One login shared by a whole household causes predictable trouble: someone's browser bookmarks get mixed in with everyone else's, a kid installs something they shouldn't, and nobody can figure out whose desktop icons those are. Windows has supported separate accounts since long before Windows 10, and setting them up properly takes about ten minutes per person. The payoff is that each user gets their own desktop, documents, browser profile, and permissions — and you get control over who can install software or change system settings.
Standard vs Administrator: Pick the Right Type
Every Windows account is either a standard user or an administrator. An administrator account can install software, change system settings, and modify other accounts. A standard account can run programs, save files, and use the internet, but it gets prompted for admin credentials when it tries to do anything that affects the whole machine — installing an app, changing the date and time, adding a printer driver.
The practical rule: keep exactly one administrator account (yours), and make everyone else — kids, roommates, guests — standard users. This isn't about distrust; it's about containment. If a standard account gets compromised by malware or a bad download, the damage is limited to that account's files rather than spreading system-wide, because the malware doesn't have permission to write to protected system folders.
Creating a New Account
Go to Settings → Accounts → Family & other users (the exact wording varies slightly between Windows 10 and 11). Under "Other users," click "Add account." You'll be offered the choice to add a Microsoft account (which syncs settings and OneDrive across devices, tied to an email address) or to scroll down and choose "I don't have this person's sign-in information," followed by "Add a user without a Microsoft account" for a fully local, offline account.
- Microsoft account: Best for a device the person will use long-term and want settings, Edge favorites, and OneDrive files to follow them. Requires internet during setup and periodically for sync.
- Local account: Best for guest use, shared kiosk-style machines, or anyone who doesn't want their activity tied to a cloud identity. No sync, no recovery via Microsoft if the password is forgotten — you have to reset it from an admin account instead.
After creation, the new account shows up at the Windows lock screen immediately. It starts with a completely fresh desktop, default wallpaper, and empty Documents/Downloads/Pictures folders — nothing carries over from your account.
Setting Up a Child Account with Family Safety
If the account is for a minor, choose "Add a family member" instead of a generic account, and select "Child." This links the account to Microsoft's Family Safety features: screen time limits by day of week, app and game install restrictions by age rating, and web filtering in Edge. You manage all of it remotely from family.microsoft.com on any device, which is more convenient than digging through local parental control settings when the child isn't at the shared PC.
Switching Between Accounts Without Logging Out
Windows supports fast user switching: click Start, click the account icon at the top, and choose a different user. This suspends your session in the background — your open apps and unsaved work stay exactly as they were — and hands the screen to the next person. It's faster than a full sign-out and sign-in cycle, and it means two people can each have running apps at the same time without one having to close everything first.
What Standard Users Can't Do (and How to Grant Exceptions)
Standard accounts are blocked from: installing most desktop software, changing system time zone settings that affect scheduled tasks, modifying other users' accounts, and editing protected areas of the Windows Registry. When a standard user hits one of these walls, Windows shows a User Account Control prompt asking for an administrator's username and password. Entering those credentials completes the action just that once — it doesn't upgrade the account.
If a specific standard user needs ongoing ability to install their own software (common for a teenager or a technically competent roommate), you can promote their account to administrator from Settings → Accounts → Family & other users → select the account → Change account type. Weigh this against the security tradeoff: every additional administrator account is another account that, if compromised, has full system access.
Removing an Account Cleanly
When someone moves out or a device changes hands, remove their account from Settings → Accounts → Family & other users, select the account, and choose Remove. Windows will ask whether to delete the account's files or keep them; unless you specifically need to archive their documents, delete them — an old account with leftover files is one more thing sitting on the disk with no owner watching it.
For a device that's being sold, wiping individual accounts isn't sufficient anonymization on its own — go further and check our guide to securely wiping a drive before it leaves your hands, since deleted account folders can sometimes still be recovered with data-recovery tools.
A Note on Passwords Per Account
Each account should have its own password — never reuse the same one across every login on a shared machine, since that defeats the entire point of separating accounts. Microsoft's official guidance on account security, including setting up a PIN or Windows Hello for faster sign-in without weakening the underlying account password, is documented at support.microsoft.com/windows. If anyone in the household struggles to remember distinct passwords, a password manager solves that cleanly — worth setting one up for each account individually so nobody's vault is shared alongside their login.