Windows 10: Sign in or Sign out of Cortana in Windows 10

How to: Sign in or Sign out of Cortana in Windows 10

How to Sign in or Sign out of Cortana in Windows 10


Cortana is your cloud-based personal assistant that works across your devices and other Microsoft services. Depending on the capabilities of your device and the version of Cortana youre using, Cortana can provide a range of features, some of which are personalized. Cortana on Windows is available in certain regions and languages. If Cortana isnt available for your Windows device, you can still search for files on your device in the search box on the taskbar. Cortana is also available on other platforms, such as Android and iOS, in select markets.

Cortana works best when you sign in and let her use data from your device, other Microsoft services, and third-party services you choose to connect. To provide you with personalized experiences, Cortana learns from certain data about you, such as your searches, calendar, contacts, and location. Youre in control of how much data you share. If you choose not to sign into Cortana on Windows, you can still chat with Cortana and use her to help you search the web, documents stored in Microsoft services like OneDrive, and your Windows device. See the section about Windows Search in the Privacy Statement for more information. If you dont sign in, or you choose to sign out, your experiences will be more limited and they wont be personalized with your Cortana data. On iOS and Android devices, Cortana only works when you sign in.

Signing in to Cortana with your Microsoft account allows Cortana to keep track of what interests you, save your nickname or favorite places to the Notebook, give you your notifications from other devices, and share data youve saved between Windows and non-Windows devices with Cortana enabled. On Windows, you can decide to give Cortana permission to use other data, including your location and location history, contacts, browsing history, calendar details, and content and communication history from messages, apps, and notifications. On Android and iOS, you can control some of these permissions through the app permissions in the systems settings. To help you follow things that interest you, such as your favorite sports teams, stocks you are tracking, interesting news, and restaurants, you can add and remove items from the Notebook. When signed in, Cortana displays and uses interests from other Microsoft apps or services like the Sports and News apps. Using Connected Services or Skills, Cortana can also connect you to services from other companies, like Uber, for additional personalized experiences using data shared with or received by the other company.

Users have to be a certain age (13 or older) to use Cortana. When a user tries to sign into Cortana, she checks the age setting for that particular Microsoft account, and users she identifies as too young cannot sign in or have a personalized Cortana experience. But Cortana on Windows will still be there to help those users search the web or perform other tasks that dont require any personal data.

Signing out of Cortana clears the data Cortana has associated with that device. Your data associated with other devices will remain intact until you sign out from Cortana on those devices as well. Signing out of Cortana on your device stops Cortanas data collection and use on that device and clears the interests and data on that device, but signing out wont hide Cortana. And if you want to search for files on your device, such as documents or photos, you can always use the search feature in File Explorer.

For more information about Cortana, see:

• What is Cortana - Microsoft Windows
• Cortana, Search, and privacy: FAQ - Microsoft Windows
• Microsoft Privacy Statement - Microsoft privacy

Signing out of Cortana will only turn on or off Cortana the personal assistant, and not the Cortana process (SearchUI.exe) used by Windows Search.

Cortana is only available in certain regions and languages, and some Cortana features might not be available everywhere. If Cortana isn't available or is turned off, you can still use search.

Cortana will need access to your device location and location history to work properly, so the Windows location service must be turned on for your device and account.

This tutorial will show you how to sign in and sign out of Cortana with your Microsoft account to turn on or off Cortana personalization in Windows 10.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: Sign Out of Cortana to Turn Off Cortana Personalization from Taskbar
• Option Two: Sign In to Cortana to Turn On Cortana Personalization from Taskbar
• Option Three: Sign Out of Cortana to Turn Off Cortana Personalization from Settings
• Option Four: Sign In to Cortana to Turn On Cortana Personalization from Settings

EXAMPLE: Cortana








OPTION ONE [/i] Sign Out of Cortana to Turn Off Cortana Personalization from Taskbar
1. Click/tap on the Cortana icon on the taskbar, and click/tap on your user icon on the left. (see screenshot below)



2. Go to step 3 in Option Three below.





OPTION TWO [/i] Sign In to Cortana to Turn On Cortana Personalization from Taskbar
1. Click/tap on the Cortana icon on the taskbar, click/tap on your user icon on the left, and click/tap on Sign in. (see screenshot below)



2. Select your Microsoft account, and click/tap on Continue to sign in. (see screenshot below)

*note If your Microsoft account is not listed or you need to create one, then click/tap on the Microsoft account option instead and follow the given setup instructions.








OPTION THREE [/i] Sign Out of Cortana to Turn Off Cortana Personalization from Settings
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Cortana icon.

2. Click/tap on Permissions on the left side, and click/tap on the button showing your email address under Personalize on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3. Click/tap on the Sign out link. (see screenshot below)



4. You can now close Settings if you like.





OPTION FOUR [/i] Sign In to Cortana to Turn On Cortana Personalization from Settings
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Cortana icon.

2. Click/tap on Permissions on the left side, and click/tap on the Sign In button under Personalize on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3. Click/tap on Sign in. (see screenshot below)



4. Select your Microsoft account, and click/tap on Continue to sign in. (see screenshot below)

*note If your Microsoft account is not listed or you need to create one, then click/tap on the Microsoft account option instead and follow the given setup instructions.



5. You can now close Settings if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Enable or Disable Cortana in Windows 10
• How to Reinstall and Re-register Cortana in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Hey Cortana in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Hey Cortana on Lock Screen in Windows 10
• How to Have Cortana Learn your Voice for 'Hey Cortana' in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Cortana in Microsoft Edge in Windows 10
• Turn On or Off Cortana Using Your Microsoft Edge Browsing History in Windows 10
• How to Hide or Show Cortana Button on Taskbar in Windows 10
• How to Create a Cortana Settings Shortcut in Windows 10
• How to Change the Name Cortana Uses for You in Windows 10
• How to Clear Your Personal Data and Info from Cortana
• How to Turn On or Off Cortana Tips in Windows 10
• How to Connect your Xbox Live Account to Cortana in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Cortana Listening Mode Keyboard Shortcut in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Cortana Location Permissions in Windows 10
• Turn On or Off Cortana Contacts, Email, Calendar, and Communication Permissions in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Get Phone Notifications from Cortana in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Cortana Suggested Reminders in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Cortana Pick up where I left off in Windows 10
• How to Connect Cortana to Gmail Account in Windows 10

:)

 

Can't sign out or switch users in windows 10

Any solution to this? I have the same issue, which doesn't occur on any of my other devices. Everything's up to date and everything else works fine. It's just this annoying issue, which is quite pronounced as we need to change users quite often in the
house.

 

Can't sign out or switch users in windows 10

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

To diagnose whether this issue occurs in
“Safe Mode”, let’s reboot the computer in safe mode and check if the issue appears there as well.

Safe mode is a diagnostic mode for Windows that starts your computer in a limited state. Only the basic files and drivers necessary to run Windows are started. This helps us in identifying whether the issue is due to some
third party programs conflict. The word Safe mode appear in the concern of your monitor to identify which windows mode you are using.

Follow the steps given below and check if that helps.

• 
  Type settings in search and click on Settings.
  
• 
  Click Update and recovery, and then tap or
  click Recovery.
  
• 
  Under Advanced startup, tap or click Restart now.
  
• 
  Once your PC restarts, on the Choose an option screen, tap or click
  Troubleshoot.
  
• 
  If you don't see the Startup Settings option, tap or click
  advanced options.
  
• 
  Tap or click Startup Settings.
  
• 
  Tap or click Restart.
  
• 
  On the Startup Settings screen, choose the
  Safe Mode.
  
• 
  Sign in to your PC with a user account that has
  administrator rights.
  

If the issue does not exist, try to clean boot the system.

Placing your system in Clean Boot state helps in identifying if any third party applications or startup items are causing the issue. You need to follow the steps from the article mentioned below to perform a Clean Boot.

How to perform a clean boot in Windows

[Steps for Windows 8.1 hold for Windows 10 systems]

Note: Refer "How to reset the computer to start normally after clean boot troubleshooting" to reset the computer to start as normal after troubleshooting.

Hope this information is helpful. Do let us know if you need any further assistance, we'll be glad to assist you.

 

Yep good one Shawn too late though *Tongue

 

Was thinking of buying a webcam so I could use her ...

NEW! 2.0MP Metal USB Webcam, Powered by USB, Metal Camera, 2.0 Megapixel - Newegg.com

 

Never. *Tongue

 

Having a webcam is one thing, getting Windows 10 TP to find the USB 3.0 port where it is plugged is another. :-(

One question I have about Cortana, is it always listening to what you say?

Ak

 

Currently, you're suppose to click/tap on the microphone icon in the search box before Cortana starts to listen.

However, you never know. *Wink

 

What about the "Hey Cortana" command? I suppose it would be listening to you all the time if you have that enabled.

 

After a clean install the other night, Cortana seems to be further crippled. The clean install reset a lot of things over and above what the rollup the other day did. Still tryin to sort it all out.

 

I would think Microsoft may run across some privacy concerns like Samsung and their Smart TV which if I heard right feeds what it heard to a third party that translates what you say into TV commands.

 

If somebody's listenin on me they'd be bored to tears! Then again, I always have the music too loud so it wouldn't matter anyway! *Biggrin

 

If somebody's listenin on me they'd be bored to tears! Then again, I always have the music too loud so it wouldn't matter anyway! *Biggrin Free music! See, I use headphones so they would just hear dead air. *Wink

 

I have tried to follow your guide, but it does not work for me. When I click in the Searchbar as in Option One in the Guide, I get only a complete white menu with the text:

I'm afraid I'm not available to help in your region.

I use an English Windows 10 Preview build 9926 with all updates, downloaded from Microsofts official website.

I don't want to talk to my PC, only typing, but so far I'm do not even know what "Cortana" really is, and how it is different from normal search *Redface.

As I can't turn it on, I don't know what to do about it.

 

Have you tried it setting your region, language and keyboard settings, (and perhaps, your timezone), to EnglishUS?

Also sign in with an MS account.