How to Manage Local User Accounts in Windows 10?

While setting up a new Windows 10 PC, you can create a user account easily. But, there are many options to manage your user accounts in Windows 10. In this article, we’ll see how you can view, delete, disable and enable a local user account in Windows 10.

Viewing User Account Information

Follow the steps given below, to view an user account or to view an account info in Windows 10.

• Type ‘Settings’ in the Windows search box and hit enter key.

• Open ‘Accounts > Your info’. This page will show account related information. You can add a profile picture, sign in with a Microsoft account and check whether it’s a local account or a Microsoft account.

Deleting Local User Account

If a user account is no longer needed, then you should probably delete it. Follow these steps to delete a local account:

• Open ‘Accounts > Family & other people’ like in the previous step.
• In the ‘Other people’ section, click on the ‘Local account’ you want to delete and then click on ‘Remove’ button.
• Then, click on ‘Delete account and data’ button.

After completion, the local account will be no longer available on your computer.

Deleting Family Account

To delete a family account:

• Open ‘Accounts > Family & other people’ from the ‘Settings’.
• Under the section ‘Your family’, click on the link ‘Manage family settings online’. You must be sign-in to your Microsoft account to see this information.
• Go to the ‘Adult’ account you want to remove and click on the link ‘Remove from family’ given below of that family account. Click on the ‘Remove’ button again.
• If it is a ‘Child’ account, then go to the ‘More options’ and click on ‘Remove from family’.

After this, the family account will be no longer available on your computer.

Learn how to set PIN, image password and finger print with Windows Hello in Windows 10.

Disable & Enable User Account from Computer Management

Disabling an account is usually done on a temporary basis, it can be activated again also.

To disable a user account:

• Press ‘Windows + X’ shortcuts keys to open power user menu and click on ‘Computer Management’ option.

• Navigate to the ‘System Tools > Local Users and Groups > Users’.
• Right-click on the user account which you want to remove and choose ‘Properties’.

• In ‘General’ tab, check the ‘Account is disabled’ option. Click on ‘Apply’ and then ‘OK’.

Note: You can only be able to edit ‘Local Users and Groups’ if your PC has Window 10 Pro, Enterprise and Education version. Windows 10 Home version does not have the ‘Group policy editor’ So, this feature may not be available in Windows 10 Home version.

Similarly to enable the user account:

• Just uncheck the ‘Account is disabled’ option again in the previous step.
• Your account will be enabled again.

Disable & Enable User Account from CMD

it is also possible to enable or disable an user account from command prompt. Follow the below steps in order to disable an user account via CMD. You can also do this using Windows PowerShell prompt.

• Go to ‘Start’ and search for ‘Command prompt’. Right-click on it and click on ‘Run as administrator’.

• Type ‘net user’ and hit ‘Enter’ key. It will show the user accounts in the PC.
• Type ‘net user username /active:no’ and press ‘Enter’ again. (Note: Instead of username, you have to write the ‘name’ of your user account).

Now, the account will no longer be available.

To enable an user account via CMD:

• Type the command ‘net user username /active:yes’ and press ‘Enter’ key.
• You just have to put ‘yes’ instead of ‘no’ in the previous command. The account will be accessible again.

Managing Microsoft User Account

All the above sections explain how to manage local user accounts in Windows 10. If you are using Microsoft email for login to your PC then you may not be able to delete or change within the computer. You should login to your Microsoft account and change the profile. This is not recommended since changing the Microsoft account will impact all your accessibility to emails, OneDrive and other Microsoft applications.