How to add a new User in Windows 11

As part of a Windows 11 in­stal­la­tion, you will au­to­mat­i­cal­ly create a user account that you can use to log into the Microsoft system. The account has ad­min­is­tra­tor priv­i­leges which is perfect for anyone using their device alone. However, if yours is a family device or a work computer shared with several users, an in­di­vid­ual user account is required. We will show you how to add a new user in Windows 11.

You can add a new user to Windows 11 at any time. The easiest way to do so is via the Settings:

1. Launch Settings from the Start menu or using the key com­bi­na­tion [Windows] key + [i].
2. Select the “Accounts” item from the left side menu.
3. Click on the “Family & other users” section.
4. Click “Add account” for the desired account type (“family member” or “ad­di­tion­al user”).
5. Link the account to a Microsoft account (always required for the family account) or create the user as a local user by pressing “I don't have this person’s sign-in in­for­ma­tion” and “Add user without Microsoft account” in sequence.
6. Assign a username and a secure password and answer three of the se­lec­table security questions.
7. Add the new Windows 11 user account via “Next”.

When you create a new user in Windows 11, you have two options: You can either link the new account to a Microsoft account for logging into the system or you can generate a local user account.

If you select the former, you will log in with an online account every time you log in to Windows. This offers some ad­van­tages when using Microsoft services like OneDrive or Skype. In addition, linking to a Microsoft account enables cross-device syn­chro­niza­tion of your data and settings. Merging a user and a Microsoft account is mandatory if you want to download apps from the in-house Microsoft Store.

A local user does not have access to the above features; however, a link can be created at any time.

As with many other features and functions, Windows 11 allows for different ap­proach­es to adding new users. Read on to find out more about the three most commonly used options to add a user in Windows 11.

The standard option to add a new user account in Windows 11 is via the Settings – the central con­fig­u­ra­tion menu of the Microsoft system. Among other things, you can adjust the language settings to switch the keyboard in Windows 11 or the basic con­fig­u­ra­tion for screen recording in Windows 11 with the Xbox Game Bar.

Windows 11, much like its pre­de­ces­sors, offers password man­age­ment for existing user accounts. Here, you can create a new user to share Windows 11 with multiple people.

Password man­age­ment is hidden well in Windows 11 but can be accessed quickly and easily using the “Run” function. You can use the function either with the key com­bi­na­tion [Windows] key + [R] or by right-clicking on the Start menu and selecting “Run”.

Type the following command into the “Run” window and confirm it by pressing “OK”:

The command prompt, a Windows command line tool, provides the option to create new user accounts. However, you need ad­min­is­tra­tor rights for this step, else the required commands cannot be executed.

Now, enter the command to create a new user account into the command prompt. The syntax is as follows: