Company recently issued me a surface pro 3 with windows 8. I would like to login to my personal microsoft account instead of my company issued domain account. However, after they setup my device, it looks like I can only login to the domain or the local machine and I do not have access to the local machine password anymore.
Is there a way I can decide when to login using my domain and when to login using personal microsoft account?
Best Answer
There are two methods of "signing in" with a Microsoft Account - an actual "sign in" and an account "merge".
If you want a full sign in with a Microsoft Account and you are on a domain/local user you need to add an account through Windows 8 (+8.1) "Accounts" panel. Click to "Add an account" and choose how the user will sign in (labelled "Sign in with a Microsoft account (not recommended)" - ignore the "not recommended" part). Enter your Microsoft account email address and password. When the account creation process is complete you can log off and check to see if you can select to log in with either your local/domain account or your Microsoft account.
The alternative "sign in" is to merge your Microsoft account with your local/domain account. Go to "Computer Settings" and look for "Sync" settings. Here you can add a Microsoft Account. Upon successfully logging in to the Microsoft account you can choose what items of your account you would like to synchronise.