Turn on your PC and sign in

Your Windows PC is the computer you will build your app on. This step takes you from a dark screen to a signed-in Desktop.

Find the power button

Where it is depends on which PC you have.

• A laptop: open the lid. Many recent laptops turn on by themselves. If nothing happens, look for a key or small button marked with a circle with a short line through the top. It is usually at the top-right corner of the keyboard, or on the right edge of the laptop. On some laptops it is also the fingerprint reader.
• A desktop tower (a box on or under the desk): the button is on the front or top of the box, often round and marked with the same circle symbol. The screen has its own power button.
• An all-in-one (the screen and computer in one): feel along the bottom edge or the back of the screen for a button.

Press the button once and let go. Do not hold it down. The maker's logo appears, then a spinning circle of dots. This can take a minute.

If the PC is brand new

A new PC starts with a set-up helper. It asks for your country, your keyboard language, your Wi-Fi network and its password, and then a Microsoft account. On a new PC you usually need a Microsoft account and an internet connection to finish setting up. If you have one (an address ending in @outlook.com, @hotmail.com or @live.com, or any address you once used with Microsoft), sign in with it. If not, click Create one and follow the steps.

It then asks you to create a PIN: a short number, often six digits, that unlocks this PC. This is Windows Hello. Choose a PIN you can remember and write it on paper, with your Microsoft account address and its password. Keep the paper somewhere safe at home.

The helper may offer extras: Microsoft 365, Xbox, OneDrive, "customize your experience". Choose Skip, Decline or Not now for all of them. Nothing breaks, and you can add things later.

Two kinds of account

• A Microsoft account: an email address and a password that work on any PC, plus a PIN for this one. Most PCs set up since 2020 use this. The PIN is what you type every day.
• A local account: a name and a password that exist only on this PC. Older PCs, or PCs set up by someone who chose "offline account", use this.

To see which you have: click the Start button (the Windows logo on the bar at the bottom), click Settings (a gear), then Accounts. Under your name it either shows your email address, or says Local account. Either kind is fine for this guide.

Sign in

1. Wait for the lock screen: a picture with the time on it. Press any key, or click anywhere.
2. The sign-in screen shows your name and a small picture. If there are several names, click yours at the bottom-left.
3. Type your PIN. The letters show as dots, which is normal. Most PCs sign you in the moment the last digit goes in. If a box says Password instead, type your password and press Enter, the wide key on the right side of the keyboard.
4. The screen changes to your Desktop.

If your PC has a fingerprint reader or a face camera and you set it up, you can use that instead. After a restart, the PC sometimes wants the typed PIN once.

What you are looking at

• The strip along the bottom is the taskbar. In its middle (Windows 11) or at its left end (Windows 10) is the Start button: the Windows logo, four small squares. Next to it is a search box or a magnifying glass. At the right end are the clock, the Wi-Fi symbol, the speaker, and the battery.
• The rest of the screen is the Desktop, your work surface. Files you put there show up as small pictures. The Recycle Bin, a bin icon, usually sits at the top-left.
• Each app you open gets its own window on the Desktop. Step 4 is about windows.

Turning it off

You do not need to turn a PC off every day. Closing the lid puts a laptop to sleep. To turn it off fully: click the Start button, click the Power symbol (the same circle with a line), then click Shut down.