Everything you do in Windows, you do as someone. That someone is your user account. It decides what you’re allowed to change, and it keeps your files and settings apart from everyone else’s on the PC.
Even if you’re the only person who ever touches this PC, you have one, because Windows always wants to know who’s asking.
Two questions about every account
What can it do? Standard or administrator
| Type | What it can do |
|---|---|
| Administrator | Change settings, install software and access all files |
| Standard | Everyday work, but needs an administrator’s approval for changes to the system |
Microsoft recommends limiting the number of administrators, and using standard accounts for day-to-day work because it’s safer. It’s like the keys to a building: you don’t need the master key just to get to your own office.
Where does it sign in? Microsoft or local
- A Microsoft account is one you sign in to online with an email address, and it’s the kind Microsoft recommends.
- A local account exists only on this PC.
- A work or school account comes from an organization, which also gets a say in what’s allowed.
The example user in this course, kmarflow, is a local account in the Administrators group. Settings > Accounts > Your info says so: Local Account, Administrator.
A Microsoft account also gets you Windows Backup, which can sync your Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music to OneDrive, and back up settings and app lists. On a new PC, you sign in with the same account and get offered a restore. A free account comes with 5 GB of OneDrive storage, which fills up faster than you’d think. None of this works with work or school accounts. My test machine has no Microsoft account signed in, so that part is Microsoft’s word, not my test.
Whichever kind you have, you pick how you prove it’s you under Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options. Besides the password, Microsoft lists a PIN, face recognition and fingerprint recognition, all three under the name Windows Hello. Face needs a Hello-compatible camera, fingerprint a fingerprint reader. What happens to that PIN, and where Windows keeps it, is a topic for the Windows Security course.
Seeing and managing user accounts
It’s all under Settings > Accounts. Your own account is at the top, and Other Users has the rest.
To add a user:
- Go to Settings > Accounts > Other Users.
- Next to Add other user, select Add account.
- Enter their sign-in information. If they don’t have a Microsoft account, you can select Add a user without a Microsoft account.
On my test machine, that last window stayed on “Just a moment…” since it wants to reach Microsoft, so step 3 comes from Microsoft’s page.
To change an account’s type: under Other users, expand the account, select Change account type, choose the type and select OK.
To remove a user: under Other users, expand the account, and next to Account and data, select Remove. Windows then asks one more time:
Removing an account removes its data from this PC
Windows says all their data will be removed from the PC, and lost if it’s not backed up elsewhere. Their Microsoft account still exists, but back up anything they need first. Oddly, on my test machine the account was gone at once, yet its folder under C:\Users was still there after a restart. So treat the files as lost, and have a look at that folder if you were hoping to get the disk space back.
“Do you want to allow this app to make changes?”
You’ve seen this one. You install something, the screen dims, and Windows asks. That’s User Account Control, or UAC, a security feature to protect Windows from unauthorized changes. It’s on by default.
So why does it ask you, when you’re the administrator? Because when an administrator signs in, Windows hands them two sets of rights: a standard one and an administrator one. Everything you do normally, including your desktop, runs with the standard rights. The administrator rights only come out when you approve them in that prompt.
Translation: “This wants the master key. Is that okay?”
| Who you are | What you get | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Administrator | A consent prompt | Select Yes or No |
| Standard user | A credential prompt | Enter an administrator’s password |
Have a look at the prompt’s color before you click. Gray means Windows or a verified publisher. Yellow means the app is unsigned or isn’t trusted, so make sure you know what it is before saying yes.
A shield icon on a button means that action will ask for administrator rights. And to run something as administrator on purpose, right-click it and select Run as administrator.
How UAC decides when to ask, and its settings, get a closer look in the Windows Security course.
The accounts you didn’t create
Windows brings a few accounts of its own:
- Administrator: disabled by default. Windows setup disables it and creates another account in the Administrators group, which is normally yours.
- Guest: disabled by default.
- DefaultAccount and other system-managed accounts: used by Windows, and not for signing in.
You’ll find them in Computer Management under Local Users and Groups, or from a terminal:
Get-LocalUser | Select-Object Name, EnabledName Enabled
---- -------
Administrator True
DefaultAccount False
Guest False
kmarflow True
WDAGUtilityAccount FalseAdministrator says True here only because I enabled it for my testing. And to see who you are right now, along with your computer’s name:
whoamipc-winit01\kmarflowWhat a profile is
Your account is who you are. Your profile is your stuff: your files, your settings and how you’ve arranged things.
Windows creates it the first time you sign in on a PC. It has two parts:
- A folder, such as
C:\Users\kmarflow, with your Documents, Pictures and everything else. - A settings file called
NTUSER.DATin that folder, hidden by default. It’s loaded when you sign in, and it’s what makes your settings yours. It’s part of the Registry, which has its own course.
Help, my desktop is empty: the temporary profile
If Windows can’t load your profile, it signs you in with a temporary profile instead. Your desktop is empty, your files seem gone, and your heart rate goes up.
Deep breath. Windows couldn’t load your profile, which isn’t the same as deleting it, so have a look under C:\Users for your own folder. But watch out: Microsoft states temporary profiles are deleted at the end of each session, so anything you save in one is lost when you sign out. I didn’t break a profile on purpose for this one, so that’s going by Microsoft’s description.
Now let’s open up that profile folder: User folders.
References
Tested on Windows 11 25H2, build 26200.9711, in a virtual machine: changing and removing users, the consent prompt, the built-in accounts, the commands and the profile folder. Not tested: adding a user past the first window, a temporary profile, the sign-in options and anything needing a Microsoft account.
- Manage User Accounts in Windows, Microsoft Support, no date shown.
- Configure Windows Hello, Microsoft Support, no date shown. Applies to Windows 11 and 10.
- Back up and restore with Windows Backup, Microsoft Support, no date shown.
- User Account Control, Microsoft Learn, last updated 2026-05-27.
- How User Account Control works, Microsoft Learn, last updated 2026-04-23.
- Local accounts, Microsoft Learn, last updated 2026-04-15. Scoped to standalone and member servers, so its defaults were checked on the test machine.
- About User Profiles, Microsoft Learn, last updated 2021-08-25.
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