If you sign-in to your PC using a Microsoft Account, you may be unable to connect to that with Remote Desktop or with network file sharing, or locally schedule tasks using that account. Here’s how to fix it.
Method One, the Quick & Easy Way
On the PC hosting the remote desktop session (running Windows Pro or better), run the following command, replacing the example email address with your Microsoft Account email address that you use to login to the computer. You can just put this directly into your Run box or type it into a Command Prompt terminal.
runas /u:MicrosoftAccountusername@example.com winver
Type the command exactly as shown, only changing the email address that comes after the mark.
This command runs the “winver” program under the credentials of the user account specified. It sounds (and is) pretty simple, but what it does in the background is caches your Microsoft Account credentials. Since your local user account had no password, it wasn’t eligible for RDP use even if it has appropriate permissions otherwise.
When you press Enter, you’ll be prompted for your password, which for security will not show while you type it, but go ahead and key it in and press Enter.
After supplying the password and pressing Enter, you’ll know it worked if you see the About Windows dialog box open. Go ahead and close it and the terminal window — you’re all done.
If you see this, your command worked and you’re all done.
At this point, you should be able to connect to the remote computer using the same account & password you just used to run the above command. When connecting, enter your username the same way, with the MicrosoftAccount preceding it. If it doesn’t connect, be sure to check your connection type (see below).
