Remove Work or School Account on Windows 11

Connecting a work or school account to a personal Windows 11 PC often applies organization-wide security policies, mobile device management (MDM) profiles, and linked credentials that can interfere with personal use. This guide walks you through the complete, step-by-step process to disconnect a workplace or school account cleanly, delete leftover credentials, and restore your computer to its fully independent state.

Step 1: Disconnect via Windows Settings

The primary method to unlink an organization account is through the Windows 11 Settings menu.

  1. Open Settings by pressing Windows + I.
  2. Select Accounts from the left-hand sidebar.
  3. Click on Access work or school in the right-hand pane.
  4. Locate the work or school account you wish to remove and click on it to expand the menu.
  5. Click the Disconnect button.
  6. A confirmation prompt will warn you that your PC may lose access to organizational resources. Click Yes to confirm the removal.

Step 2: Remove the Account from Email & Accounts

Sometimes, removing the account from the “Access work or school” section leaves residual profiles in your mail and app settings.

  1. In Settings, go back to Accounts.
  2. Click on Email & accounts.
  3. Look under the section labeled Accounts used by other apps or Email, calendar, and contacts.
  4. If the work or school account is still listed, click on it, select Manage or click the dropdown arrow, and choose Remove.

Step 3: Clear Leftover Credentials in Credential Manager

To prevent Microsoft apps from automatically signing back in, clear any cached workplace authentication tokens.

  1. Press the Windows Key, search for Credential Manager, and press Enter.
  2. Select Windows Credentials.
  3. Scroll through the list and look for generic or enterprise credentials related to your work or school account (often listed with prefixes like MicrosoftOffice, OneDrive, or containing your organization’s domain name).
  4. Click on each relevant entry and select Remove.

Step 4: Sign Out of Individual Microsoft Apps

If you used individual Microsoft 365 applications (such as Teams, Word, or OneDrive), verify that you are fully signed out.

  1. Open any Office application (e.g., Word or Excel).
  2. Go to File > Account.
  3. Under User Information, click Sign out if the work or school profile is active.
  4. Open Microsoft Teams, click your profile picture in the top-right corner, and select Sign out.
  5. For OneDrive, right-click the cloud icon in the taskbar, select the Gear icon (Settings) > Settings > Account, and click Unlink this PC if linked to a work/school library.

Step 5: Restart Your Computer

Restart your PC to complete the process. Rebooting flushes the system cache, removes remaining mobile device management (MDM) policies, and ensures that your Windows 11 environment is completely free of the workplace or school account.