What is the difference between a local account and a domain account in Windows?

A local account is managed by a specific computer and is ordinarily used to authenticate to that machine’s local security authority. An Active Directory domain account is centrally managed and can access permitted domain resources according to policy. A Microsoft account and a Microsoft Entra identity are related identity options but are not simply synonyms for an on-premises domain account. Identify the actual sign-in and device-join model before troubleshooting. Permissions still depend on group membership, policy, and resource authorization rather than the account label alone.