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Inspired by this question, but without all the clutter about bad coding practices.

On Windows 8 and later systems, you can log in using three types of accounts:

  • Local user account
  • Domain user account
  • Microsoft account

Let's say you need to gain access to the user profile of an user which is not currently available and/or doesn't want do give you his/her password; let's assume you have full administrative access to the computer using another account, but being able to access the user's files is not enough: you need to actually log in as the missing user (for whatever reason).

In the first two cases, you can perform a password reset if you have proper admin rights (local or domain).

But what to do if the user has been using a Microsoft account?

And no, "call Microsoft and ask them for a password reset" is not an option, even if you have the legal rights to do so; you need to access the user's data on this computer, without impacting whatever online services or other computers he/she also uses.

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  • The only way I can see it being possible is to remove the account (which leaves the profile) create a new local account and then change the profile path in the registry.
    – Drifter104
    Jan 7, 2016 at 12:19
  • In a business environment? Use domain accounts. Seriously, if the user is managing their own account then I can't see any way forward on this? Jan 21, 2016 at 16:47

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