Additional users on PC

I want to add the rest of the family as separate users on this machine.
What's the appropriate way to do that? Most options seem to push you to
set up an MS account except I/they don't want that.

I've given them 'Other people' accounts, but that seems to give them a
shared desktop with mine. That's very bizarre!

How do I simply set up a new user with their own
settings/documents/desktop/etc without having to sign in with a
Microsoft account?

On 08/04/2018 19:39, Chris wrote:

I want to add the rest of the family as separate users on this
machine. What's the appropriate way to do that? Most options seem to
push you to set up an MS account except I/they don't want that.

Good idea. The system knows that most people don't want to create a MS
Account just to use their own machine so there is always a way and the
system is pretty smart. See below how!!!!!!

I've given them 'Other people' accounts, but that seems to give them a
shared desktop with mine. That's very bizarre!

Indeed. It's bizarre!


How do I simply set up a new user with their own
settings/documents/desktop/etc without having to sign in with a
Microsoft account?

Simple. Just tell the system that "I don't have the person's sign in
info" and it will find a way to create an account for you. I suggest
see this picture to get a better idea. You might ask how the hell do
you talk to the system so the picture is the best way t explain it.

https://i.imgur.com/cfeSNIY.png https://i.imgur.com/cfeSNIY.png


Does this help you? i bet it does but you can ask a supplementary
question (for $10.00) for Rene or Keith to answer them.

/--- This email has been checked for viruses by
Windows Defender software.
//https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/comprehensive-security/


--
With over 600 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

On 04/08/2018 02:39 PM, Chris wrote:

I want to add the rest of the family as separate users on this machine.
What's the appropriate way to do that? Most options seem to push you to
set up an MS account except I/they don't want that.

I've given them 'Other people' accounts, but that seems to give them a
shared desktop with mine. That's very bizarre!

How do I simply set up a new user with their own
settings/documents/desktop/etc without having to sign in with a
Microsoft account?
Just tell MS you don't have an account and set a local account. Make a
separate account for each of them.

All program can be run by each user, but if you installed programs for
you only and not 'all users' then they won't show up on their menus.
You can make links to the programs in c:\program
files\folder\program.exe however.

Chris wrote:

I want to add the rest of the family as separate users on this machine.
What's the appropriate way to do that? Most options seem to push you to
set up an MS account except I/they don't want that.

I've given them 'Other people' accounts, but that seems to give them a
shared desktop with mine. That's very bizarre!

How do I simply set up a new user with their own
settings/documents/desktop/etc without having to sign in with a
Microsoft account?

I doubt many people do this, but consider the following.

When you install programs, some program installers say
"install for all users" or "install only for me".

You should be using the "install only for me" option.

Then, when your Other People sit down to the computer,
the desktop is going to be a bit more... spartan.

If you wanted to do a better job of administering the
machine, you could make your own account a Limited User,
just like them. And have an Administrator Group account
you use, only for maintenance purposes.

That might come closer to a "time share" model of
computer usage.

Most people aren't doing that, because when the OS
was installed, they got that Administrator Group
account, they didn't pay attention to anything,
and suddenly... "their desktop is everywhere" :-)

Experiment in a VM, if you want to practice and
get good at making a more pure environment.
You don't have to mess up your running C: to
figure out what works or doesn't work.

VirtualBox from Oracle is good for this. And
you can easily run Windows 10 in the VM for 30 days,
without a license key, while you do some testing.
And you can re-arm a couple times, to stretch that
to 90 days.

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

And you can download an ISO from here, to use as a source
to install Windows 10 into a VM Guest. If you visit
this link from WinXP or Linux, it gives a direct link
to an ISO file. If you visit from your Windows 10 setup,
it will instead offer you a copy of MediaCreationTool,
and that tool will make an ISO file for you. An ISO
file can be used to burn a DVD later. Or, an ISO file
can also be "mounted" inside VirtualBox, for doing
installations, and without the "slow" operation of a
DVD drive to get in the way of your fun.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/soft...load/windows10

And while there is documentation, it'll probably drive
you crazy :-) Not all the Microsoft pages are hyper-linked
properly for navigation to the top of the tree.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc505882.aspx

*******

There are other ways to manage users, such as perhaps
have Truecrypt or Veracrypt containers and, in effect,
multiboot the machine or something. The idea being,
that everyone has a truly private experience, gated
by a password that makes examination of what
they're doing... impossible. So there are probably
other ways to allow people to share a computer. But
that's beyond my pay scale. I've never used an
encrypted container here, or shown the slightest
interest in doing so. Boooring. And dangerous,
if the container fails. A maintenance nightmare
of your own making. You can back up containers
from the outside, so you do have that option if
you want some protection against HDD failures.
It's just if some issue develops inside the container
itself, and you don't have an old enough backup
to restore from, you might lose everything in the
container. And that's basically why I'm not
interested in encryption for "fun". It's
all danger, no benefits for me.

*******

An in-between option, looks like this.

+----+---------------------+------------+------------+------------+-------+
| MBR| GPT partition table | Win10_1 C: | Win10_2 C: | Win10_3 C: | SR |
+----+---------------------+------------+------------+------------+-------+
Active

Boot menu, user cursors down and selects "their" C: drive :

Win10_1
Win10_2
Win10_3

Once the user is booted, there will be a (Local Account)
password prompt.

The disadvantage of this method, is no file privacy. An administrator
booted on Win10_1, can go over and TakeOwn the files on
Win10_2 and look at them.

And that's why we have the notion of TrueCrypt or Veracrypt.
Or for that matter, I suppose BitLocker for each C; drive,
to provide the necessary level of privacy. There's probably
an option to protect each C: with BitLocker (so-called whole
disk encryption to encrypt C, as long as there is a
System Reserved (SR in diagram) to bootstrap from and
accept a password.

See the fun you can have ?

Bitlocker has a "best practices" that includes making a
password recovery disc. With the password recovery disc,
you may be able to re-gain access to the files, if
someone forgets a password. Each person could make
their own disc... as long as you can find the web page
with the details of "best practice for BitLocker". Don't
use encryption, unless you've read the "best practices"
web page for it, first. You'd be surprised how easy
it is to avoid a calamity.

Paul

On 4/8/2018 12:24 PM, Big Al wrote:
On 04/08/2018 02:39 PM, Chris wrote:

I want to add the rest of the family as separate users on this
machine. What's the appropriate way to do that? Most options seem to
push you to set up an MS account except I/they don't want that.

I've given them 'Other people' accounts, but that seems to give them a
shared desktop with mine. That's very bizarre!

How do I simply set up a new user with their own
settings/documents/desktop/etc without having to sign in with a
Microsoft account?
Just tell MS you don't have an account and set a local account. Make a
separate account for each of them.

All program can be run by each user, but if you installed programs for
you only and not 'all users' then they won't show up on their menus. You
can make links to the programs in c:\program files\folder\program.exe
however.


Others have provided the answer to your question.
I'm here to recommend against multiple users.

The devil is in the details...
Do you want your kids pirating games on the same computer you use
for managing your finances? If you wouldn't be concerned if
ANYTHING on that machine showed up on a roadside billboard,
you'll probably be happy with multiple users.

There was a story a while back about a teenager who downloaded
some music. She went off to college, not knowing that the
program she'd used also created a server that was serving that
music to the internet.
Some time later, her father received a notice that he had been
charged by RIAA or some such lawyer-rich agency with piracy
and the fine was $4M. I guess he threw his daughter under the bus
and escaped still owning his house. But I digress...

If you want anybody to be able to walk up, check mail, move on,
you're pretty much stuck with multiple users.
Most people have a zillion icons on their desktop.
I have ONE window that opens when I login. It has icons for all the
applications that I use often. I could setup multiple users
with their own "programs page". It's easy to manage by drag/drop.
Doesn't matter what desktop selections you used when you installed
the apps. Not giving everybody administrator accounts helps
with the surface stuff, but hampers the users.

I'm not a fan of multiboot. It separates somewhat, but provides
no real security. And win10 boot time exceeds my attention span,
especially if you don't wrangle updates.

Multiple instances of virtualbox is cleaner, and can work well
if EVERYBODY is very careful. Good luck with that. There are
also licensing issues.

If you don't require "drive-by access", plugin hard drives is
the best option. There's no way your kids can corrupt your
drive if it isn't plugged in. There shouldn't be any licensing
issues because only one clone is running at a time.

I'd like to hear about experiences with Windows to go.


Bottom line: Multiple users on a windows machine is a bad
idea on so many levels.

Everybody who needs one should have their
own machine.

On 09/04/2018 02:00, mike wrote:
On 4/8/2018 12:24 PM, Big Al wrote:
On 04/08/2018 02:39 PM, Chris wrote:

I want to add the rest of the family as separate users on this
machine. What's the appropriate way to do that? Most options seem to
push you to set up an MS account except I/they don't want that.

I've given them 'Other people' accounts, but that seems to give them a
shared desktop with mine. That's very bizarre!

How do I simply set up a new user with their own
settings/documents/desktop/etc without having to sign in with a
Microsoft account?
Just tell MS you don't have an account and set a local account.Â*Â* Make a
separate account for each of them.

All program can be run by each user, but if you installed programs for
you only and not 'all users' then they won't show up on their menus. You
can make links to the programs in c:\program files\folder\program.exe
however.


Others have provided the answer to your question.
I'm here to recommend against multiple users.

The devil is in the details...
Do you want your kids pirating games on the same computer you use
for managing your finances?Â* If you wouldn't be concerned if
ANYTHING on that machine showed up on a roadside billboard,
you'll probably be happy with multiple users.

Er, doesn't windows have a security model? I see that others can't
access my Users folder. So where's the issue?

There was a story a while back about a teenager who downloaded
some music. She went off to college, not knowing that the
program she'd used also created a server that was serving that
music to the internet.
Some time later, her father received a notice that he had been
charged by RIAA or some such lawyer-rich agency with piracy
and the fine was $4M.Â* I guess he threw his daughter under the bus
and escaped still owning his house.Â*Â* But I digress...

Yeah, there are plenty of 'stories'.

If you want anybody to be able to walk up, check mail, move on,
you're pretty much stuck with multiple users.
Most people have a zillion icons on their desktop.
I have ONE window that opens when I login.Â* It has icons for all the
applications that I use often.Â* I could setup multiple users
with their own "programs page".Â* It's easy to manage by drag/drop.
Doesn't matter what desktop selections you used when you installed
the apps.Â* Not giving everybody administrator accounts helps
with the surface stuff, but hampers the users.

I'm not a fan of multiboot.Â* It separates somewhat, but provides
no real security.Â* And win10 boot time exceeds my attention span,
especially ifÂ* you don't wrangle updates.

Multiple instances of virtualbox is cleaner, and can work well
if EVERYBODY is very careful.Â* Good luck with that.Â* There are
also licensing issues.

IfÂ* you don't require "drive-by access", plugin hard drives is
the best option.Â* There's no way your kids can corrupt your
drive if it isn't plugged in.Â* There shouldn't be any licensing
issues because only one clone is running at a time.

That sounds insane.

I'd like to hear about experiences with Windows to go.


Bottom line:Â* Multiple users on a windows machine is a bad
idea on so many levels.

Everybody who needs one should have their
own machine.

Disagree with you there. *unless* windows' security model is so flawed
that any local user can access any other local user's files.

On 08/04/2018 20:24, Big Al wrote:
On 04/08/2018 02:39 PM, Chris wrote:

I want to add the rest of the family as separate users on this
machine. What's the appropriate way to do that? Most options seem to
push you to set up an MS account except I/they don't want that.

I've given them 'Other people' accounts, but that seems to give them a
shared desktop with mine. That's very bizarre!

How do I simply set up a new user with their own
settings/documents/desktop/etc without having to sign in with a
Microsoft account?
Just tell MS you don't have an account and set a local account.Â*Â* Make a
separate account for each of them.

That's what I did and they've all got the same desktop icons as my
(administrator) desktop and they can't remove them without administrator
access.

All program can be run by each user, but if you installed programs for
you only and not 'all users' then they won't show up on their menus. You
can make links to the programs in c:\program files\folder\program.exe
however.

I don't want to limit access to programs. It's just weird all the other
accounts inherited my desktop.

Chris wrote:

That's what I did and they've all got the same desktop icons as my
(administrator) desktop and they can't remove them without administrator
access.

I don't want to limit access to programs. It's just weird all the other
accounts inherited my desktop.


By design the first user account created in Windows 10 is an
Administrator type account, all subsequent created accounts are Standard
type accounts unless and Admin account modifies the type.

--
....w¡ñ§±¤ñ
msft mvp 2007-2016, insider mvp 2016-2018

...w¡ñ§±¤ñ wrote:
Chris wrote:

That's what I did and they've all got the same desktop icons as my
(administrator) desktop and they can't remove them without administrator
access.

I don't want to limit access to programs. It's just weird all the other
accounts inherited my desktop.


By design the first user account created in Windows 10 is an
Administrator type account, all subsequent created accounts are Standard
type accounts unless and Admin account modifies the type.


I get that. Why did they inherit the admin account's desktop with all the
icons, though?