Sign in with local account instead option missing in Windows 11/10

For the best experience on Windows 11 or Windows 10, it’s recommended to be signed in on your computer with a Microsoft Account. Albeit, sometimes for one reason or the other, you may want to sign-in on your PC with a Local User Account – when you want to do so, you might notice the Sign in with local account instead option is missing. So, in today’s post, we will walk you through the steps you can take to get this option back. This post could also help you if you see a Set up with local account instead or Sign in with Microsoft account instead message or if Sign in without a Microsoft account option is missing.

Sign in with local account instead option missing

How to go about effectively resolving this issue depends on two scenarios.

First, you’ll need to open Advanced User Accounts Control Panel to check if the Local user account exists or not. Here’s how:

Press the Windows key + R.
In the Run dialog box, type netplwiz and hit Enter key.
You’ll receive the output as shown below.

As you can see above, I have three user accounts listed; the first is the built-in Administrator account, the second is the Microsoft Account and the third is the Local Account.

Scenario 1

So with respect to the issue, we have at hand if the Local User Account is listed but the “Sign in with local account instead” option is missing, then it’s likely a case of corrupt Windows system files – in which case, you’ll need to attempt an SFC/DISM scan. Do the following:

Copy and paste the command below into Notepad.

@echo off
date /t & time /t
echo Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
echo ...
date /t & time /t
echo Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
echo ...
date /t & time /t
echo SFC /scannow
SFC /scannow
date /t & time /t
pause

Save the file with a name and append the .bat file extension – eg; SFC_DISM_scan.bat

Repeatedly run the batch file with admin privilege (right-click the saved file and select Run as Administrator from the context menu) until it reports no errors – at which point you can now restart your PC and see if the option has been restored.

If the “Sign in with local account instead” option is still not available, then you can perform a Windows In-place repair upgrade. This procedure will retain all your installed apps, personalized settings, and personal files/documents – but will replace any corrupt or damaged system files with fresh copies.

Scenario 2

In the case of no Local User Account is listed in the User Accounts applet, that means the account hasn’t been created. So, you’ll need to create a Local User Account. Alternatively, you can create a new Local User Account in Windows 10 via the Computer Management snap-in console.

Here’s how:

Right-click Start and select Computer Management.
In the window, click the chevron on Local Users and Groups to collapse the section. Click Users.
Now, right-click on the middle column and select New User.