Solved Should I enable the built-in Guest account

forneus · Jul 27, 2023

I wanted to share my laptop with a friend, and I added a Visitor account. It works fine. But then I did Get-LocalUsers command and I saw a disabled built-in Guest account. I assumed there was no need to create a Visitor since there is a built-in Guest. I activated it using commands net user guest active yes (just like activating built-in admin account). In the terminal I see it as True (active) in the Get-LocalUsers but I do not see it as an active account I can log in to. What is this built-in Guest doing in the system?

Brink · Jul 27, 2023

Hello forneus,

I'm afraid the built-in "Guest" account no longer works.

It's the main reason for the workaround "Visitor" account below to effectively be a guest account.

Add Guest Account in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to add a guest account to your Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC. Having different accounts on a shared PC lets multiple people use the same device, all while giving everyone their own sign-in info, plus access to their own files, browser favorites, and desktop...

www.elevenforum.com

FreeBooter · Jul 27, 2023

Guest account is removed from Windows 10 and Windows 11.

forneus · Jul 28, 2023

Brink said:
Hello forneus,

I'm afraid the built-in "Guest" account no longer works.

It's the main reason for the workaround "Visitor" account below to effectively be a guest account.

Add Guest Account in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to add a guest account to your Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC. Having different accounts on a shared PC lets multiple people use the same device, all while giving everyone their own sign-in info, plus access to their own files, browser favorites, and desktop...

www.elevenforum.com

Hello,

Thanks for your reply. It's just strange that we have to add Visitor while the built-in Guest is still there without any use. I'm guessing it is not recommended to remove it?

Brink · Jul 28, 2023

The built-in Guest account has been deprecated. While it's remnants are still there, it's not functional. I wouldn't worry about trying to remove it since it's not taking any space or hurting anything. If you enabled the "Guest" account, you can just disable it again.

Bree · Jul 28, 2023

forneus said:
.....while the built-in Guest is still there without any use. I'm guessing it is not recommended to remove it?

Brink said:
The built-in Guest account has been deprecated. While it's remnants are still there, it's not functional.

I don't think you can remove a built-in account, even if you wanted to.

Although signing in as Guest is no longer possible, it does seem to have one remaining function, to provide guest access for other computers connecting to this PC from across the network.