Windows User IDs

Feb 22, 2018
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I have a client that said she removed the one & only Windows User ID from her PC. I was under the impression that was not possible; that a Windows User ID is required in order to login in to Windows at all.

Can anyone confirm Windows can be run with NO Windows User ID?

Thanks!
 
Solution
It isn't possible to delete the only account. You can have local account with a Microsoft account - I won't set one up and all of my accounts are local.

What does she actually see on the screen when she powers up the machine?
Feb 22, 2018
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Saga,
Thank you.

I do not know what she sees when booting as the PC is 2,500 miles from my location; I can connect to it only once it's up. Also, the person I'm working with is not particularly technical, so her descriptions are somewhat lacking.

Now that I feel better about asserting Windows cannot be run w/o a valid User ID, I can pursue this further.

Thanks again.
 
Microsoft want everyone to have one of tjheir accounts so tey have more personal details so they make it hard to spot during the setting up process.

On the page where it tells you to create a MS account, further down that blue screen there is written - in pale blue - that you can have a local account. That blue line of text is the "hard to spot" bit.

I've set up over two hundred Windows 10 systems, all with local accounts for my customers. I give tham a Standard account and create another account named with their initials and give that account the Administrator level.

They use the Standard so they can't allow anything major if they're invaded or caught out by a telephone call telling them to allow Remote access. The other accoount is there in case they need an alternative now that the Sysaem Administrator can onl be invoked if the system is running.

I also go into Settings>Privacy and reverse all the defaults. You'll see why when you see what they are if you don't already know. MS Updates will change them back but Spybot Anti-Beacon can be set to reimmunize after every update.
 
Feb 22, 2018
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Saga - Thanks for the information on Windows vs. Local Account setup; I was already aware of this. I just needed confirmation that you can't remove the one & only Windows User ID from an installation. Turns out the User didn't remove it; she thought she had by configuring it to bypass Password entry!!

Thanks!