How to close and permanently delete your Microsoft Account

If you would like to close and permanently delete your Microsoft Account, this tutorial is for you!

There is a saying in marketing ‘if the product you’re using is free, you are the product’. Nowhere is that more true than Windows 10. Windows 10 does a lot of reporting back on you, your computer use and all sorts of metrics on how you use your device. All that is linked to your Microsoft Account. Which is why more privacy aware users want to close and permanently delete that account. What Microsoft doesn’t want you to know is that it is simple to use Windows 10 without one.

Close and permanently delete your Microsoft Account
First we need to delete your Microsoft Account from your computer, set up a guest account and then delete some stuff.

1. Navigate to Settings and Accounts.
2. Click the ‘Sign in with a local account instead’ text link.
3. Follow the wizard, making sure to select ‘The person I want to add doesn’t have an email address’ and ‘Add a user without a Microsoft account’ when you see them.
4. Log in with your new guest account.
5. Select your Microsoft Account and click ‘Remove’ and then click ‘Yes’ to confirm.
6. Navigate to the Microsoft Account website and log in.
7. Back up any files you have in OneDrive before doing anything else.
8. Navigate to Security & privacy and click More Security Settings.
9. Click ‘Close my account’ at the bottom and follow the instructions.


Would you like some more Windows 10 tutorials? Try these:
How to change your computer’s name in Windows 10
How to set up a minidump for BSOD troubleshooting in Windows 10
How to add a show desktop shortcut to Windows 10

View all of our Windows 10 Tutorials

Click to expand...