Solved Unable to connect microsoft account to domain account

jtlap

New Member
Messages
18
I am a system administrator in a large enterprise environment and we are doing a rollout of Windows 8.1. In our image capture we somehow captured a setting that is disabling users from setting up a connected account with their domain account. I am relatively sure that it is in my unattend and I can fix it for machines going forward but I really don't want to have to reimage the machines I've already deployed.

When I go to connect an account, the "connect to a Microsoft account" option is grayed out and the "some settings are managed by your administrator" message is displayed at the top. This is NOT a group policy object that is applying. The machines are in a test OU and there is absolutely no policy applied. I have searched all through local policy and even did a search through the registry for "account" (that took forever) but have been unable to find any registry key or local policy that would be causing this issue.

Does anyone have any idea what setting might be causing this?
Any help is greatly appreciated as I have 30+ machines already out in the environment and the user experience is going to be terrible if I have to reimage them all.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 enterprise
This is a copy from a technet forums...I haven't seen this issue myself...but it may point you in the right direction.

There is a policy for this:
It's Administrative Templates\Windows Components\App Runtime > Allow Microsoft Accounts to be optional
In 2012, 2012 R2 there is an option in CompConfig\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options that reads "Accounts: Block Microsoft accounts"
If you don't have 2012 or 2012R2 then you can RSAT from a Windows 8 box and change the settings that way
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Memory
    6 GB
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 1024
    Hard Drives
    12 TB in 6 disks
    PSU
    TX650
    Keyboard
    G15
    Mouse
    Intellimouse 3.0
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbits
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Trend Micro
Sadly, I have seen this exact page in my research this afternoon. In both Computer and User local policies I have this set as not configured. Just for grins I set it to disabled and enabled with no luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 enterprise
in gpedit....here is mine...just a guess though....set to disabled?

gpedit.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Memory
    6 GB
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 1024
    Hard Drives
    12 TB in 6 disks
    PSU
    TX650
    Keyboard
    G15
    Mouse
    Intellimouse 3.0
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbits
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Trend Micro
You have just saved me literally a weeks worth of work. I had seen that in group policy but it was set to not defined so i bypassed it. Giving it another look, i searched for its referencing registry key and found the value to be 3. If gpedit was showing it to be "not defined" the key shouldn't have even existed in the registry. this is what must have been stuck in our capture. I changed it to 0 and it immediately started functioning. Local Policy now shows the value as "this policy is disabled"
Just for kicks I deleted the key entirely and it is now back to not defined but the microsoft accounts are still available.

For anyone else looking for this key it is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
The dword is "NoConnectedUser". Value should be 0

THANKS!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 enterprise
Back
Top