How do I set up a computer so two people can use it separately?

Sharing one login is the arrangement most households drift into, and it produces a steady low-level friction: mixed-up files, browsers logged into the wrong account, autofill offering someone else's details, and no way to give a child a restricted environment. Separate accounts fix all of that in half an hour and cost nothing.

Step by step

1. Decide who needs administrator rights.One administrator account, used deliberately for installing software and changing system settings. Everyone else, including the administrator for day-to-day use, should have a standard account. It limits the damage a mistake or a piece of malware can do.
2. Add an account for each person.In the users or accounts section of the settings. You will be asked whether to link it to an online account or keep it local. A linked account syncs settings and files across devices; a local one stays on the machine and is simpler for a shared family computer.
3. Set a real password on each account, including your own.Without one, accounts are separated only by politeness. On a laptop that leaves the house this matters considerably more, and it is a prerequisite for the encryption in the next step to mean anything.
4. Turn on drive encryption.Separate accounts stop one person opening another's files while the computer is running. They do nothing if the drive is removed and read elsewhere. Encryption is what actually protects the files, and it needs its recovery key stored somewhere safe and away from the computer.
5. Move any shared files somewhere everyone can reach.Household documents, photos and music that everyone uses should go in a shared or public folder rather than sitting in one person's account, where they become inaccessible when that person is logged out or leaves.
6. Let each person set up their own browser.This is where most of the practical benefit lands: separate history, bookmarks, saved logins, extensions and autofill. It also stops the machine offering one person's card details to another.
7. Set up a child account with the controls you want.Both systems offer a child or managed account with screen time limits, content filtering and approval for purchases and installs. It is far more effective than one shared account with rules attached to it.
8. Check what happens to the software licences.Some applications install for all users and some install per account. Office suites and creative software often need signing in to per person, and a licence may allow a limited number of users.
9. Set fast switching so nobody has to shut down.Switch user leaves each session running in the background, so people can hand the machine over without closing anything. Worth checking it is enabled, and worth knowing it uses memory for each open session.
10. Explain the limits honestly to everyone using it.An administrator can reset another account's password and reach its files. Separate accounts give practical separation and tidiness, not secrecy from whoever manages the machine.

Tips

• A guest account is worth enabling if visitors regularly need the machine. It leaves nothing behind and cannot reach anyone's files.
• If one person's account holds the household's shared photo library, back it up somewhere independent. Accounts get deleted, and a shared library inside a personal account is a single point of failure.
• On a machine that is short of memory, encourage people to log out rather than leaving several sessions switched in the background.

Common mistakes

• Using an administrator account for everyday work — It removes the confirmation step that stops accidental and malicious changes. A standard account for daily use is a genuine security measure that costs almost nothing in convenience.
• Assuming separate accounts mean privacy — An administrator can reach any account on the machine, and an unencrypted drive can be read by anyone who takes it out. Encryption is what protects files, not account separation.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask