Windows 10: Can I have two Microsoft Account Users with the same Microsoft account

I like the security and convenience of having an account with administrative privileges, which I only use for installing and changing critical settings and an account which I use for all other purposes, which does not have administrative privileges.

I would like to abandon Chrome, which allows me to synchronize my bookmarks and all other settings across all users in my Windows 10 boot and even in my logon to Windows 7 in the multi-boot of my desktop computer. Every single change I make in one Chrome browser instantly appears when I open the Chrome browser of any other logon. This is working perfectly across both of my Win 10 users and both of my Win 7 users of my multi-boot desktop.

I would like to be able to switch to MS Edge as my browser and have the same synchronization across both of my Windows 10 logons as I presently have with Chrome but this feature is not available in Edge unless both of my Windows 10 logons (that are on the same installation of Windows 10) are Microsoft User accounts. But Windows 10 won't allow me to have two logons with the same Microsoft account. It has only allowed me to have one of those accounts be a Microsoft account and the other a Local account.

Are any of the following (or anything else you know about) possible in order to get synchronization:

• Use the hidden administrator as my second account with administrative privileges and be able to synchronize it with my account without administrative privileges? (Is it automatically a MS account rather than a local one and is it automatically the same MS account as the MS user account I have created)?
• Open a second Microsoft Account with a different email address? If I do this and create a logon (a Win 10 Microsoft Account User) with that different email address, can I synchronize the two MS accounts so that changes I make in Edge (such as passwords and Favorites) in one logon will appear (be synchronized) in the Edge browser of the other (different Microsoft Account User) logon?
• Change some setting or Registry entry that I don't know about so that I can get synchronization without having to do either of the two above?

As you can tell from my profile, I am using the Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview Evaluation Copy Build 11102 RS1 release 160113-1800.
Thanks,
Edwin

:)

 

I have two folders of the same account in users folder

Hello,

Might be a bug caused by feature upgrade. As it doesn't contain any files, I would leave it as it is-Deleting System files never is a good idea.

 

I have two folders of the same account in users folder

thanks for the fast reply, i checked and there is only one account and that is mine. i can use my computer and do anything i want in it and i use malwarebytes with microsoft's own antivirus program.

 

I don't think you can have two user accounts on the same computer attached to the same Microsoft account because which one would get logged in at the login screen when you entered the Microsoft account credentials?

What I would do is create a local user account with the administrator privileges and not attach that to a Microsoft account. Then I would create my user account with only standard user privileges and attach that one to my Microsoft account. Whenever administrator privileges are needed to do something, Windows 10 should ask you to just select the account with administrator privileges, enter the password, and then you could complete the action requiring elevated privileges.

Under no circumstances would I use the hidden built in administrator account to do anything unless I had to in safe mode as a last resort.

 

I agree with NavyLCDR, your two accounts should be setup as he described:
User A: Local account - elevated (Admin account)
User B: MS account - standard privileges (User), your day-to-day account, this should be setup to sync
try this:
Review what you sync BEFORE syncing!!
Anything that User B sync'd will be sync'd to User A (local account)

Settings > Accounts > Sync your settings

see: Sync Settings - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

• Sign-out of UserB
  (just to save time, you might be able to sign in to the MS account while signed in on UserA,
  but there might be conflict - as NavyLCDR stated)
  
  
• Sign-in to User A
  
  
• launch a browser
  Sign in to your Microsoft account
  
  
• launch OneDrive
  select the individually sign-in per app option
  (do not pick always sign in option - that will change your local account to an MS account, new or existing)
  !! This step might not be necessary, you can try it with or with signing in to Onedrive.
  !! The key is the individually sign-in to apps - OneDrive is where the sync is stored (I think)
  
  
• Sync your settings

User A should have whatever User B sync'd.

Please let me know if you tried just signing in to your MS account (not launch | not sign-in to OneDrive) ...
I think that should be enough, but gave you another path to test - just in case.

Bill
.

 

Thank you NavyLCDR and Bill. My Win10 system is configured just as you describe it. User A is my local elevated admin account that I use only for installs and changes to config. User B is my Microsoft account with standard privileges and is for "daily use'.

In Settings/Accounts of User B, synchronization is turned on and all apps listed also have synchronization turned on. I then signed out and signed in as User A, launched the Edge browser, and signed in to my Microsoft Account. I did not see anything on my account page that would allow me to launch OneDrive so as to be able to "select the individually sign-in per app option" and then to sync my settings.

I then launched OneDrive from the Start Menu and Windows Explorer opened up at the OneDrive folder. I saw all of my documents listed that are on OneDrive but nothing there either that would allow me to synch apps individually or otherwise.

There is only one thing that I presently am interested in - that is, being able to open Edge as User A (my Admin local account) and see the bookmarks that exist in Edge when I am logged in as User B. I don't want to just import them because I would like them to automatically update in both Edge browsers when I modify them as the other user. Chrome does this for me because its synchronization is in no way connected with how the Windows user is logged in to Windows. A simple Google account is all that is necessary. When all Chrome browsers are logged on to my Google account, all browsers automatically synchronize bookmarks, passwords, etc. This happens across user accounts in the present boot, across multi-boots into other OS (like Windows 7), and across devices.

It appears that Microsoft Windows doesn't allow this synchronization across users because it only allows synchronization when both user logons are Microsoft accounts, not local accounts. If everything I have said above is true and synchronization with my configuration is not possible, I ask again if the following is possible:

Is synchronization allowed between one Microsoft Account and another? Would I be able to open a second Microsoft account with a different Hotmail address and create a Microsoft User logon with that account? Then, would I be able to use that as my Admin account with elevated privileges and synchronize between the two different Microsoft accounts?

 

I am modifying my question, based on your very helpful reply. I would like to have my elevated administrator logon synchronized with my daily user account that is not elevated. To do this, both are required to be Microsoft Accounts (one of them cannot be a local account). I already have a Microsoft account with a Hotmail email address and this is the logon of my administrative account. If I open a second Microsoft Account with a different Hotmail address and create a logon with that account/address for my everyday account, is there any way that the two accounts/logons/users can be synchronized?

If the answer to the above is "no," is it possible to use the same email address/Microsoft Account for both users/logons by registering one with a Hotmail address (user@hotmail.com) and the other with the equivalent Outlook address (user@outlook.com)? Thanks, Edwin

 

Settings can only be synced across different devices - not different users. It's too bad that you can't create the same account with two different passwords - one for normal use and one for administrator purposes - but Windows does not support that either.