Multiple Users On One Computer Requiring Username And Password

codyjacks · 25 Dec 2013

Hello all, I am very new to the computer world, but I found out how to set my computer to require a username and password for every user on my computer from this article: Log On with User Name and Password (I used option two: manually changing the setting in registry editor.) My problem is that when I change my account name, I still have to log in with the old account name. My original account name was Cody, but I wanted to change that to cjacks, then create a new account without administrator privileges, named Cody. When I did this, I set both accounts to have the same password, (now I have two accounts, one named Cody, and one named cjacks, both with the same password) but the only username I could log in with was "Cody", and it logged me into the account that I had just re-named cjacks. (The original administrator account.) My questions are: why would I not be able to log into the newly made, "Cody" account, and why does using the username "Cody" log me into the account that is now named "cjacks"? By the way, when I lock my computer, it goes to a login screen requiring username and password, and I know that this would only allow me to login to the account that I was on when I locked my computer. To login to other accounts, I would, theoretically, push switch user, and then in the next screen it asks me for a username and password, and I could put in any username and password associated with any user account on the computer, and it would log me into that account. This will not work, however. Any help/insight would be very much appreciated. :)

ICIT2LOL · 25 Dec 2013

Hello and welcome Cody mate how exactly are you setting up the accounts? If you want just guest accounts then you just need to add accounts via Control Panel > User Accounts > then do as in pic.

One word of advice - if you want to retain control over the machines settings then make yourself the administrator - it saves so many problems later on. After fixing few of friends computers where the kids have had accounts on them it makes for a lot of work to dump them if you have to.

The pic is done up on my 8.1 laptop so may look slightly different on your machine.

codyjacks · 25 Dec 2013

I am just setting up the second account through "add or remove user accounts" in control panel. The idea is that I will have one account (administrator) that I will use, then another standard account (the only one my parents think exists). I really like how I set it to require a username and password because they'll have no idea how many other accounts there are. (In this case, there's only one.) And they're not going to be installing programs, changing anything or looking at the user accounts page, so they won't know the difference between administrator or non administrator. I just need to find out how to make my computer recognize the two different accounts that exist... I don't get why it doesn't register that I have changed the name of an account, or that a new one exists... I would imagine that there isn't any problem changing the registry editor settings... But I don't know. I know that at my work they use the same thing so they can have tons of accounts on one computer, but the only one you can see/access is your own because you have to put in both your username and password.

ICIT2LOL · 25 Dec 2013

Cody whatever you do don't change anything in the registry unless you know exactly what you are doing in there in fact I strongly urge you to make a back up of it in case of mishap.
To do that Registry - Backup and Restore I do this after I install the OS for safety sake.

I have to say at this point I am wondering why you need to do this but can see why the motive for not letting your parents put programs on the machine or see what you are doing on the machine. However at the same time I am wondering what if anything what you intend doing on the machine is something they wouldn't approve of.

Even if you do make multiple accounts with all sorts of passwords and stuff there are ways to see what you are doing on the computer.

If it is say to hide conversations between you and your friends then just use an account for which only you have access. But again there ways around this for those who know how to do that if your parents are cluey enough..

xunile · 25 Dec 2013

Did you restart the PC after making the changes?

codyjacks · 25 Dec 2013

Yeah, I did restart it.

codyjacks · 25 Dec 2013

The registry is not something that will make the computer explode if I mess something up.. I have windows 7 on a flash drive and have (MANY times) reinstalled windows because I've messed something up. I'm not afraid of the registry editor; I'm simply bored of the boringness of my system. I wanna learn how to change all these things to make my computer work EXACTLY as I please, and do EXACTLY what I want. I have it backed up, and I've changed a few things (based on forums) that change reaction times from 1200 milliseconds to 800 milliseconds. I've toyed around with it a bit, but now something isn't working right, which is why I'm asking about it here. And this is more for just toying around with my system to make it do what I want than actually hiding anything. All I need to know is how to use multiple usernames and passwords on one system, while windows requires both username and password.

ICIT2LOL · 25 Dec 2013

Hmm well I can only think of the UAC settings to do that Cody if making an account up in a name and adding a password (as a standard / guest user) to that name isn't what you want then it is beyond my experience.

Sorry I could be of any help.

codyjacks · 26 Dec 2013

Yes, that's what I want to do, but once I do that, the login screen doesn't recognize the name change of my original account, and it doesn't recognize that I set up a second account. So that's exactly what I want to do, it just seems to not work the way it should. Ordinarily, when you make a second account, it comes up where you can see its icon next to the original icon on the login screen. However, in this case, there is only one option, and it requires a username and a password. Theoretically, you could put in the name for any account that is registered on the computer, put in its password, and it would log you into that account. It's just not doing that for me.

Kari · 26 Dec 2013

Changing the name of your user account does not change the name of the user profile folder, which can cause issues if the old username is then again used on new user accounts.

An example: My user account in this computer I am using now is Kari. If I now change its name to Larry in Control Panel > User Accounts, the account name would be Larry but my personal user folder would still be C:\Users\Kari.

As the name of the user account folder does not change when the user account name is changed, it also prevents using the old name of the user account in a new user account profile folder name because this folder still exists.

Here two screenshots to explain more. First, I have changed my username from Kari to Larry but as the username change does not change the name of the user folder, Larry's personal folders are still stored at C:\Users\Kari:

Multiple Users On One Computer Requiring Username And Password-2013-12-26_11h32_55.png

I now re-create the user account Kari. As the user profile folder Kari still exists and is used by the user account Larry, the new user user profile will be named automatically by Windows to Kari_2:

Multiple Users On One Computer Requiring Username And Password-2013-12-26_11h36_47.png

This is why instead of changing the username it is always better to create a new user profile, copy all personal files and folders from old profile to new profile and finally delete the old profile (user account and its profile folder).

If however it is necessary to change the username, then here's the recommended method to change the name of the user account folder: User Profile Folder - Change User Account Folder Name.

Kari