When installing Windows 10 Technical Preview, you will not see an option to create a local account by default, and will instead have to log in to your Microsoft Account or be asked to create one.
You could create a local account after everything has been installed and you have logged in to your brand spanking new Windows 10 desktop (I tell you how, further down), but I found a better way.
The simple workaround? Just disable your Wifi or disconnect your network cable before installing Windows 10.
You will then get prompted to create a local account in the last stage of setup before you get to log in to the Windows 10 desktop. Easy peasy!
You already installed Windows 10 and want to switch from a Microsoft account to a local account? Read on!
For reference, here’s how to create a local account AFTER having already installed Windows 10 (Technical Preview):
- Go to Start and open the “Settings” app.
- Open “Accounts”.
- Open the “Other user accounts” tab.
- Tap/click “Add an account” under “Manage other accounts”.
- On the very bottom, tap/click the text that says “Sign in without a Microsoft account (not recommended)”.
- Tap/click “Local account” and fill in your desired username, password etc.
Bonus technical info:
Beware that if your Microsoft account starts with the same name as your new local account, the actual underlying username for the local account could be different than expected, even though the displayed name is correct.
When you log in using a Microsoft account, a local “alias” account is created, based on your name/user.
Example:
- I log in initially using my “tommy@microsoft.com” account (not my actual account).
- Windows 10 automacally creates a local “alias” account in the background with the name Tommy.
- I later decide to switch to a local account, so I create a local account called “Tommy”, and delete the Microsoft account.
- Unlike what I expected, the underlying account name for the new local account will be something like “Tommy-2” and not the actual name I typed in while creating it, because a local “Tommy” account already exists as an alias to the Microsoft account.
This is most useful to know for more technical stuff, such as when setting up automatic logon, which was how I discovered how this works.
