Why does Cortana force me to switch to a Microsoft account?

[mj0]

I don't get it.... if Cortana wanted me to sign in with my Microsoft account credentials that's understandable and totally fine. However, as soon as I want to enable Cortana Windows 10 forces me to switch to a Microsoft account instead of my local user account.

Here's the thing: I don't want to do that. I never will want to do that. I want to continue using my local account and not a Microsoft account. There is no way on earth I am going to switch my local account to a Microsoft account. Is there any (technical) reason why Cortana requires me to log into my laptop with a Microsoft account rather than a local account other than Microsoft forcing people to use what most of them most likely don't want to use?

 

[Laura Knotek]

"Cortana is your personal assistant. Cortana works best when it can learn about you and your activities by using data from your device, your Microsoft account, third-party services and other Microsoft services. You can choose whether to enable Cortana, and you can turn Cortana off at any time." https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...rivacystatement%2Fdefault.aspx&token=IOEukOBq

Sent from my rooted Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk

 

[mj0]

Like I said: I totally understand why Cortana wants me to login with my Microsoft account credentials. However, there is no reason why Cortana wants to force me to switch my local Windows user account to a Microsoft account. That's the part I don't get. I want to keep using my local user account and sign into each application seperately wherever I deem so necessary. I don't want to sign into my laptop with a Microsoft account and have a plethora of services enabled by default that I simply don't want to use.

 

[ttsoldier]

That's just how it is for now.
Until there is a change, guess you wont be able to use Cortana.

 

[reghir]

I 'm totally with you in this the fact I can not integrate my current logon with the ms account but instead have to create another local user which MS does not advise you of, to use Cortana is ridiculous.When I logged in to user Cortana I was prompted to sign in with MS account and then discovered a local account MS was created , which BTW is not good on many levels , not the least of which is security.Then it turns out had difficulty elevating the user level as it has a reduced level and then had to hack registry to get my old account visible on login,etc.
MS if your listening this is not good.:angry:

 

[Kieran Jeffery]

I think logging in with a Microsoft account is much more secure than a local account. With a MS account you can lock it remotely.

If you're really bothered about using an MS account to sign in, why not just create one but never put in any extra details. I've a second account on my Xbox that I use for achievements if I need to, and if someone ever managed to hack it or whatever they wouldn't be able to get any info about me.

 

[davidofmidnight]

Pure speculation, but it may be because of privacy laws. By using your Microsoft account, you can give it permissions that are account specific, otherwise tied to an account. Whereas using a local account, there's no user account in the MS system that can accept or deny the terms of service for these new privacy permissions.

 

[Kieran Jeffery]

Pure speculation, but it may be because of privacy laws. By using your Microsoft account, you can give it permissions that are account specific, otherwise tied to an account. Whereas using a local account, there's no user account in the MS system that can accept or deny the terms of service for these new privacy permissions.

Think you could be right. Either that or simply because Cortana is cloud based and as such requires an MS account to communicate with the service.

Either way, I really can't see the issue with having an MS account anyway. You can easily opt out of most things and it requires barely any personal information to create one. Your ISP is going to know more about you and what you do on your computer than MS is ever going to care about.

 

[mj0]

I couldn't care less that Cortana wants me to sign into my Microsoft account before using her. I get that it's cloud based and requires an account for syncronisation, and I'm down with that. However, Cortana not only requires a Microsoft account but forces me to convert my local Windows user account to a Microsoft account by first providing my Microsoft account credentials and then merging my local account with said Microsoft account. Thus, I would be unable to keep my local Windows user account but would forced to log in to Windows using a Microsoft account henceforth. For some reason Microsoft doesn't want us to keep using a local Windows user account and log in to Cortana with our Microsoft account credentials separately, they want us to always and forever log in to our Windows systems with their account. Which I am absolutely not ok with and never will be.

That's what bothers me.

 

[Paul Paradis]

This is the most unhelpful reply I've seen from a so called moderator. Not only did you fail to grasp the question, you then became belligerent, and started spouting off company lines.

 

[MrBungleBear]

I'm totally with mj0 on this. I want to use Cortana and am totally happy for Cortana to use my MSA, but it really should let me sign it in independently of the log on to my PC. Forcing me to convert to an MSA will not work for me, especially as I use that laptop on corporate networks where there may not be any internet access, and they won't want an MSA logged on to their network. I need to be able to use a local account. The way you have this set up, with this ridiculous and unnecessary tie-in, I will be one of many, many users who won't use Cortana even if we wanted to.

 

[Bukenya Lusansa]

I agree with you, also don't want to use MS account to login, its takes longer time to login with MS account each time you start your pc, it takes long syncing and configuring all ms services which you don't even need. And there is also a bug that always affects MS merged accounts in windows 10 when you log in and cant use your PC. That's why I don't understand why Microsoft cant let us use our local account to login and then let us login to each individual service like Cortana with MS account when we want. It ridiculous for me.

 

[Bobvfr]

I get the impression that some people aren't getting the "Three screens and a cloud" concept.

Sorry but I reckon that is the way it's going to be in the future.

And if it is a cross device MS account is what allows me to say to my desktop PC "Hey Cortana, remind me to pick up milk next time I am at the shops" and my phone reminding me when I get to said shops, then I am up for it, and if MS can be bothered to find out where my local shops are and keep tabs on when I walk there, please feel free to go for it, it will provide a lot more jobs for all the others that are lost.

 

[Kevin Hill2]

The one big main reason you can not separate Cortana and sign in separate is that she is integrated into all aspects of Windows 10 and Edge, so right now it is an all or nothing. She would not be very helpful if she wasn't, would you want your personal assistant coming to you for the keys every time you ask them to go get something or a password every time she needed to send an E-mail.

 

[mjo555]

I strongly disagree with Cortana forcing people to sign in with Microsoft account opposed to local password. I can fully understand why Cortana requires the sign in to Microsoft account but it is not justified in anyway to force people to change the way they want to sign in with their computers. I prefer signing in with my local password, and i would not be bothered siging in with my MS password if it didnt increase the login time. It takes significantly longer siging in to Ms accoutn on boot as it has to access the internet, if available, or wate time searching and i have noticed my laptop takes absolutly forever to logn when using Ms acocunt and it is instant with local password.

 

[mjo555]

That has nothing to do with forcing people to login my their preffered choice. Cortana can still "learn" about you and be integrated, she does nto have to supervise your login mehtod for Christ sake