Access work or school in Windows 11 and 10: add, check and disconnect accounts

How to open Access work or school

The page is in the same place in Windows 11 and Windows 10:

1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
2. Select Accounts, then Access work or school.

As a shortcut, press Win + R, type ms-settings:workplace and press Enter. The page lists every work or school connection on the PC, with a Connect button for adding a new one. Accounts you see under Accounts > Email & accounts are a different thing: removing a work account there, or from Outlook, doesn’t remove the connection shown here.

Which kind of connection you need

Connecting isn’t one action. Depending on the option you pick, Windows does one of four things, and each gives your organization a different level of control:

Option	What it does	Typical use
Connect and sign in with your work email	Registers the device with Microsoft Entra ID (Microsoft calls this Entra registered). You keep signing in to Windows with your own account.	Personal PC that needs work apps, Teams or Office
Join this device to Microsoft Entra ID	Joins the PC to the organization. You sign in to Windows with the work account and the organization owns the setup.	Company-owned PC
Join this device to a local Active Directory domain	Joins a traditional on-premises domain. Needs a domain name and domain credentials.	Office network with a domain controller
Enroll only in device management	Enrolls the PC in your organization’s MDM (often Intune) without joining or registering it.	When IT asks for MDM enrollment only

Microsoft points out that registering a device is not the same as enrolling it in management, but many organizations set up automatic MDM enrollment, so registering can still put the PC under Intune policies. Entra join isn’t available on Windows Home editions.

Add a work or school account

1. Open Accounts > Access work or school and click Connect.
2. To register a personal PC, type your work or school email in the Set up a work or school account window and click Next. To join the PC instead, use the Join this device to Microsoft Entra ID or Join this device to a local Active Directory domain link in the same window.
3. Enter your password and approve the sign-in on your phone if your organization uses multifactor authentication. You may also be asked to set up a Windows Hello PIN.
4. For a join, confirm the organization name and click Join, then Done. A domain join asks for a restart.

The account then appears on the page, for example as Connected to <organization> Entra ID for a joined PC. If enrollment fails with an error, see Device management could not be enabled (0x80192EE7).

The “manage my device” prompt in Office

You don’t have to visit this page for a work account to be added. When you sign in to Outlook, Teams or another Microsoft 365 app on Windows, a prompt asks whether to use the account across the device. According to Microsoft, choosing Yes adds the account to Windows for all apps, which is what creates an entry under Access work or school, and an organization that uses MDM may then ask to manage the device. Choosing No, this app only signs in just that app and leaves Windows alone.

On a personal PC, No, this app only is usually the better choice unless your organization requires device registration to reach email or files. The exact wording of the prompt has changed between Office versions, so look for the option that limits sign-in to the app.

Check how your PC is connected

Open Command Prompt (no admin rights needed) and run:

dsregcmd /status

Look at the Device State section:

AzureAdJoined	DomainJoined	Meaning
YES	NO	Microsoft Entra joined
NO	YES	Joined to an on-premises domain
YES	YES	Microsoft Entra hybrid joined (domain plus Entra)
NO	NO	Not joined; the PC may still be registered

In the User State section, WorkplaceJoined : YES means a work or school account was added to your Windows profile, the registered case. This tells you which removal steps below apply.

Disconnect a work or school account

Microsoft warns that disconnecting can lose data on the device. When an MDM connection is removed, the organization’s settings, management apps and access to work resources go with it. Save anything you need first.

1. Open Accounts > Access work or school.
2. Select the account and click Disconnect.
3. Confirm with Yes and restart the PC.

For a registered personal PC, that’s all. For a PC joined to Microsoft Entra ID, prepare before you disconnect, because the work account is how you sign in:

• Create a local administrator account and check you can sign in with it. University IT guides report that Windows asks for this alternate admin account during the disconnect.
• Back up files from your work profile to OneDrive or an external drive.
• If BitLocker is on, save the recovery key from myaccount.microsoft.com first. University IT guides report that the key stored in Entra ID is removed when the device leaves.

A company-owned PC should normally be handed back to IT rather than disconnected yourself. To remove the work account from Teams only, see how to remove an account from Teams.

If the Disconnect button is missing

The usual reasons:

• Your organization blocks manual unenrollment. Microsoft’s AllowManualMDMUnenrollment policy stops users from removing an MDM connection. Only IT can remove it, from the management console.
• It’s the account you sign in to Windows with. On an Entra-joined PC, Microsoft Q&A answers and third-party guides suggest signing in with a local administrator account first and disconnecting from there.
• The connection is broken. If IT already deleted the device, you may see errors such as Your organization has deleted this device. IT staff can also run dsregcmd /leave from an elevated Command Prompt on joined devices, which removes the join without using Settings.

If you no longer have the device at all, sign in at myaccount.microsoft.com, open Devices and use Disable lost device, or ask IT to delete it.

Related guides

• “Your organization has deleted this device” (700003): how to fix it
• Device management could not be enabled (0x80192EE7): how to fix it
• Automatic registration failed at join phase: what it means and how to fix it
• How to remove an account from Teams (Windows, phone, web)

Official sources:

• Microsoft Learn: MDM enrollment of Windows devices
• Microsoft Learn: Remove your Windows device from management
• Microsoft Learn: Troubleshoot devices by using the dsregcmd command