Multiple users logging into Windows 10 PC without using any password?

Calab said:

I am setting up a Windows 10 PC for some friends. They do not want to have to enter any password to get into their accounts. They simply want to turn on the computer, click on one of the users names and be at that users desktop - no password, no PIN.

With a local account that has no password, by default Windows will sign in at start up as the user who was signed in at shut down. You could then sign out and have the choice of users to sign in as. The trick to prevent signing in automatically as the last user is to set up automatic log on with a user name that does not exist, such as 'Choose a user name' in my example below.

Sign in User Account Automatically at Windows 10 Startup




Then when that fake account fails to sign in, click OK to get the choice of users to sign in as.

The big catch here is that they still want to be associated to a Microsoft account so they can sync their Edge bookmarks and such.

A local account with no password that has a Microsoft associated with it is a big security risk, should that PC ever fall into the wrong hands. It also means that any user of this PC could sign in as another user and get access to the other user's MS account. Does everyone trust each other that much?

Bearing that in mind, it is possible to associate a local account with a Microsoft account. Although this tutorial is on Eleven Forum, it is equally applicable to Windows 10.

In this tutorial, you will see how to keep signing in to Windows with a local account, named as you wish, but then associate / integrate it with a Microsoft account. This method keeps your Windows sign-in account and your MSA totally separated, yet giving you 100% same benefits and features than when signing in with an MSA.

I call it Hybrid Account - a local account with full MSA integration.

Add Microsoft account to Local account for Hybrid account in Windows 11 Tutorial | Windows 11 Forum

No point in lecturing about the security aspects of this, so why not just use a dead simple password of 1 letter for each user e.g. first letter of their name?

However, you should be careful about who has admin rights.

Each user can sign in to apps using their MS account, and retain the local login.

I couldn't have helped you with a solution anyway but do bear in mind that, if you had succeeded in getting them to avoid passwords even just for local accounts, the passwordless user accounts that were not currently logged in would have been open doors for online hackers.

In a recent trial, a UK organisation set up a smart home network with special monitoring that detected a malicious login attempt every five minutes.
In your sought-after case, every malicious login attempt would have been successful.
And the currently-logged-in user would not have seen any warning about the intrusion.

Denis

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