Windows 10: My MS Account needs attention, again

Here we go again - I'm getting the message that my Microsoft account needs attention to get get new builds, with a Fix me button. The Fix me button goes on to tell me how to STOP getting new builds. No way out of this foolish loop.

Or is there? Has anyone overcome this absurd bit of crap programming short of a clean reinstall? (Which is what I had to do last time it cropped up.) If you all can help me get it sorted, I'd be most grateful... I really do not want to do another clean install. In fact, it might be the end of my participation in the Insiders Program.

:)

 

My Lumia 640 MS Live.com account "keeps requiring attention"

My Lumia 640 is linked to a live.com MS account.

Every 2-3 days I get a prompt that it "requires attention" and I need to login by entering my password. Nothing happens after I do and the same thing happens again after 2-3 days.

It is terribly annoying.

 

Account Needs Attention.

Hello and thank you for posting,



Please check the following page:
http://account.live.com/

- Change your password by clicking "Change" next to Password.

- Also, check to make sure that your email is confirmed.



Once the appropriate changes have been made, restart the phone.



On the Phone

- Tap "email and accounts" and update the password with the new password for your Windows Live ID.



If the issue is still not resolved, a hard reset may be required:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2416101



Thank You,

Isaac

 

I was getting that for a while. It seemed that when I first installed W10 I logged on with one email address, and when an update came out somehow I logged on with another, which meant that I kept getting the "Fix Me" warning. I downloaded 10162 and still got the warning, I changed the product key and havnt had the warning since...... yet

 

And, once again, as has been said many times... You must be using the Microsoft account you used when you signed up for the Insider Program, not a different MSA. Double check by going to the insider program web page, and try to re-register... it will tell you "welcome back" if you are already registered, but if not it will register that new address.

 

And, once again, as has been said many times, I have been using the same MS account for the Insider Program since last October. Going to the Insider Program website heartily tells me 'welcome back'. This is a programming error, pure and simple - tell someone they need to fix something to continue getting builds, give them a button to fix it, and when they click the button, tell them 'here's what you do to stop getting builds". It's a real problem, and I am not the only one to have encountered it. There must be a way out of it...

 

Yep ... 3 or 4 times a day - nag, nag, nag.

Same Ms account, same websites, same apps - this can't be what MS had in mind when they said "We're doing away with password ...." or "An MS account will make signing in to services easier...... " or "One account for all services ..."

I think they were doing a better job with these concepts in earlier releases.

Sure it's still beta code, but it's 10 July with a release date of 29 July. I sign-in with my MS account, I have to sign in to almost every service AGAIN ... and repeatedly 'verify' my account. Maybe I think of a Single Sign On (SSO) differently, but if this is the way MS 'designed' it they need to hire better engineers and perhaps fire a few coders.

 

I don't believe the problem is in the build. Lots of people are working just fine... it seems like the same people keep having the same problem regardless of build, which tells me you're not using the right account, or you're not verifying your account.

Try creating a new MSA account with a throw away email, then sign up for the Insider program with that, and then use that MSA.

 

Oh come on - it's the same account I've been using since October with no problems, verified no problem. It's a race condition, a programming error: 'you need to do something to receive upgrades - press this big fat button'. Press the big fat button and get 'here's what you need to do to stop receiveing upgrades'. With no way out. It's a bug.

I upgraded with an iso file, and the error went away. Same MSA. It's just a silly little bug, but it's real.

 

You're not understanding what i'm saying.

The "bug" you see there is nothing more than a cosmetic problem. The same button is used for "fix it" and "stop builds". it just flips the text on it to do the opposite depending on its state. This is not a race condition.

The REAL problem is that your account is not a valid insider account. There is obviously a cosmetic bug there, and that should be fixed, but it's not the earth shattering problem you think it is. It's a side-effect of the real problem. You're focusing on that button state, and refusing to go about fixing the real problem because you're obsessed with what you think the problem is.

By upgrading with an ISO, you're performing the upgrade, making your MSA account valid. Installing clean without first having upgraded a previous build, or some other situation is causing the invalid MSA issue.

 

But my account IS a valid Insider Account. No matter how many times you say that it isn't, that's how many times you'll be wrong. It has been a valid Insider Account since day 1. What do you suppose happened to make it suddenly invalid? I went to the Insider website - 'welcome back Insider!' it said. Not bad for an invalid account.

And I don't think the bug I'm talking about is earth shattering - just that it can be a show-stopper for people not comfortable with poking around. It is not 'cosmetic'. You want to do A - click this button. Click the button, here's how to do not-A. That's not a cosmetic bug - it's a flaw in the logic and state awareness of the program. Easily fixable, so let 'em fix it. But don't say that it's just a cosmetic problem.

 

sgage, did you submit this via feedback?

Edit: Mystere's idea of creating a new account to test is a good idea too. Could help narrow down the cause of the problem which may help MS fix it.

Edit#2: Just found some occurrences of this same problem with Windows Phone so, though not prevalent, it is a real problem

 

Mr E,

You're not understanding the issue. It's not a'cosmetic' bug - which is not cosmetic BTW - that is causing a lot of people to exit the Insider program, both because it is poorly identified and because the bug confuses people. Imagine a gas pedal that 'turned into' a brake pedal.

The issue that I tacked on to sgages thread is a notification that consistently pops up asking you to enter your credentials ... or a notation appears in Settings > Account asking you to verify your MS credentials.

This makes no sense at all: The REAL problem is that your account is not a valid insider account.
...
By upgrading with an ISO, you're performing the upgrade, making your MSA account valid. Installing clean without first having upgraded a previous build, or some other situation is causing the invalid MSA issue.
How can installing Windows clean make your MS account invalid? You give your credentials when you set up the MS account sign-in.
If that's the case, there's going to be a LOT of unhappy campers in August when they all do a clean install.

The issue as I see it, is that the various MS services aren't well aligned and each one needs you to 'verify' your VALID account. It's not quite a Single Sign On yet. That would be sign on (when you install Windows and set up a MS account sign-in for the device) and verify once and all services know that the account has been verified. Let's face it, this is still early code ... yeah, yeah, yeah nearly RTM and all that, but the first production release of all Windows is fraught with bugs.

The good news is that It eventually stops nagging you, I'm guessing after all services have been notified and updated by the notification and the user's compliance to supply the information again and again.

I fed MS on every build I've seen it - that's why we're testing it right?

Just for grins and giggles -> MSA account is redundant *Tongue
MS account or MSA

 

I too run into the same problem, everything was peachy with 10166 for couple of days, signed in with few years old MSA and insider from day one but suddenly, boom, famous message and Fix me that fixes me to 0 (zero). Checked and re-certified account, welcome back and all the jazz. Did all I could find on that problem and only repair by setup.exe from ISO made from same ESD fixed things.
One could expect that "Fix Me" actually fixes the problem instead of just kicking you out of insider program !! Makes me wander if MS's intention was to cut down on number of insiders ?

 

One would expect that.

Nah, MS needs Insiders - they laid off a bunch of Q&A folks last year:
Search results: Microsoft lays off quality assurance
From one of the articles:
but one victim group appears to have been the dedicated programmatic testers in the Operating Systems Group (OSG), as OSG is following Bing's lead and moving to a combined engineering approach. Prior to these cuts, Testing/QA staff was in some parts of the company outnumbering developers by about two to one. Afterward, the ratio was closer to one to one. As a precursor to these layoffs and the shifting roles of development and testing, the OSG renamed its test team to "Quality."
As I meniton in one of our other conversations - MS loves the Insider program (free testers) - the more participants, the better.

I've worn many hats throughout my corporate career and a 2:1 QA->Dev ratio is far too high - the change in personnel seems to be justified. On the other hand ... developers should develop, they are lousy test analysts.

Part of it is many developers don't believe documentation or thorough testing is part of their job description, but most of it is deadline pressure. There's simply no way a developer can efficiently and effectively design, write, test, and document a product (or piece of a product) given the demands of time. They can rough out documentation and component tests, filling in questions asked by other departments if needed.

QA can and should accept documentation as part of the test matrix, thereby augmenting Development and Documentation depts. Product creation and maintenance should be a team effort by all departments and not a means to 'pass the buck'.