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2. Remove your antivirus
According to users, if you’re unable to login with Microsoft account, the problem can be your antivirus. Antivirus can interfere with your operating system and prevent you from logging in with a Microsoft account.
To fix this issue, it’s advised to remove your antivirus and check if that solves the problem.
Many users reported that Avast was the cause for this problem, but after removing it, the issue was resolved. Besides Avast, other antivirus tools can cause this issue as well, so be sure to remove them.
To be sure that your antivirus is completely removed, you might have to use a dedicated uninstaller. Almost all antivirus companies offer these tools for their products, so be sure to download one for your antivirus.
Once you remove your antivirus, the issue should be resolved. Since Avast is usually the main cause of this problem, we strongly recommend switching to a different antivirus.
Currently, the best antivirus tool on the market is Bitdefender so you might want to try some of these tools.
3. Change Group Policy Settings
If you know your login info, but you’re still unable to login to your Microsoft Account, there are a few complicated solutions you can try in order to solve this problem. The first solution is changing Group Policy settings.
- Go to Search, type group policy, and open Edit group policies.
- Navigate to the following path:
- Computer ConfigurationWindows SettingsSecurity SettingsLocal PoliciesSecurity OptionsAccounts: Block Microsoft Accounts
- Computer ConfigurationWindows SettingsSecurity SettingsLocal PoliciesSecurity OptionsAccounts: Block Microsoft Accounts
- Find Accounts: Block Microsoft accounts, right-click on it, and go to Properties.
- From the dropdown menu select This policy is disabled.
- Click Apply and OK to save changes.
This solution applies if your Microsoft Account was somehow blocked by a group policy, and performing this action will unblock your Microsoft Account, and you should be able to log in normally.
4. Edit your Registry
If your Microsoft Account weren’t blocked by the Group Policy, the previous solution won’t be helpful, so we’re going to try another one. This time, we’re going to try to solve the problem with one registry fix.
- Go to Search, type regedit, and open Registry Editor.
- Navigate to the following path: HKEY_USERS.DEFAULTSoftwareMicrosoftIdentityCRLStoredIdentities
- You’ll find your account there, right-click on it, and choose Delete from the menu.
- Now close Registry Editor, and head to Settings and select Accounts.
- Try to add your account again.
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5. Check if your account is hacked
You probably think it can happen to you, but there is a chance that your Microsoft Account got hacked, especially if we know how many security threats are out there on the internet.
So, to check if your account is hacked, and to find out what to do if that’s the case, check out this link.
6. Install the latest updates
If you’re having this problem, you might be able to fix it simply by installing the latest updates. By default, Windows 10 installs updates automatically, but sometimes you might skip an important update.
However, you can always check for updates manually by doing the following:
- Press Windows Key + I to open the Settings app.
- When Settings app opens, go to Update & Security section.
- Now click on Check for updates button.
Windows will now check for updates. If any updates are available, Windows will download them in the background and install them once your restart your PC.
After the latest updates are installed, the problem should be completely resolved.
7. Delete the Credentials directory
If you’re unable to login with Microsoft account, the issue might be corrupted credentials. To fix this problem, you need to locate the credentials directory and remove it. To do that, you need to follow these steps:
- Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog. Now enter %localappdata% and press Enter or click OK.
- Navigate to the Microsoft directory and remove the Credentials folder.
After doing that, you just need to restart your PC and you should be able to login with your Microsoft account without any problems.
8. Create a new user account
If you’re unable to login with Microsoft account, you might be able to fix the problem simply by creating a new user account. This is relatively simple and you can do it by following these steps:
- Open the Settings app and navigate to Accounts section.
- From the menu on the left choose Family & other people. Click on Add someone else to this PC.
- Now click on I don’t have this person’s sign-in information.
- You’ll be asked to enter your Microsoft information. Choose Add a user without a Microsoft account.
- Now enter the desired user name and click Next.
After doing that, switch to a new account. If the new account works, you might want to convert it to the Microsoft account and check if that solves the problem.
Several users reported that creating a new account fixed their old account, so you might want to try that.
9. Change EnableLUA value in registry
Sometimes certain values in your registry can get modified causing this issue to appear. To fix this problem, you need to edit your registry manually by doing the following:
- Start Registry Editor.
- When Registry Editor opens, in the left pane navigate to the
ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem
key. In the right pane, double click EnableLUA DWORD.
- If Value data is set to 0, change it to 1 and click OK to save changes.
- Optional: If the value of EnableLUA is already set to 1, you might have to recreate this DWORD. To do that, right click EnableLUA DWORD and choose Delete from the menu.Now right click the empty space in the right pane and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Enter EnableLUA as the name of the new DWORD, and make sure that its Value data is set to 1.
After making these changes to your registry, restart your PC and check if the problem reappears.
10. Delete the corrupted profile from registry
If you’re unable to login with Microsoft account, the problem can occur because a certain profile directory is removed. However, you can recreate the profile directory simply by removing the problematic profile from the registry.
To do that, follow these steps:
- Open Registry Editor and in the left pane, navigate to ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileList
- Expand the ProfileList key. All these keys represent a single user profile on your PC.
- You need to go through all keys and find the one that is related to the corrupted profile.
- The easiest way to identify the corrupted profile is to check ProfileImagePath value.
- Once you find the problematic profile, be sure to remove its key from the registry.
- Simply right-click the key associated with it and choose Delete from the menu.
- Click on Yes to confirm.
Now you just need to restart your PC and try logging in to the problematic account. After doing that, the profile should be recreated and you’ll be able to access it without any problems.
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We hope this article helped you to get your Microsoft Account back. If you have any comments or questions, just reach for the comments below.
Still having issues? Fix them with this tool: Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in December 2015 and was revamped and updated in January 2021 for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
This post was written by Ivan Jenic and was first posted to WindowsReport