Article: 2001010693

If you have a personal windows computer and you installed Microsoft Office 365 from your St. John’s Office Portal, you may start to see the following message appear, or notice some settings are restricted as a result of University security policies being applied to your device:

"*Some of these settings are hidden or managed by your organization"





These are the steps to undo this for a personal device. This CAN NOT be done for an SJU-issued computer that was set up by and is managed by the University.

Do not sign into Windows 10 on a personal device with your University account.


If you have done this, save important files to somewhere not connected to any Microsoft account.
Sign out, and sign back into Windows with a personal Microsoft account.

This will NOT save any settings, configurations, or files that are associated with your University account. It is very IMPORTANT that any data that you need is saved somewhere else BEFORE beginning this process.

**Please note: Any files that have been stored in your University OneDrive, will stay there. These files are located in the cloud.

1. Uninstall Microsoft software

Uninstall Microsoft 365 (the Office suite), as well as OneDrive and Skype For Business. You may need to do this separately if they remain after removing Microsoft 365, as they could have been installed individually as a stand-alone application. These applications' licensing is usually what keeps the security policies in place.

2. Remove University-Licensed accounts from Windows

Windows' account system may be remembering your University account.
Go to the Accounts page in Windows Settings (Start menu - gear icon - Accounts).

  1. In the left menu of the Accounts page, select Email & accounts and look for an @stjohns.edu account under the heading Accounts used by email, calendar, and contacts. Click your University account to select it, click the Manage button, then choose Delete account from this device in the window that appears.

  2. In the left menu of the Accounts page, select Access work or school and look for an @stjohns.edu account or a connection to admin.ads.stjohns.edu or another University domain. Click on the University connection to select it, then click the Disconnect button.

3. Remove a personal device from your University account

The Microsoft account connected to your SJU Sign-On account may be remembering the personal device that had the security policies applied to it.

  1. Go to https://signon.stjohns.edu, and click on the Office 365 Portal icon
    (If you are having problems logging into the Sign-On Portal, please see tips here: Sign-On FAQs


  2. Once signed in, Click on your initials or your Avatar icon in the upper right corner.
    Then, select the link “View Account”.
    In the left pane, you will see the option to select “Office Apps”.




    This will display all Microsoft software that your account is licensed to use. Under the “Office” section, Click on the down arrow next to DEVICES.

    Then, click on the Sign out link next to any computer name you do not recognize or no longer use, and any computer name that might be your personal PC.

  3. Fully power off your personal PC, and wait 20 minutes for these changes to be applied.

    When you turn on your PC again, use a personal Microsoft account to sign in to Windows.


4. Reinstall Microsoft software (if licensed)

Students and many staff members at the University are granted Office 365 licenses. 

If you see an orange Install Office button on your screen in the above instructions, you can click on it to download an .exe package that will install the Microsoft software your account is licensed for.




During the installation process, you will be asked to sign in with a Microsoft account. You can use your University account here.


After this, a screen with the heading Use this account everywhere on your device will be shown.


It is ESSENTIAL that the "Allow my organization to manage my device" box NOT be checked here before you continue.


Leaving this box checked will result in the University's security policies being applied to your device again, and you will need to restart these instructions from the beginning.

Click on the link “No, sign in to this app only.”


JB - 08/29/22