Family Account Not Visible On Login Screen

henhouseharry · 31 Mar 2024

Today I was troubleshooting a problem on my sister's HP 4Gb RAM, 256Gb SSD i5 notebook running Windows 10 Home Edition.
There are 2 accounts: an admin account and 1 family account.

Her account had disappeared from the login screen. Logging in with the admin account I tried using lusrmgr.msc but that was "Not available in this version of windows". The basic user manager showed the account as active, pending. I promoted the user by giving it the administrators role but the account still didn't show up on the login screen.

Logging in as an admin showed no files in c:\users\<username>\Documents but downloads were visible in c:\users\<username>\Downloads

A number of Windows 10 updates were pending so I installed those and still nothing.
The Family accounts were showing as "We couldn't connect to Microsoft family right now, so your family on this device might not be up to date".

A large update was pending so I let that run and - without warning - it upgraded to Windows 11. As if by magic the account reappeared on the login screen. Upon logging in it was obvious to me that the account was validated by her email address not a proper local Windows account and the Documents directory was being saved to Onedrive. I backed up her data to a USB stick and she was happy she could access everything again.

Questions:
All my PCs run Windows 10 Professional and have never had this problem.

1. What on earth are Microsoft playing at with Windows 10 Home?
Discouraging local accounts, making accounts disappear from the login page, removing lusrmgr.msc
2. Updating to Windows 11 doesn't even have a message box saying:
"This upgrade will upgrade your machine to Windows 11. Are you sure? (y/n)"

My sister didn't realise her documents etc. were being saved to Onedrive. I guess when the free space runs out at 5Gb she'll be stung with "Do you want to pay to store your data on Onedrive?" I've told her to store everything locally and not use an Outlook account but I don't want to over complicate it for her.

dalchina · 01 Apr 2024

Hi, a confusing set of circumstances. I'll comment briefly on points you mention.

1.

Upon logging in it was obvious to me that the account was validated by her email address not a proper local Windows account

Create and Set Up Your Microsoft Family Group

Family accounts rely on and are based on MS accounts, not local accounts.

2.

A large update was pending so I let that run and - without warning - it upgraded to Windows 11.

Theoretically a Win 11 upgrade is 'opt-in'. There have been reports of this upgrade happening regardless. See e.g.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/an...s-11-on-its-ow

I believe I read somewhere that come the end of support for Home, Pro in Oct '25 eligible PCs would be upgraded automatically, but I can't now find that.

There is a widely documented method to stop such an upgrade and related notifications which has been around since after Win 11 came out. That's to use 'target feature upgrade' (tutorial available in the searchable Tutorials section).

Or just search 'block Windows 11 upgrade' and you'll find 1000s of results.

Should you wish to revert to Win 10, by default you have 10 days to do so automatically.

3.

My sister didn't realise her documents etc. were being saved to Onedrive.

OneDrive is horrible - difficult, invasive, intrusive and hard to understand. Witness the number of tutorials on it in the Tutorials section.

A good many members have uninstalled it completely.

Before attempting that, make sure you proceed cautiously- stop it synching, remove integration, make sure your data is where you want it, and if so, uninstall it. You still have access to your on line Onedrive account to retrieve data if needed.

4.

Discouraging local accounts

It is possible to install Windows using a local account but you have to proceed appropriately and be informed. Yes, the easy default is a MS account.

Note that a given account can be changed from a MS account to a local one and vice versa. Tutorials available.

5.

I tried using lusrmgr.msc but that was "Not available in this version of windows".

Correct, that's not available in Home.
managing-user-accounts-and-groups

You could try
How to Enable Local Users and Groups Management in Windows 11 and 10 Home

I guess that's marketing. Pay (e.g. $25) for a legitimate Win 10 Pro license and you get the benefits.
Daily free giveaways of paid apps & software
- scroll down.