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Quick reference
Manage Multiple Account
Create multiple user accounts on the same PC.
When to use
We set up multiple accounts on one PC when we have multiple people using the same PC.
Instructions
Our user account on a PC is where all of our files and information are stored.
If we are the only one using a PC or laptop, we might simply have one account that we use. However, there are some situations where we might need to create multiple accounts on the same PC.
For example, if we have a PC at home that everyone in the family uses, we might want to create an account for each family member so everyone has access to their own files, folders, and settings.
When we set up additional accounts, a home folder is created for each user's files. This folder is locked for everyone apart from the owner of the folder and we must be logged in under that account to see the files. This means that we can't just view anyone's personal files simply because the account is on the same PC.
If we have multiple accounts on the same PC, we can see these listed when we are on the lock screen.
Create Additional User Accounts
- Go to Settings.
- Click on Accounts.
- Click Family & Other Users.
From here, we can see the other accounts set up on this PC. Users with Administrator access have the highest level of access. We recommend assigning admin access to at least one person if it hasn't been assigned already.
- Click Add Account.
We will be asked to specify how this user will sign in. If they have a Microsoft 365 account or a Microsoft email address, we can simply type the email address in. If not, click I don't have this person's sign-in information and follow the prompts to create a local account.
- Enter an email address.
- Click Next.
Change Account Type
Once the account has been created, we can change the account type if required.
- Click Change account type.
- Select Administrator or Standard.
Hints & tips
- A local account is simply an account that isn't tied to a Microsoft 365 account. We can use a local account to log in to Windows but we can't use any Microsoft 365 services.
- 00:04 Your user account on your PC is where all of your files and
- 00:08 information is stored, and we can have multiple accounts on the same PC.
- 00:13 Now why might you want to do that?
- 00:15 Surely we just have one account we sign in and we use our PC.
- 00:19 Well that might very well be the case for you but what if you have a home PC and
- 00:24 you have five different family members who all use the same PC?
- 00:29 I'm pretty sure if you have a son or a daughter, they don't want to sign into
- 00:33 the system using their dad's information, and have access to all of his files.
- 00:38 And I'm pretty sure dad's not going to like that too much either.
- 00:41 So what we can do is we can set up multiple user accounts on the same PC.
- 00:46 When we set up a new user, they get their own home folder which only they can
- 00:51 access to store all of their files.
- 00:53 And we saw in an earlier lesson when we took a look at File Explorer
- 00:57 how everybody gets their own home folder with their name assigned.
- 01:01 And you can't just open up anybody's folder unless you're signed in as them.
- 01:06 So let's take a look at how we can set up and manage multiple accounts on one PC.
- 01:11 Now the first thing I'm going to do here is I'm just going to jump across to my
- 01:14 lock screen.
- 01:15 And we do that using Windows Key L.
- 01:18 So this is the lock screen.
- 01:20 If I click my mouse to sign in, it's going to sign me in as
- 01:23 the account that I'm using now, which is my cell mate's account.
- 01:28 But take a look in the bottom left hand corner,
- 01:30 notice I have another account down here as well.
- 01:33 And in general I use the bottom one for my personal staff and the top one,
- 01:37 the cellmate's account for business things.
- 01:40 And I can toggle between which account I'm using simply by selecting them.
- 01:44 So, if I was to select this one,
- 01:46 it's going to ask me to sign in to that particular account.
- 01:50 And this account has a completely different email address to the one that
- 01:53 I'm currently using.
- 01:55 So all straightforward so far.
- 01:56 So how do we actually create those other accounts?
- 02:00 Well, it's not going to surprise you to know this but
- 02:02 we need to jump into our settings.
- 02:03 Now for this once again, we need to go to Accounts in that left hand menu.
- 02:08 And you can see at the top here that I'm logged in as my main account.
- 02:12 But if I want to see what other accounts I have attached,
- 02:16 I need to go down to family and other users.
- 02:19 And then you can see the other user that set up on this PC.
- 02:23 Now notice that I've given this user, which is still me, administration access.
- 02:29 And if you are an administrator for your system,
- 02:31 it means that you can pretty much do everything, you can delete things,
- 02:34 you can add and remove different applications, things like that.
- 02:37 You have the highest level of access to your PC.
- 02:41 So I've given both of my accounts administrator access because they're
- 02:45 both me.
- 02:46 Now it might be you don't want to give other family members admin access to do
- 02:49 those types of things.
- 02:50 You might just want one person to have admin access and
- 02:53 everybody else just to have a standard login.
- 02:56 So if we want to set up other users, this is fairly straightforward,
- 03:00 we have an Add Account button.
- 03:01 Now notice just above we have a family section.
- 03:05 So if you are setting this up for your family,
- 03:07 you could use the Add Account button just here as well to add another family member.
- 03:11 Now I'm just going to add another user, let's click on Add Account.
- 03:15 Now this is where we can enter in the user that we want to add their email address.
- 03:20 If you know their email address, that's pretty straightforward.
- 03:22 If you don't, there is a link underneath that says I don't have this person's sign
- 03:26 in information.
- 03:28 Now I do, I'm just going to set up another one of my accounts on this PC.
- 03:32 So let me type in the email address and then I just need to click on next and
- 03:36 that is it.
- 03:37 Good to go.
- 03:38 I can click on Finish.
- 03:40 And now you can see that I've been added just here.
- 03:43 If I click the drop down it's going to allow me to change some of my account
- 03:48 settings.
- 03:49 Now this new account isn't an administrator but
- 03:51 if I wanted to change that, I have a change Account Type button just here and
- 03:56 currently this person is just a standard user.
- 03:59 But I could also make this person an administrator and click on OK.
- 04:04 And you can now see that that is tagged underneath the user account.
- 04:08 I have the option to remove the account from here as well so that might
- 04:11 be something you want to do if you want to just take people off your system but
- 04:15 now I should be able to log into my PC as this person.
- 04:18 What you'll also notice is in File Explorer if I press Windows Key E
- 04:24 to pull that up, if we go to this PC, if we click on the C drive and
- 04:29 go to the Users folder, take a look at the bottom on here.
- 04:34 It's called Training 1 which is basically my Deb train 1 home folder.
- 04:40 Now currently if I was to double-click to try and look at the files within here,
- 04:44 it's not going to let me because I'm still signed in as my cell mate's account.
- 04:48 The only home folder I can access is the one labeled cell.
- 04:51 When I double-click, it opens up those folders.
- 04:54 Now we should find this changes once we log in as the other user.
- 04:58 So let's do that.
- 05:00 I'm going to close down Settings.
- 05:02 Let's lock our PC, Windows key L if we click.
- 05:07 And you can see now I have an additional account and
- 05:10 I can simply click on it, sign in.
- 05:13 And I'm now logged in as a completely different user with my own home folder.
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