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mthsupportFlag for United States of America

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Office 365 Windows 8.1 Sign-on

I recently upgraded to Office 365 E3. I setup the directory sync but not ADFS. My goal is to have my Win 8.1 users logoin with their Office 365 accounts. But when I try and setup the desktops with Office 365 accounts as the MS account it doesn't recognize the account. Surely there is a way to use my Office 365 account as my MS account on Win 8.1 Pro?
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Vasil Michev (MVP)
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There isn't a way. Office 365 and Windows accounts are two different things. They are managed separately and there is no way of linking them.
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I'm managing my domain accounts and office 365 via directory sync. So my local AD is the master copy of the information.

In Windows 8 and 8.1 you need to use a Microsoft Account to access the store, skydrive, mail app, etc. What I need to know is how to make Windows 8.1 use my Office 365 account as a Microsoft Account so I don't need to have each one of my users have a domain account, office 365 account and Microsoft account.

Surely there is a way to do this. Do I need to setup single-sign on (ADFS)?
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Jeffrey Kane - TechSoEasy
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Well that just stinks! Come on MS!

I'm aware of using the sync with a domain account feature. It works very well actually. I just think it is crazy that I need a completely separate MS account when I'm using Office 365.
Hi mthsupport,

I understand your disappointment, but all the previous comments here true: MS Accounts (ex-Live IDs) and Organization IDs, used in O365 and other Azure Active Directory enabled services like Windows Intune and Dynamics CRM Online, are completely different things. And as far as I know, as a member of the MS Cloud Partner Advisory Council in Redmond, they won't merge. Windows 8(.1) and Windows Phone have a much larger audience than O365 and related services has. So they rely first on the MS Account infrastructure, which is free and opened to everybody. No matter you are a business user or an individual, you both can use a SkyDrive for free, to store your Win 8(.1) settings and documents, your Windows Phone pictures, vids, SMS, apps list and so on. And the same MS Accounts you use to achieve this are also the ones that you use to be recognized as an individual when you obtain a MS certification. MS Accounts (ex-Live IDs) are yours, individually, forever. O365 are made for business scenarios. And there are no signs of merge of these 2 account types like Google made it in the past (when GoogleApps and Google Accounts merged, with a lot of troubles and losts, by the way - I had to deal with it, and it was not obvious in some scenarios). My company is managing a lot of pro customers, and there's so problem when you understand the very difference between the two types of Microsoft accounts (MS Account vs. Org IDs) and how you have to deal with it. Please let me know if I can help you futhermore on this issue.
Yep, it sucks.  But all we can do is know how to deal with it.
I'm well aware of the difference between Office 365 and the public/consumer outlook.com (Hotmail, live, etc) accounts. But to say office 365 is exclusive to business is wrong. They promote; heavily mind you, Office 365 HOME.

I'll work around it by setting up MS Accounts for my users. Then I'll use the sync feature by linking my domain account to my MS Account. This actually works well. It is just disappointing in my opinion that I can't use my Microsoft Office 365 account. Maybe we'll get there in Windows 9. I won't hold my breath.

Thanks for the feedback guys. You all confirmed my suspicion.