Windows 10 Guest Account
If you want someone to have temporary access to your computer, you can create a guest account. People using the guest account can’t install software or hardware, change settings, or create a password. Because the guest account allows a user to log on to a network, browse the Internet, and shut down the computer, you should disable the guest account when it isn’t being used.
In previous version of Windows, turning on or enabling the built-in guest account was fairly simple. We could navigate to user accounts section of Control Panel to turn on the guest account. But in new OS Windows 10 it is not so simple - Microsoft hide this option.
Guest account in Windows 10
In Windows 10, Microsoft has moved almost all user account settings to the new Settings app, but there is no option under Accounts section of Settings to enable the guest account. The Settings app only allows you create local or Microsoft accounts.
Is Guest account missing from Windows 10?
No, guest account is available in Windows 10 as well. It’s only that the guest user account can’t be enabled in Windows 10 via Settings or classic Control Panel. In order to enable the guest account in Windows 10, you need to use the Local Users and Groups.
Enable Guest Account using Group Policy
Step 1: Open Local Group Policy Editor.
Step 2: Find and open the policy named "Accounts: Guest account status".
In detail, it is located in Computer Configuration/Windows Settings/Security Settings/Local Policies/Security Options.
Step 3: Select Enable or Disable the policy and click OK to enable it.
Enable Guest Account using Command Prompt
Run Command Prompt as administrator.
Step 1: Click Start button and type cmd in the search box to find Command Prompt. Right-tap Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator. Choose Yes in the User Account Control dialog.
Step 2: Enable or disable the account with a command.
- To enable this account, type "net user guest /active:yes" (without quotes) and press Enter.
- Input "net user guest /active:no" (without quotes) and hit Enter to disable it.
Turn on guest account via Local users and Groups
Step 1: In the Start menu or taskbar search box, type Lusrmgr.msc and then press Enter key to open Local Users and Groups.
Step 2: Here, on the left-side, under Local Users and Groups (local), double-click on Users to view all user accounts on your Windows 10 PC.
Step 3: Right-click the Guest and then click Properties or double-click on Guest to open its properties.
Step 4: To enable the Guest account, under the General tab, uncheck the option titled Account is disabled. In the full name field, type in a name for the account if you wish to have a different name for the account, and then click Apply button to enable the guest account.
You have just enabled the Guest account!
To sign in or switch to the Guest account, click on your user account name on the Start menu (top-left of the Start) and then click on the Guest account to switch the account.
As the old saying goes, “All roads lead to Rome”. In other words, there are various ways to do the same thing. The above shows you 3 methods you can choose from, and you just need to select the one that is easier for you.