Message says "The Microsoft account doesn't exist. Enter a different account or get a new one."

Question

I am trying to sign in to a new computer using my Microsoft account. I know the account is valid because it is the same one I am using in this forum. But, I get a message saying "The Microsoft account doesn't exist. Enter a different account or get a new one." What do I do?

By the way, I have no idea what I'm supposed to enter in the "Tags" field below. There is nothing that tells me what types of things I can enter. That is frustrating because the field is required.

Answer 1

After wondering about this myself, I finally found the answer. I'll summarize the best I can, but the link is below should you want to read for yourself. Microsoft basically boils their accounts down to two categories... first: Personal and second: Work or School... you have a unique Identity that must be authenticated regardless of which category account you have. The difference between the two is that Microsoft handles identity authentication and authorization over Personal (consumer) accounts but on the business/school side there are options to handle this separately. Microsoft used to let one username (email address) be tied to both personal and business/school accounts but it caused great confusion because now personal and work identities and subsequent applications were co-mingling and resulted in Microsoft separating them... They could do a better job at clarifying this when the error message is displayed. I have both account types, as many of us do, but I had to use my personal Microsoft account when setting up my new work PC... not ideal. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/itops-talk-blog/what-s-the-difference-between-a-personal-microsoft-account-and-a/ba-p/2241897