Change Microsoft Account to Local Account from Administrator Account

Question

My apologies if this should be posted elsewhere. I've searched around and cannot find an answer, and have found a few places that it seems appropriate to ask, and this is one of them. Let me know if I am wrong and I'll be happy to go elsewhere.

I'm the de facto IT guy at a small company (~30 people). We have an in-house server that runs several virtual machines (no domain). One is a Windows 8.1 machine used by our contract developer - he VPNs into our network, logs in to the VM with a Microsoft Account tied to his personal email address, and works in Visual Studio on that machine.

Unfortunately, this developer is completely unavailable to us due to medical reasons. I am working with other developers to troubleshoot some bugs and continue development of our software. I have access to Administrator accounts on this machine that are able to access the project in Visual Studio. However, I have some compiling issues and source control questions that I think would be easily answered by having access to our unavailable developer's account.

I believe the best way to get access to that account is to change it from a Microsoft Account to a Local Account, which should allow me to reset the account password without losing any data. However, all my searching has only yielded ways to change from a Microsoft Account to a Local Account if I already have access to the Microsoft Account, which I do not.

Opening the Advanced option under the Advanced tab of control userpasswords2 gives me the option to reset the account password, but warns me of data loss. I'm also suspicious that it would actually work, since it doesn't seem to be acknowledging that the account is a Microsoft Account within that option.

Any ideas? If there is another way to get access to the account in question without changing its account type or resetting its password, I am open to alternatives.

Answer 1

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/555631 http://www.isunshare.com/windows-password-recovery.html

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I keep reading your summary and I just don't get it. Are you scared of data loss if the password is changed? Not to be demeaning, but your the administrator. This should be an easy task. If the fear of data loss is your main concern, back up your developers data (it should have already been done, either by him or you). I understand the fear of data loss but in my experiences all that happens is that the user's home directory might go kapoot. Can you give more details on your setup. Why do you believe the approach of giving him admin is the best way? Just save the data, do what you need to do, and that's it. Like Nike, just do it. But if you wanna go the hard way.

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1. Click Win + R to open Run dialog, input regedit command and click OK to enter registry setting surface of Windows 8
2. Modify HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Winlogon Right-click and create a new string value, rename value name as AutoAdminlogon
3. Find DefaultUserName, set it as the default user name to sign in Windows. And create string value DefaultPassword, set the value as the password of the default Windows login user.

Or use http://www.isunshare.com/windows-password-recovery.html

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More Ways

1. Get his password via Windows Password Hint

When we are creating our Windows system account and login password, a password hint will be asked to set up for preparation. This password hint had better can remind you, only just you of lost or forgotten password. So it couldn’t like the password, but is related to your login password. As a result, while you type a wrong password, the password hint will pops up below the password input box. Based on the password hint, you can think of your origin password.

As seen above, my password hint is email xxx@xx.com, and my Windows 8 login password is the same as the password of email. So when the password hint pops up, I will think of Windows login password instantly.

2. Get into computer with PIN code, and reset password for locked account

PIN code is a quick, convenient way to sign in to this PC by using a 4-digit code. If you have ever created one, this may be the most simplest and effective method for Windows 8 password reset. Totally two steps are needed.

Step 1: Sign in with PIN code When you forgot your local account password in the login page, sign-in options is provided for you to choose. Click the Sign-in options, there are two options, Password and PIN. Choose PIN, and input 4-digit code in the box. Then you can sign in to your computer successfully.

Step 2: Press Windows +X, and click on Command Prompt (Admin) and Yes.

Step 3: On the Command Prompt, type in: Net User user name new password and press Enter to reset a new password for Windows 8.

Command Prompt screen appears, input the words like the words in the red box, user name is devloper, new password is 34567, and then press Enter to complete the Windows password reset process.

3. Login windows 8 Via Microsoft MSN Account

If your computer has set up to sign in to Windows 8 with Microsoft account, and you can login Windows with it, and create a PIN that any user who has a password must enter it when waking this PC, and then login with PIN code, reset password with Command Prompt.