MS account questions

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rhector

23 posts

Geek

#2809310 8-Nov-2021 14:10

Dynamic:

Earbanean:

Is there a difference between a Microsoft account and a Microsoft 365 account? Can they have different login IDs?

@Earbanean they are completely different accounts and have to be different email addresses (logins). A number of years ago you could have the same email address for both but it caused confusion so they killed off that ability.

Wait, what? That's supposed to be less confusing?

That sounds like it could partially explain my problems above?

Do you have a link to a complete explanation? Ideally direct from MS ...

Cheers,

Richard

Dynamic

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#2809314 8-Nov-2021 14:21

rhector:

Wait, what? That's supposed to be less confusing?

That sounds like it could partially explain my problems above?

Do you have a link to a complete explanation? Ideally direct from MS ...

Cheers,

Richard

Microsoft branding and confusion seem to go hand in hand, IMHO.

Try this link for size: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-account-to-use-with-office-and-you-need-one-914e6610-2763-47ac-ab36-602a81068235

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rhector

23 posts

Geek

#2809326 8-Nov-2021 14:32

What is a Microsoft account?

A Microsoft account is an email address and password that you use with Outlook.com, Hotmail, Office, OneDrive, Skype, Xbox, and Windows. When you create a Microsoft account, you can use any email address as the user name, including addresses from Outlook.com, Yahoo! or Gmail.

That says I use it with Office, which I thought was now called Microsoft 365. The alternative it talks about is a 'work or school account'?

Where do I sign in with my account so I can install or reinstall Office?

If you have an existing Microsoft 365 subscription, or use Microsoft 365 at work or school, sign in at Office.com with the account that's associated with your subscription. This is where you can install or reinstall Office, and depending on your Office product it's also where you manage your subscription through My Account. The association between your account and your Office license depends how you got Office.

As far as I can tell, the account associated with my (father's) subscription is his Microsoft account, isn't it? I was able to use that (though not with Edge) to install Office, or Microsoft 365, or something.

Cheers,

Richard

P.S. T.I.L. there's also a thing called "Windows 365", which is completely different and unrelated.

Earbanean

944 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2809343 8-Nov-2021 14:58

I thought that might be part of the problem. I've had a few issues in the microsoftsphere. e.g. it seems that if you have an email with a custom domain name (that you own) then MS determines you have a work or school account, even if it's not.

rhector

23 posts

Geek

#2809479 8-Nov-2021 18:21

Just thought of a snag.

Now that I've got 2 machines authenticating with the same MS account, which is also used for OneDrive, I need to update Dad's phone and tablet, running (probably old) Android.

I don't really want them to be storing his Windows login passwords, though. Can I set up a separate password (app-specific password?) that can be used just by those devices, that won't give access to anything except Onedrive?

Cheers,

Richard

freitasm

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#2809592 8-Nov-2021 20:43

rhector:

I don't really want them to be storing his Windows login passwords, though. Can I set up a separate password (app-specific password?) that can be used just by those devices, that won't give access to anything except Onedrive?

One password gives access to the entire account.

App-specific passwords are for non-Microsoft applications that might need authentication or do not support 2FA.

rhector

23 posts

Geek

#2809927 9-Nov-2021 15:45

freitasm:

One password gives access to the entire account.

App-specific passwords are for non-Microsoft applications that might need authentication or do not support 2FA.

That's a pity.

A reason perhaps to revert to local accounts.

Or probably better, give up on OneDrive and switch to NextCloud - which I was planning on using anyway for other purposes.

Cheers,

Richard

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