Adding Local User Accounts in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10

 

In Windows 8.1, you can setup a local account fairly easily.





All that is needed is a user name and password for a local account.





Click Finish and that’s it.

Windows 10, not so fast!

So I tried  to add a user with just a local account in Windows 10. It doesn’t seem very easy.

I went to Settings/Accounts and selected Family and other users.



Then Windows asked if it was for a Child or an Adult. At this point what followed made no difference what I chose, child or adult, it wants an email address. So I used a valid email address for my domain, but it wasn’t a Microsoft account and it wouldn’t work.



If I clicked ‘The person I want to add doesn’t have an email address’, then it wanted me to get one. I can’t find anyway to bypass this and setup a user account as a local account

So I tried a Gmail account.





Then I had to verify the email address in Gmail.

However, at this point I got an error screen:



Eventually the verify email appeared in my Gmail account, so guess that account is now a Microsoft account. But since I had to put in a new password for a Microsoft account, now if I want to sign in as the new user I must use that password.

Microsoft really, really wants us to be connected.



To ‘Switch User’ just tap your name at the top of the menu.



Once you get signed in to the new user account, you can change the account to a local account by going to Settings/Accounts and selecting ‘Sign in with a local account instead’.



Now the process will continue just like signing up for a local account in Windows 8.1.