How to set up a Standard User account on a new Windows 11 Pro laptop

Goal
I want to set up my new laptop so that I operate as a Standard User rather than an Administrator.

Extra details
- OS: Windows 11 Pro
- Device: New laptop

How can I configure Windows 11 Pro so that my account is set up as a Standard User?

Note: I'm hoping this will be more secure for me if I'm not the Administrator; however, I do want his Administrator's password.

You can't have single Standard user account if you do you won't able to complete simple Administrative tasks.

Leave the existing Admin account alone [the one created during installation].
Use it to create a standard user account for day-to-day use.
Add Local User Account - ElevenForumTutorials
or
Add MS User Account - ElevenForumTutorials
I generally use local user accounts [both standard ones & Admin ones].


Denis

---

Welcome to ElevenForum.

It's really worth making time to browse through the ElevenForum Tutorial index - there's a shortcut to it at the top of every ElevenForum page [within the Tutorials dropdown list].
- At the foot of the ElevenForum Tutorial index is a shortcut to download it as a spreadsheet.
- I download a new copy each month.
- By downloading it as a spreadsheet I can benefit from Excel's excellent filtering capabilities when I search for topics of interest.
- ElevenForum tutorials are also listed at Tutorials and there's a shortcut to that at the top of every page.

You can search ElevenForum using the search box in the top-right corner of all ElevenForum webpages or using Advanced Search - ElevenForum
You can also search ElevenForum threads in many general search engines, such as Google, by adding site:elevenforum.com after your search term. For example,
Taskbar setup site:elevenforum.com

reggut said:

How can I configure Windows 11 Pro so that my account is set up as a Standard User?

Click to expand...

Welcome to Eleven Forum.

What Try3 said, create a 2nd account that's a standard user and use that for your day to day tasks.
You must always have an account that's an administrator, even if you don't use it much. As FreeBooter says, you need one to do administrative tasks.

reggut said:

How can I configure Windows 11 Pro so that my account is set up as a Standard User?

Click to expand...

The device should have at least one administrator account.

If your acount has not already been established:
From the administrator account Create a new local account
Settings>Accounts>Scroll down and click on Other Users.
Select add account>select I don't have this person's signin information

This will let you create a local account as a standard user.
In user name box, name the account and assign a password.

If your account is already established, login to administrator and change your account to a standard user from Settings>Accounts>Scroll down and click on Other Users. Select your account name> Change account type > using drop arrow.

I have always set my user account to be an Admin account, but now with the availability of Sudo, I am thinking about changing that since running admin tasks is made so much easier with Sudo. I guess I need to start my experimentation for that soon.

Thanks for the reminder

Bree said:

What Try3 said, create a 2nd account that's a standard user and use that for your day to day tasks.
You must always have an account that's an administrator, even if you don't use it much. As FreeBooter says, you need one to do administrative tasks.

Click to expand...

If you've already created the account you want to use as a standard user, create a new account as an administrator, and use that account to remove administrative rights from your first account.

I certainly think it's good practice to use a standard account for everyday use. You shouldn't have any problems with normal applications. You'll probably need admin rights to install them, but the installer should give you an elevation prompt when required.

Watch out for programs that don't need admin rights to install, but do to run. Such as tweaking programs. They assume that your normal account is an admin account, and may not work correctly for some functions.