driven by complacency.

    Your sincerely
    Michael Damian