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I have been using windows 8 x64 from MSDN for about a month now.

Woke up this morning to "Your machine is offline please try to sign in with the last password used on this PC."

I have not changed my password, I have logged in without an internet connection previously.

Why does it require an internet connection now in order to log in?

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What is your question? –  FiveO Oct 19 '12 at 9:08
We need more information. –  Ramhound Oct 19 '12 at 10:48
Some attempts at solving the issue are here: eightforums.com/general-discussion/… –  Oliver Salzburg Oct 19 '12 at 11:06

4 Answers 4

up vote 0 down vote accepted

Make sure that your laptop has an active Internet connection. In my experience, that can cause this issue.

If WiFi is not getting connected with laptop please use the cable to get Internet Connection to your laptop. Once you have an Internet connection, you can use Hotmail credentials to access the laptop and change the options to connect automatically from the WiFi settings.

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Could you provide a link for the quoted text? –  jonsca Nov 19 '12 at 1:49

When you link your Windows user account to your Microsoft account, the Window user profile always matches the Microsoft account password. Changing the Microsoft account password changes the password for all Windows user profiles linked to it.

The check happens at login time. If the machine is online it checks your password against Microsoft's servers; if the machine isn't online then that check can't be made and Windows falls back on using the last password you've used.

The computer can be offline for a number of reasons, obviously. If you can't login and the computer just can't pick up the wireless signal, connect it physically to the internet with an ethernet cable using a router connected to the internet with DHCP — or use one of the classic password recovery strategies.

As I write this I realize that theoretically this means changing the hosts file to mask the Microsoft password authentication server with another malicious host might theoretically be enough to lock you out of your computer. Obviously, however, you need root to do this — and if an attacker gets root it's game over regardless of whether your account is linked to a Microsoft Account or not. If you're using UAC at the maximum settings (the only sensible settings) then you should be okay.

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This issue was not related to changing any of my passwords, when I reconnected to the internet, I logged in with the same password and username –  Andrew Oct 21 '12 at 9:16

I turned my laptop on at home, where the wifi connection details are cached. I was able to log in.

The work wifi requires a two stage authentication, similar to free wifi where you have to enter a guess username and password to use it. I'm guessing it connects to work wifi then tries to validate my credentials and fails, therefore locking me out until I connect to somewhere that has an unobstructed internet connection.

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Welcome to Super User! Please use the Post answer button only for actual answers. You should modify your original question to add additional information. –  Daniel Beck Oct 20 '12 at 19:35

As folks said above, your Microsoft account password should be cached locally and you should be able to use it to log in to Windows 8, without any problems, even when you don't have an active Internet connection. The Internet connection should be mandatory only when you first add the Microsoft account to Windows 8 and use it for the first time to log in.

However, if you do have issues like the one mentioned above, the best alternative is to create a PIN or a Picture password. They are always stored locally. Plus, they are faster ways of logging in. I love using the PIN for example.

Details about creating them and switching between sign-in options can be found in this guide: How to Switch Between Sign-In Options in Windows 8

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protected by Community May 9 '13 at 0:30


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