To get started, open the Settings app and select Accounts. If you want to create a local account for yourself, click Your account > Sign in with a local account instead and follow the wizard.
In this tutorial, however, we’re creating a local account independent of your primary one. You can use this to add a local account for a child, another adult, or even yourself if you want to operate Unix-style with no automatic administrator privileges.
Go to Settings > Family & other users > Add someone else to this PC. You can’t create a local account using Windows 10’s “Your family” account settings.
On the next screen, click “The person I want to add doesn’t have an email address.”
Now, Microsoft will take you to a screen where you can create a Microsoft account with Windows 10. We don’t want to use that, of course so we’ll choose the option at the very bottom of the screen that says “Add a user without a Microsoft account.”
Now we’re getting somewhere. All you have to do on this screen is enter a user name, a password (twice), password hint, and then click Next.
That’s it! You now have a local account to use as you wish.
While some of Microsoft’s cloud features are turned off by default with a local account, others are still active, including OneDrive, Wi-Fi Sense, and Cortana. Many of these are opt-in features, but to make sure they aren’t constantly bugging you or sending data to the cloud check out our primer on reclaiming your privacy in Windows 10.