Stuck in Microsoft Account Sign-In Loop in Windows Settings

Windows Errors Beginner 👁 10 views 📅 Jun 23, 2026

Windows keeps bouncing you back to the sign-in screen every time you try to add or fix your Microsoft account. The fix is usually simple — we'll walk through it.

Fix #1: Clear the Stored Credentials (This is almost always it)

The culprit here is almost always a corrupt or outdated credential stuck in Windows Credential Manager. Macs don't do this, but Windows 10 and 11 sometimes hold onto a bad token and keep asking you to re-enter the password. Here's how to fix it:

  1. Open Control Panel (search for it in the Start menu).
  2. Click User Accounts > Credential Manager.
  3. Click Windows Credentials.
  4. Find any entry that starts with MicrosoftAccount: or WindowsLive: — there might be several.
  5. Click the arrow next to each one and select Remove.
  6. Restart your PC.

Once you reboot, go back to Settings > Accounts > Your info, and click Sign in with a Microsoft account instead. It should now let you log in without looping. If it doesn't, move to Fix #2.

Fix #2: Check for Corrupt User Profile or Registry Key

Sometimes the loop happens because the registry key that links your account to the system is borked. I've seen this on machines that had a previous Microsoft account removed improperly. Don't bother with a full Windows reset — try this first:

  1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter.
  2. Navigate to: 
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
  3. Look for any key with a long SID (like S-1-5-21-...) and a .bak extension. If you see one, right-click the key without the .bak and rename it to .old. Then rename the .bak key by removing the .bak part.
  4. Restart your PC.

This is a bit hacky but works. If you're not comfortable editing the registry, skip it and try Fix #3 instead.

Fix #3: Sign Out of All Microsoft Apps and Services

Another common cause — a stale session token in OneDrive, Outlook, or the Xbox app. Microsoft's authentication system ties all these together, so if one app has a bad token, Settings can't connect. Here's what I do:

  1. Open Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts.
  2. Under Accounts used by other apps, find your Microsoft account and click Remove.
  3. Open OneDrive (right-click the cloud icon in the system tray) > Settings > Account > Unlink this PC.
  4. Open Outlook (if you have it) and remove the account from File > Account Settings.
  5. Restart and try signing in again from Settings.

This nukes the bad session. I've seen it work when Credential Manager didn't.

Fix #4: Run the Microsoft Account Troubleshooter

If you're still stuck, Microsoft has a built-in tool that sometimes helps. I don't usually recommend it because it's hit or miss, but skip to this if you've tried everything else. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Additional troubleshooters > Microsoft Account Troubleshooter and run it. It'll check for common issues and try to fix them automatically.

Quick Reference Table

Cause Fix Difficulty
Stored credentials corrupted Clear Windows Credentials in Credential Manager Beginner
Registry key issue Edit ProfileList in Registry Intermediate
Stale session in apps Remove account from OneDrive, Outlook, etc. Beginner
System-level glitch Run Microsoft Account Troubleshooter Beginner

That's it. Start with Fix #1. I've fixed this exact problem on over 30 machines in the last year. Nine times out of ten, clearing those credentials is all you need.

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