Windows 101: Add a New User Account in Windows 7

By Sharninder | Published: November 25, 2009

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If you’re one of those who recently switched to Windows 7 from Windows XP, and are still learning the ropes of Microsoft’s new operating system, you’d have noticed how Windows 7 likes to do things a little differently especially when it comes to administrative tasks such as creating accounts for new users.

Even if you’re a seasoned Windows user who just got Windows 7 on a new computer that you purchased, the first thing to do, in my opinion, should be to create new non-administrator accounts for anyone who’d be using the computer for their work. And yes, if you’re moving up from Windows XP, things are a bit different around here. Oh wait, I just said that ! Never mind !

To create an account for a new user, the first thing that you need to do is open the User Accounts panel. Click on the Windows menu and type “User Accounts” in the search bar and press Enter.

Click on Manage another account.

Windows 7 - Manage another account

Click on Create a new account. Enter a username for the new account and chose the type of account you want to create, Standard or Administrator. If you’re not sure of what option to select here, I’d recommend that you create a Standard Account. Standard users are not allowed to make any changes to the system without the admin password and so, knowing this fact, you can sleep easy.

Windows 7 - Create a new user

That should create an account for the new user. But, to actually let anyone use the new account, you have to assign a password to it.

Click on the newly created user account.

Windows 7 - Create Password

Click on the Create Password option and provide a password for the account. If you want, you can also provide a hint for the user to recover the password in case they forget it.

Windows 7 - Create Password

You have now assigned a password for the newly created account.

If you share your computer with your friends of family members, I’d suggest that you follow this tip and create a separate user account for each user and not share the admin password with anyone.

About Sharninder:

Programmer, blogger and a geek making a living shifting bits around the Internet. Sharninder is the owner of Geeky Ninja