How to login to network share when Microsoft Account is tied to windows login?

Question

I have windows 8.1 and its tied to my Microsoft login. I only vaguely remember setting this option up during the installation of windows. When I try to use these credentials to connect to my network share I cannot login.

E.G. \\computerName\c$

It will not accept my credentials. When I run whoami at the command line I see a different account. I don't recall ever setting up this other account.

whoami = domain\me (password unknown if I ever even set one up...)
Windows Login = me@email.com (password known, does not work with RDP)

What do I need to do in order to login to the network share?

magicandre1981 · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-09T18:11:40.480

67

You must use MicrosoftAccount\me@email.com (this MicrosoftAccount prefix is important) as username.

Now enter your Microsoft account password into the password box.

edited Mar 09 '22 at 18:11

answered Apr 11 '14 at 18:37

magicandre1981

99,606

score 35 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 02 '16 at 07:05

35

Try disabling PIN login for the Microsoft Account (Settings > Accounts > Sign in options > PIN). Windows rejected my credentials until I removed the PIN, then I could sign in just using my email address.

answered Nov 02 '16 at 07:05

Alyce

451

score 19 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 17 '17 at 21:29

19

Figured it out. I was able to access a network share using my Microsoft account. This is the format:

Username: email address tied to your account
Password: password that you use to login to your Microsoft account online. Not the PIN

answered Jan 17 '17 at 21:29

Anonymous

209

score 13 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 16 '18 at 00:29

13

I created a local "dummy" account with admin privileges and use it only as a login for sharing.

answered Sep 16 '18 at 00:29

Steve Parker

131

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 25 '21 at 04:25

Had the same login problem with my Windows 10 desktop and came across this page. After digging around, I found a solution that works on Windows 10 Pro 21H1. I can log in from a Windows 10 computer, my QNAP NAS, and my Macbook Pro.

Login name is your Microsoft Account email address user@email.com.
Login password is your Microsoft Account password.

If the above does not work for you. Check the following:

Go to Settings -> Accounts -> Sign-in options, ensure Require Windows Hello sign-in for Microsoft accounts is turned off.
Once it is turned off, make sure Password is enabled in the Manage how you sign in to your device section on the same setting page. You may need to close the Settings page after turning the Require Windows Hello sign-in for Microsoft accounts option off.

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 13 '21 at 07:38

If you used Microsoft Authenticato‪r when you log in to Microsoft Account and use PIN to unlock your PC, switching to local account and logging in to Microsoft Account again using your password may fix the problem. You can just use the password and ID of Microsoft Account for SMB.

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Feb 06 '17 at 20:22

I had a similar problem, but was not even asked for my credentials before being denied access. It took me a while to figure this out, so here's what I had to do:

I previously tried home groups. Didn't like it, deactivated it.
I added the Microsoft Account user and logged in as that as well.
... however, that didn't yet work: the home group left some HomeUser group and credentials scattered in my system. I had to remove the HomeUser group and Credentials and (maybe after a reboot?) it finally worked.

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered May 02 '18 at 16:27

1

I manage to overcome this by mapping from command line. Ex.: net use s: \tower\movies

Hope it helps

answered May 02 '18 at 16:27

Miguel Pereira

11

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 29 '20 at 07:07

In my case the problem was the User must change password at next logon setting on the user account, which apparently gets checked by Windows automatically when you convert a local account to a Microsoft account.

To revert this:

Go to Computer Management > Local Users and Groups > Users.
Find your user account and open its Properties.
Uncheck User must change password at next logon.
Check Password never expires. <-- This is important, otherwise the unchecking above doesn't stick.

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 03 '17 at 11:07

Only thing below that worked for me after have tried all solutions in here.

From Gautam.75801 on social.technet.microsoft.com :

I got the Access is denied issue solved when i tried to access a Netowrk share on another computer

ex \\192.168.1.0\c$\

It seemed to be a UAC issue. The below Link helped.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/951016

We will need to add a new DWORD

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.

Locate and then click the following registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

If the LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy registry entry does not exist, follow these steps: On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.

Type LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy, and then press ENTER.

Right-click LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy, and then click Modify.

In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.

Exit Registry Editor.

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Oct 11 '19 at 19:59

Don't have enough reputation to comment, but the answer by @Steve Parker worked great:

Create a local user account
Add it to the root folders you want to share (like my Users\username account in this case)
Add the local user account's credentials into your SMB client (in my case ES file explorer)

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Oct 20 '20 at 21:05

I just found a better solution. Go to your "C:\Users" folder and record the name of your personal folder. Use the name of your personal folder as account name. i.e. if your ms account is Tom.ABC@abc.com, then your personal folder might be called "tom", and you should be able to access your shared folder with account name "tom" and your MS account password.

How to login to network share when Microsoft Account is tied to windows login?

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