Is there anyway to prevent a child's account from making purchases from the Windows Store? I asked the MS Community for help but the only response I received was to "remove the account from the family". If I do this, then they are no longer able to log into the computer. Is there a reasonable alternative to using the family settings offered by Microsoft?
There is a tutorial here that shows how to remove some features from the store. Maybe this will help
Welcome to the Forum as well:)
Apps - Uninstall in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums
How about non linking any CC or other payment to their account? If you need to pay for some paid apps for them, open the Store from their account, temporarily log-off their account inside the Store, access yours (which has the payment set), buy whatever you want, log off yours and log in back with theirs for max assurance.
The app/game will remain working. No IAP will be possibile as their normal account has no payment method set.
Gary,
Thank you for the quick response. I looked thru the post you suggested. It contained some great information but it looks as though there is no way to prevent purchases without uninstalling the Windows Store app. I didn't want to have to go that route but it appears to be the only viable option.
Thank you again for the suggestion.
Macco26,
I tried this and Microsoft just deactivated their accounts and removed them. They could no longer log into the home computer which was very frustrating.
Thank you for the suggestion.
There is nothing against anything doing like I said. You must have your main account beside your kids' one in the same device. So each device at least 2 accounts: kids + administrator (with payment method). This way there is not a single issue with that. If you look into the Internet you'll find this method even explained by Microsoft in their section Family Safety (can't catch now the link).
So If I were you I wouldn't be worried to retry that again, provided your "paying" account is also present on the device (and you confirmed Microsoft it's your own device when they ask you to proof it with the SMS code and so. Just check on accounts.live.com of your account if your main account has that device properly recorded before trying to pay/install your app logging in with your credential in there.
Macco26,
I had setup Windows 10 on the computer and set up the Admin/Adult account (me) and both children's accounts. My account is a valid account and linked to a CC. I did a test set up with one account and did the verify to a CC, when I went in to test it, there child account was able to make any purchases they would want to. The only settings I could find (and only reference in the Microsoft Family section is to limit the age group). So I set up another account without doing the credit card verify and Microsoft closed the accounts after 1 week.
I may not be understanding what you are saying to do in order to get around this. I did a search on the internet yesterday and I found others having this same issue but no responses on how to get around it without revering back to 7 or 8.
There must be a way to prevent this using Group Policy but this can be an alternative:
I have Finnaly Found An App That will Remove Most Metro Apps - Windows 10 Forums
Then there is this:
Remove all apps bundled with Windows 10 but keep Windows Store
What I'm saying is that when I setup my kids accout I did NOT offer any CC verification. And their account is perfect to buy free-apps.
When I need to buy paid-apps for their account:
(it's valid for 8.x btw, but this following detail is applicable to Win10)
I open the Store from their account
click on the icon of their profile in the Store app
click again to show the log off text
click it
sign in with my account credential (that is another windows user of that said machine)
continue to find and purchase the app
log off as I did with their account (clicking on the profile icon in the Store)
log in with kids account for max restoration.
That's it.
Marco26,
Thank you for your response and advise. In Windows 10, if you do not do a CC verification then Microsoft deletes the account (this is what happened to start this whole shebang). I set up accounts in Windows 8 like you did and it worked great until I did the upgrade to 10. The funny thing about this whole ordeal is a response I received from Microsoft which said "children should ask permission before they purchase anything and that will solve the issue". I don't know if I was more mad or amused by that statement......
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