Why is the guest account missing/broken in Windows 10?

In older versions of Windows and even in Windows 10 previews you could enable the built-in guest account in control panel

Control Panel\User Accounts\User Accounts\Manage Accounts

In Windows 10, the Guest entry is missing.

Using Computer Management or net user you can still enable the guest account, but even then it doesn't show up on the logon screen.

In the Local Security Policy secpol.msc:

Local Policies - User Rights Assignment - Deny log on locally

we can see guest listed, this wasn't the case in older versions of Windows.

After removing guest from that policy, it is listed on the logon screen and we can using it to log on.

However, the whole Explorer shell is crashing and restarting constantly. The desktop is blinking and you can't click anything.

So the guest account is totally broken.

There is a question on answers.microsoft.com about this showing that some code was quickly added to the control panel to not show the guest account. So Microsoft does know about the problem.

While I don't really expect anybody to know what they've done to break this, at least this explains why the guest account is currently not listed.

Peter Hahndorf

Posted 2015-08-15T15:09:45.743

Reputation: 10 677

I'm sure MS is working on a fix or they are never going to enable it, i assume they want people to use Microsoft accounts to sign in. imho W10 is still in beta even thought it is RTM. There is no way anyone can answer your questions since we are not MS insiders. – Moab – 2015-08-15T16:50:43.383

@Moab - So would it be better to just ask Why is there no guest account in Windows 10 and then answer it: Because it is broken? And move the details into the answer? – Peter Hahndorf – 2015-08-16T02:52:56.470

We don't know if it is "broken" or Microsoft is going to eliminate it. – Moab – 2015-08-16T17:17:27.857

Does this answer your question? What's up with guest accounts in Windows 10? Can I have one?

– Ramhound – 2020-02-19T07:03:39.497

Answers

The Guest account is disabled by default in Windows 10. However, guest is a reserved word, so you should create a new account under a different name (such as "Visitor") then put it in the guests localgroup:

Open command prompt window as administrator
net user Visitor /add /active yes
net user Visitor *
When asked to set a password just press Enter twice (blank password).
net localgroup users Visitor /delete
net localgroup guests Visitor /add

You will have a Visitor (aka guest) account bestowed with all the powers of a normal guest account.

-- edit --
If you get the "System error 1376 has occurred." error, run: net localgroup and see what is the real name of the users and guests groups.
In german Windows (even after system language change) it is:
net localgroup Benutzer Visitor /delete and net localgroup Gäste Visitor /add

The Professional

Posted 2015-08-15T15:09:45.743

Reputation: 251

From a deleted answer by Erik: it seems some parameters may need to be translated for localized versions. Like gebruikers and gasten for Dutch in net localgroup gebruikers visitor /delete and net localgroup gasten visitor /add.

– Arjan – 2016-01-12T22:42:40.290

2After the user logs out from the User Visitor Account will everything be deleted just like it was before in a Guest Account ? – Devid – 2016-08-15T13:18:42.267

I get an error message: user profile cannot be loaded – Nickpick – 2017-02-25T19:44:49.307

Note that you can change the "Display Name" for the account created as above, to "Guest" or whatever else you want. So from all outward appearances, it can be made to look just like the built-in Guest account. It still won't be exactly like the built-in Guest account though (user settings, files, etc. are preserved) – Peter Duniho – 2017-04-20T00:07:59.303

This method does not create a Guest account like the one from Windows 7 or Windows 8. It creates only a standard user account, that is named Visitor. If you read the description of the Guests group in Windows 10, it says: “Guests have the same access as members of the Users group by default, except for the Guest account which is further restricted.” Since Guest is a reserved account and it doesn't work, your Visitor is only a Standard Local User account. – Corporate Geek – 2017-08-09T15:18:01.490

It seems that the Guest account has been removed by Microsoft since build 10159, in July 2015. Microsoft has not provided any context for this change and it's clear that this feature is not coming back any time soon. A big problem is that many websites and forums share several methods for enabling the Guest account and all of them don't work. No matter what you do, you might see a Guest account entry but you can never use it and you will only brake your installation of Windows 10. Because of that, it is best that users disable the dummy Guest accounts that they have enabled, using this command in the Command Prompt: net user guest /active:no I have documented this issue and its implications in article, to help users who got in trouble by trying to enable the Guest account. You can find it here: You can't enable the Guest account in Windows 10. Stop trying!

Corporate Geek

Posted 2015-08-15T15:09:45.743

Reputation: 1 882

1Thanks for your answer and your article about this issue. But you are just confirming my statement that the guest account is broken, you don't provide and answer to my question why that is. This should be a comment. – Peter Hahndorf – 2016-01-28T01:16:08.167

1The Professional 's answer worked for me. – Pawel – 2016-06-11T15:43:27.190

@Corporate-Geek - I believe your article is incorrect in that it's not that the guest account cannot be enabled, but that it has been relegated to only be used on shared computers. I'd like to know if you disagree with what I've said about this at https://superuser.com/questions/1526554/what-up-with-guest-accounts-in-windows-10-can-i-have-one/#1526555 .

– NewSites – 2020-02-19T05:54:35.170

The guest account is neither missing nor broken. As of Windows 10 v 1607, the guest account became part of the configuration of “shared PC mode.” It is no longer suitable for use on a standalone computer. So for the owner of a standalone Windows 10 computer, it might as well be missing or broken, because it can't be used. For more details, see the answer to What's up with guest accounts in Windows 10? Can I have one?

NewSites

Posted 2015-08-15T15:09:45.743

Reputation: 335