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How to remove inaccessible accounts from Microsoft Defender?

Anonymous
2026-04-16T17:28:59.11+00:00

I recently found some accounts that I used to have in my MS Defender sign in screen. I had already removed them from Settings > Accounts > Your Accounts, but they still show up in Defender's sign in menu. I have already tried reinstalling windows, reinstalling Defender, looking in regedit, and some commands in command prompt. None have worked and I really do not want to reset my computer. Logging into them is not an option either since I no longer have access to them.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Microsoft 365 Defender | Other | Windows
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  1. Anonymous
    2026-04-16T20:12:41.2433333+00:00

    Hello,

    I reinstalled windows from the "Reinstall now" option in System > Recovery. Also, I tried all of those already with no fix. What DID end up working was deleting the appropriate files from:

    %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneAuth

    %localappdata%\Microsoft\IdentityCache

    I restarted my computer and the accounts no longer show.

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  2. Jonathan Deives 73,215 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-04-16T18:14:19.7633333+00:00

    Did you reinstall Windows keeping your data and files, or did you delete everything?

    Go to Settings > Accounts again.

    Select the Access Work or School option.
    Check if you have any accounts added in this section.

    Click the Start menu and type Credential Manager.
    Select Windows Credentials.
    See if any saved credentials appear with the email you want to delete, select them, and click Remove.

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