Microsoft Accounts

Windows 11 supports three types of sign-in accounts: Microsoft accounts, work or school accounts, and local accounts. This book focuses largely on Microsoft accounts because they are the most common method by which individuals sign into the system. But we also cover work or school accounts and local accounts separately in their own chapters.
Local accounts are sometimes referred to as offline accounts to differentiate them from online accounts like Microsoft accounts and work or school accounts.
Microsoft account basics
In the before times, Windows users would create a local account when they first signed into a PC. But any configuration changes they subsequently made, or documents and other files they saved to that PC, would be unavailable when they used another computer.

Today, Windows is more sophisticated. Now, you can sign into Windows 11 with your Microsoft account instead. And because so much in Windows relies on you using this type of account, we assume, for the most part, that this is how you will be signing into Windows.

Some of the key benefits of using a Microsoft account include:

It's more secure. Because you can configure your Microsoft account to require two-step authentication, there's no need to remember complicated passwords. Using a Microsoft account is more secure than using a local account.

Some experiences require a Microsoft account. Some of the built-in experiences in Windows 11, like OneDrive integration, require a Microsoft account. If you sign into the PC with a Microsoft account, these experiences will work seamlessly. If you don't, you may need to sign into them individually.

Many Microsoft Store apps require a Microsoft account. Many of the Microsoft Store apps that come with Windows 11---like the Microsoft Store and Movies & TV---require a Microsoft account as well. Yes, you can manually sign into those apps as needed, but when you sign into Windows 11 with your Microsoft account, those apps work seamlessly.

It provides some backup and settings sync capabilities. With a Microsoft account, you can automatically back up key system folders like Desktop, Documents, and Pictures. And some of your settings---including accessibility settings, saved passwords, language preferences, and more---are synced from PC to PC via your Microsoft account, providing a more consistent experience.

Some built-in Windows 11 apps don’t require a Microsoft account at all. For example, while the Mail and Calendar apps do require you to connect them with at least one online account, it doesn't have to be a Microsoft account. In fact, you can connect only to a Gmail/Google account if you want.
Microsoft account security basics
Before you do anything else, you should make sure that the Microsoft account you are using with Windows 11 is as secure as possible.

Microsoft account security is a big topic, and one that is beyond the scope of this book. But you can and should spend time configuring the security of...