Add password protection to the Guest Account in Windows 7
Windows 7 comes with a Guest Account to allow people to temporarily use your computer (this feature is not available in Windows 7 Starter edition). If you don't see this account listed in the Control Panel, see how you can enable or disable the Guest Account in Windows 7. By default, the Guest Account is not password protected, and anyone with physical access to your PC can use the machine by selecting to use the Guest Account (assuming you have that feature is turned on), though with limited privileges. The ideal security scenario is to have the Guest Account turned off if you don't need it; but a compromise is to keep the Guest Account, but add password protection to it, as you'll learn in this tutorial. And once you've added this protection, you can proceed with the Guest the same way you change another user's password.
Set a password for the Guest Account on your PC
These following steps assumes that you are the computer administrator, or know the admin password:
- Open the start menu, type "cmd" in the search field, and you'll see a "
cmd.exe" icon at the top. (If you type "command", you'll see an icon labeled "Command Prompt" - both are ok). - Right-click on the
cmd.exe/ Command Prompt icon, and choose "Run as administrator" from the context menu - this gives you the "elevated privileges" you need for the rest.
- When the command line prompt window opens, you have several choices:
• To enable password protection, and add a default password of "password" for the Guest Account, type "net user guest password" in the prompt window. Hit Enter to apply.
• To enable password protection for the Guest Account, and let Windows 7 set a random password, type "net user guest password /RANDOM" at the prompt. Hit Enter, and write down the mix of letters, numbers, and symbols of the 8-character, auto-generated password.
• To add a password for the Guest Account and lets you choose it, type "net user guest *" at the prompt, and hit Enter; then, type your password at the prompt, hit Enter, and re-type that same password it once more for confirmation - hit Enter to proceed:
- You have successfully added password protection to the Guest Account on your Windows 7 computer; you can now double-check simply by typing "user" in the start menu, and clicking on "User accounts": click on "Manage another account", and you'll see that the words "Password protected" have been added below the "Guest - Guest Account" icon / button.
Note that there are several other security considerations to the Guest Account, beyond the scope of this tutorial, which include renaming the Guest Account, preventing remote access using it, and limiting the permissions it has through the Local Security Policy Editor (gpedit). But you now have the convenience of an enabled Guest Account, and the additional layer of security of having it at least password protected!
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