Microsoft Account Sign-In Not Working on Windows 11? Fix It
TL;DR: If Microsoft account sign-in is not working on Windows 11 right after an update, restart the PC while it's connected to the internet, then install the latest Windows update. The March 2026 update (KB5079473) caused a "no internet" sign-in failure in Teams, OneDrive, Office and Edge that was fixed by KB5085516. Most other cases come from the sign-in service, a broken profile, or a stale work-account token.
Why is Microsoft account sign-in not working on Windows 11 after an update?
An update changes a lot at once: system files, network stack components, the identity services, sometimes your user profile. Sign-in is one of the first things that touches all of those, so it's also one of the first things to break. I've had a clean machine reboot after Patch Tuesday and immediately throw a "we can't sign in to your account" message that wasn't there an hour earlier.
There are really only a handful of root causes worth your time:
- A known regression in a specific cumulative update (the March 2026 one is the big recent example).
- The Microsoft Account Sign-in Assistant service (
wlidsvc) not starting. - A corrupted or temporary user profile, so Windows logs you into a blank desktop.
- A stale device token on work/school (Entra ID) accounts.
- Plain system file corruption from a half-applied update.
Before you start changing things, work out which one you're actually looking at. It saves you from registry-editing a problem that a reboot would've fixed.
First: is this a personal account or a work/school account?
This matters more than people think, because the fixes diverge here.
A personal Microsoft account (MSA) is what you use for Teams Free, consumer OneDrive, the Microsoft Store, Xbox, and Office signed in with an @outlook/@hotmail/@gmail address. A work or school account is an Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) account your employer manages.
The March 2026 bug only hit personal accounts. Microsoft was explicit that Entra ID app authentication wasn't affected. So if you're on a managed work laptop and sign-in broke, you're chasing a different problem (usually a device-token issue), and you'll want dsregcmd rather than the consumer fixes.
The March 2026 KB5079473 "You'll need the Internet for this" bug
If your sign-in started failing in March 2026 with a message like "You'll need the Internet for this. It doesn't look like you're connected to the Internet" — while you were very much online — that's the documented regression from KB5079473, the March 10, 2026 cumulative update for Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2.
It broke Microsoft account sign-in in Microsoft Teams (free), OneDrive, Edge, Word, Excel and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The device would enter a specific network connectivity state the update didn't handle, then report itself as offline even with a working connection.
The fix:
- Restart while connected to the internet. This repairs the connectivity state. The catch: if you reboot without an active connection, it can slide right back into the broken state, so make sure Wi-Fi or Ethernet is live before you restart.
- Install the latest update. Microsoft shipped the out-of-band update KB5085516 on March 21, 2026 (OS builds 26200.8039 for 25H2 and 26100.8039 for 24H2), and the fix is rolled into every update released on or after that date. Go to Settings > Windows Update and install everything pending.
If you're past March 2026 and fully patched, this specific bug isn't your problem — move on to the general fixes below.
How do I fix Microsoft account sign-in when restarting doesn't work?
Work through these in order. Each one is cheap to try and rules out a cause.
Check the Microsoft Account Sign-in Assistant service
If wlidsvc won't start, nothing that depends on a Microsoft account will sign in. Open Command Prompt as administrator and check it:
sc query wlidsvc
net start wlidsvcIt's a trigger-started service, so "stopped" on its own isn't alarming — but an error when you try to start it is. If you get System error 5: Access is denied or error 0x80070005, that's a permissions/registry problem on the service, and I'd treat it as a sign the update damaged something deeper. Run the system-file repair below first; a reset or in-place repair install is the reliable cure if that fails. Also confirm the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service is running, because wlidsvc can't start without it.
Repair system files
A half-applied update leaves corrupted system files behind more often than you'd guess. Two commands, in this order, from an elevated prompt:
sfc /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealthRun DISM after sfc, not before — DISM repairs the component store that sfc pulls its known-good files from. Reboot and try signing in again.
For work/school accounts: check the device state
On an Entra ID device, run this in a normal (non-elevated) Command Prompt as the signed-in user:
dsregcmd /statusLook at the SSO State section. If AzureAdPrt says NO, the device couldn't get a Primary Refresh Token, which is what silently signs you into Microsoft 365 apps. Lock and unlock the device to force a refresh, then re-check. If it's still broken, an admin can force re-registration:
dsregcmd /forcerecoveryThat triggers a sign-in flow; finish it, then sign out and back in. For a stuck hybrid-joined device, dsregcmd /leave (elevated) followed by a reboot lets it re-register cleanly. Don't run these on a personal-account home PC — they do nothing useful there.
Logged into a temporary profile?
If you signed in and landed on a blank desktop with your files missing, Windows probably loaded a temporary profile because the real one is flagged broken. Your data is almost always still on disk under C:\Users\<you>. Back up first, then in regedit go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileListFind your profile SID. If there's a duplicate with a .bak on the end, the one without .bak is the bad temporary one. Delete the entry without .bak, rename the .bak entry to remove the extension, then set its State value to 0. Reboot. This is fiddly, so don't touch it unless you're comfortable in the registry — a fresh local admin account plus copying your files across is the safer route if you're not.
Symptom-to-fix reference table
| Symptom | Likely cause | First fix to try |
|---|---|---|
| "You'll need the Internet for this" while online (Teams/OneDrive/Office) | KB5079473 March 2026 regression | Restart while online, then install latest update |
| Can't sign in to any MSA app, service won't start | wlidsvc error 0x80070005 | sfc + DISM, then repair install |
| Blank desktop, files missing after login | Temporary profile loaded | ProfileList .bak fix or new account |
| Work laptop, Microsoft 365 won't authenticate | Stale device token (no PRT) | dsregcmd /status, then /forcerecovery |
| Sign-in loop after a forced password change | Cached credential mismatch | Sign in with password while online, reboot |
FAQ
Why does my Microsoft account say "no internet" when I'm online?
That's the March 2026 KB5079473 bug. The update mishandled a network connectivity state and made apps think the device was offline. Restart while connected and install the latest update (KB5085516 or newer) to clear it for good.
Can I just use a local account instead?
Yes, and it sidesteps the whole MSA sign-in chain. The tradeoff: you lose OneDrive sync, app-store purchases tied to your account, and device-level settings sync. Plenty of people run local accounts on purpose. It won't help if your underlying problem is a corrupted profile, though.
Will rolling back the update fix it?
It can, but it's the wrong move for the March bug — the fix ships in a newer update, not an older one. Roll back only if a brand-new update broke sign-in and no fix has been published yet. Check the Windows release health dashboard before you uninstall anything.
Is it safe to edit the ProfileList registry key?
It's the standard documented fix for a temporary-profile lockout, but it's destructive if you delete the wrong SID. Export the key first, or skip it entirely and migrate your files to a fresh administrator account.
Does this affect Windows 10 too?
The March 2026 connectivity bug was specific to Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. The general fixes here — the sign-in service, profile repair, sfc/DISM — apply to Windows 10 as well.
If you've patched to the latest update and the basic repairs come up clean and you still can't sign in, you're likely looking at a damaged identity-service registration. At that point an in-place repair install (run setup from the current Windows 11 ISO, choose "Keep personal files and apps") fixes it without wiping your data, and it's a lot faster than chasing individual registry keys.