If you have an email account at or (or, for old-timers, at or msn.com), you already have a Microsoft account. This is Microsoft's free online account for personal use, required for signing in to the company's consumer services, including OneDrive, Xbox Live, Skype, and Office 365 Home and Personal subscriptions, among others. In this post, I'll explain the pros and cons of each account type and explain why your best option might be a combination of two account types.

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If you're equally persistent, you can choose a local account instead. The Setup program is extremely persistent about trying to coax you into signing in with a Microsoft account. On Windows 10 Home, that choice isn't available, and you're limited to only the personal options: a local account or a Microsoft account This choice is only available with Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise If you choose the second option, you can set up the PC using an account in your Windows Active Directory domain or you can sign in using an Azure Active Directory account, such as the one associated with an Office 365 Business or Enterprise subscription. On business editions (Pro, Pro for Workstations, Enterprise, and Education), the Windows Setup program asks you to choose whether you want to set the PC up for personal use or for use on a network managed by your organization, as shown below. Depending on your Windows edition and network setup, you have a choice of up to four separate account types. When you set up a Windows 10 PC for the first time, you're required to create a user account that will serve as the administrator for the device.

Windows 10 enterprise