Instructions for disconnecting managed personal device from Stony Brook

If you were redirected to this webpage, your personal device may be unintentionally managed by Stony Brook University.

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How to confirm your device is managed by Stony Brook University and disconnect:

 
  1. Click Start, then go to Settings (gear icon)
    Screenshot showing the selection of Settings from the Windows start menu
  2. Select Accounts
    Screenshot showing the selection of the Accounts option under Windows Settings
  3. Select Access work or school
    Screenshot showing the Access work or school menu option under Windows Settings
  4. If you see Stony Brook University listed, your computer is being managed by Stony Brook University. If you do not see anything Stony Brook related in the list, you can disregard the rest of these instructions.
    Screenshot showing the Access work or school settings
  5. Before we disconnect from Stony Brook, we need to create a local account on your device if you do not already have one.  Select Other Users on the left pane.  If you do not have any users listed under "Other users", or do not remember the password to the account, you can create a new one by selecting “Add someone else to this PC”.
    Screenshot showing how to Add someone else to this PC
  6. You may use another Microsoft Account if you have one (as long as it is not tied to your Stony Brook email address), otherwise you can select "I don't have this person's sign-in information" to create a Microsoft Account or a local account.
    Screenshot showing how to by pass using a Microsoft account (optional)
    Screenshot showing how to Add a user without a Microsoft account
  7. For local accounts, type in a name and password you can remember:
    Screenshot showing the Create a user for this PC dialog
  8. Now that your account has been created, we need to make sure it has administrator privileges.  Click on the new account you created and select "Change account type":
    Screenshot showing the Change account type dialog
  9. Change the account from Standard User to Administrator and click OK.
    Screenshot showing how to sign the Administrator account type to your new account
  10. To start using that new account, right-click the start button and select Shut down or sign out and then Sign out:
    Screenshot of the Sign out option in the Windows Start Menu
  11. At the Windows Login screen, select Other user on the bottom left and type in your new user account name.  If it is a local account, you may need to type a period and backslash before your user name.  For example,  ".\john smith"  (without quotes).
    Screenshot of the Windows Login Screen showing how to login as "Other user"
  12. Next we need to make sure Bitlocker is disabled (it can be re-enabled if you choose to after our new account has been set up).  Go to Windows Settings and type BitLocker in the search box.  Manage BitLocker should come up as an option, then select it.
    Screenshot showing how to find the Manage BitLocker option under Windows Settings
  13. If any drives have Bitlocker enabled, they will be listed here.  You can choose Turn off BitLocker to disable it.  If no drive has BitLocker enabled it will say "BitLocker Off" and you can skip to Step 15.
    Screenshot of the BitLocker Drive Encryption screen highlighting how to Turn off BitLocker
  14. Wait until the decryption process has finished before proceeding.
    Screenshot showing the BitLocker Drive Encryption settings and decryption progress bar
  15. An easy way to copy your profile, settings, and files from your other account to this one is to use a free program called "Laplink PCmover Profile Migrator".  Download it from the Laplink PCmover Profile Migrator website.  If you wish to not use this program, you can still copy your files manually and skip to Step 18.
    Screenshot of the laplink PCmover Profile Migrator download tool
  16. Install and run PCmover
    Screenshot of the PCmover User Account transfer screen
  17. After the transfer is complete, uncheck the option for "Upload non-identifiable data to help improve PCmover" and restart your computer.
  18. Once logged back into your new local account, any files you forget to copy over will still be C:\Users\<stonybrook username> which you can still access.  You can also log in back and forth from your old account to make sure all of your files are copied over and settings are the way you want.
    Screenshot of Windows Explorer showing how to copy your old account files
  19. Once you are comfortable that your new account is ready.  You can now disconnect your device from Stony Brook.  Go to Settings -> Accounts -> Access work or school once again and select your Stony Brook account.  Select Disconnect.
    Screenshot of the Windows Access work or school setting screen showing how to disconnect your Stony Brook account
  20. You will receive a warning message and a prompt to enter an account that exists on your computer to make sure you don't lose access to your own computer.  Enter the new account information and press OK.
    Screenshot of the Windows Security Prompt asking for the alternate account username and password.
  21. When prompted, restart your computer.
  22. Once your computer restarts, you will no longer be able to log in with your Stony Brook email address.  Please continue to use the new account you created.
This Content Last Updated:
01/23/2026
This KB Article References:
Estimated Read Time:
3 minutes
This Content Last Updated:
01/23/2026