Windows 11: We can't sign into your account
May 7, 2022 10:28 AM Subscribe
I am running Windows 10 on an older desktop. About once a month, when I boot my computer, I get the "We can't sign into your account" error message, which essentially says that my user profile can't be accessed and the files in that account aren't available. Rebooting reliably fixes the problem. Please assume that all my files are backed up elsewhere. Is this just a minor unreliability or is it a sign of impending doom?
Go to Start > Settings > Accounts > Your info, and also to "Access work or school" from the left-hand sidebar on that page. Make sure you recognize the personal and work/school/organization Microsoft account(s) that have control of the data on your computer, and that you can get into the email address(es) tied to those accounts.
It is probably minor, but it could be doom - or at least messy - if this error is what I think it is and if the stars align. By this I mean that it sounds like your local user profile on your device is tied to one or more Microsoft accounts, and you haven't signed into at least one of those accounts in many months. If something goes badly wrong with that profile (like a malware infection or hardware failure), and you can't sign into the relevant Microsoft account(s) online, and the Microsoft account(s) are not part of an organization with an administrator who could reset your password on the account(s) for you, and you can't reset your Microsoft password(s) because you don't have control of the associated email address(es), then you might lose data associated with your local user profile.
posted by All Might Be Well at 10:52 AM on May 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
It is probably minor, but it could be doom - or at least messy - if this error is what I think it is and if the stars align. By this I mean that it sounds like your local user profile on your device is tied to one or more Microsoft accounts, and you haven't signed into at least one of those accounts in many months. If something goes badly wrong with that profile (like a malware infection or hardware failure), and you can't sign into the relevant Microsoft account(s) online, and the Microsoft account(s) are not part of an organization with an administrator who could reset your password on the account(s) for you, and you can't reset your Microsoft password(s) because you don't have control of the associated email address(es), then you might lose data associated with your local user profile.
posted by All Might Be Well at 10:52 AM on May 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Sounds like a dying hard drive/ssd to me. When you login it's having problems reading sectors from your profile.
If all your files are backed up elsewhere (yay!) it'll be either the convenience of replacing/fixing it on your schedule or when you don't have control.
It's likely a new SSD, a fresh windows installation and restoring or copying your documents will keep it going for years.
One cavaet- if your computer drive is failing there is no guarantee your most recent backups are 100% perfect.
posted by noloveforned at 12:19 PM on May 7, 2022
If all your files are backed up elsewhere (yay!) it'll be either the convenience of replacing/fixing it on your schedule or when you don't have control.
It's likely a new SSD, a fresh windows installation and restoring or copying your documents will keep it going for years.
One cavaet- if your computer drive is failing there is no guarantee your most recent backups are 100% perfect.
posted by noloveforned at 12:19 PM on May 7, 2022
Best answer: First: you should always have at least one reliable backup of anything important, no matter what state you think your active copy of the data is. Hardware fails, technology fails, the cloud fails, and having only one copy of a piece of data guarantees that you will lose it eventually. So, regardless of whether or not your accounts are a problem or your drive is a problem or whatever, you should make backups now while you can and while it is cheap and easy to do so. The best time to start backing up stuff is whenever you created the important data in the first place, and the second best time is right now.
That said, this symptom doesn't seem like a hardware failure to me, but something else. Possibly there was a network issue, like a timeout on a network request to renew an authorization token for your account. Possibly some other thing. If a reboot fixes it, or going into your accounts control panel to sign in fixes it, it's likely okay. I would 2nd All Might Be Well's advice here.
posted by Aleyn at 2:43 PM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
That said, this symptom doesn't seem like a hardware failure to me, but something else. Possibly there was a network issue, like a timeout on a network request to renew an authorization token for your account. Possibly some other thing. If a reboot fixes it, or going into your accounts control panel to sign in fixes it, it's likely okay. I would 2nd All Might Be Well's advice here.
posted by Aleyn at 2:43 PM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I followed All Might Be Well's advice and looked in Start > Settings > Accounts under both "Your info" and "Access work or school", and in both cases I am not signed onto any Microsoft accounts. (That was my recollection when I set up this computer, but it's always great to double-check.)
I'm backing up to AWS S3 now. I will also put a copy of the important stuff onto a flash drive.
posted by nuclear bessel at 3:24 PM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm backing up to AWS S3 now. I will also put a copy of the important stuff onto a flash drive.
posted by nuclear bessel at 3:24 PM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by Obscure Reference at 10:52 AM on May 7, 2022