Switching from Microsoft 365 Personal to Business

Recently had a client who was signed into his computer using a Microsoft 365 Personal account. He wanted to convert his personal computer into his business computer and do so by signing into his Microsoft 365 Business account to join his office domain.

This article covers how I was able to get him setup so that his Microsoft 365 Personal account was replaced with his Microsoft 365 Business account.

Convert Microsoft 365 Personal to Business

Long story short, we simply need to backup any desired data and settings then create a new user with the Microsoft 365 Business account credentials. For speed, I recommend using a local backup storage device rather than a cloud based service.

To setup the new Microsoft 365 Business account on Windows 11 visit Settings then Accounts. Scroll down and select Access work or school then click the Connect button.

When the Microsoft account sign in prompt appears, click on the link at the bottom that reads: Join this device to Microsoft Entra ID

If the “Join this device to Microsoft Entra ID” option does not at first appear, try changing your default Workgroup name and retry. Thank you for this tip Tim!

Sign into the Microsoft 365 Business account and follow the remaining prompts to finish the business user account setup.

Once you’ve finished signing into your Microsoft 365 Business account and have confirmed you require no additional data from the personal account you may remove the Microsoft 365 Personal account.

Remove Microsoft 365 Personal Account

You’ll need to be signed into either a local user account with administrative privileges or a Microsoft 365 Business account. Once signed in, and assuming you have a full working backup handy, visit Settings > Accounts and select Other users. From there you can click on the Microsoft 365 Personal account which will expand it and select Remove. After a few confirmations the account and associated data will have been removed from your PC.

Conclusion

I hope my article on switching from a Microsoft 365 Personal account to a Microsoft 365 Business account has helped you. I welcome your thoughts, questions or suggestions regarding this article.

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Editors Note:

• This article was first published on February 12, 2024 and was revised on October 3rd, 2024 to include Tim’s suggestion to change the default Workgroup name should the Join this device to Microsoft Entra ID fail to appear.