Setting Up A Local User Account in Windows 8.1

Setting up a local user account (named ‘local account’) in Windows 8.1 is needed, e.g., to get access to a built-in Windows 8 FTP-server for a specified user, for a child account or to set up permissions to a dedicated folder for a specified user.

Users with a local account cannot download apps from the Windows store, but you can set up this later, too.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to set up a local account in Windows 8 or Windows 8.1. I used a Acer Aspire 1810T running on Windows 8.1 Pro Preview.

1. Go to the Wndows ‘Start Screen‘, move your finger or your mouse to the upper right until the left menu bar appears. Select ‘Settings‘ and go to ‘PC Settings‘.
2. In the next step click on ‘Accounts‘.
3. Select ‘Other account‘ and click on ‘Add a user‘.
4. Select ‘Sign in without using a Microsoft account (not recommended)‘.
5. Select ‘Local account‘.
6. Fill in ‘user name‘ (e.g. ‘ftpuser’), password and a hint and click on ‘Next‘.
7. Now you can see the newly created local account ‘ftpuser’. Done!

Note: If you want to delete a local account, you have to go to the ‘Control Panel‘, select ‘User’ and delete the local account there. I could not delete the local account under ‘PC Settings‘ / ‘Accounts‘.

Setting up a local user account in Windows 8.1 is easily done by following this step-by-step guide. Local account can be use to get access to the biult-in Windows 8 FTP-server, to use it as a child account with limited rights or to set up permissions to dedicated folders for specified user. 

Stay tuned! 😉