Windows 10 has several features that can be used by its users. One of those features is the Fast User Switching. Fast User Switching is actually a beneficial feature that can make you are easier to switch from a Windows account to the other account. This process can be done quickly. However, this feature is not perfect and it also has some weaknesses and in this article, we will talk more about this feature and how to disable it.
In more detail, the Fast User Switching is a feature that makes a user to login in a Windows account when the other user is logging in as well. It means that you don’t need to sign out from your Windows account to login into the other different account. In other words, we can say that switching from a user account to the other users’ account can be done easily and quickly as well.
The Fast User Switching feature or Fast Startup or the Hybrid Shutdown / Hybrid Boot are a feature that has been launched by Microsoft since the Windows 8 era. This feature lets you have a faster boot system. Why? It is because when you d the shutdown, the system will keep the kernel session and driver that is kept in a file with the name of “hiberfil.sys”. When a PC is turned on again so that the system will load that file and make the booting process is faster than usual.
The Weakness of Fast User Switching Feature
Although this feature will make you are easier to switch from a Windows account to the other account, this Fast User Switching in Windows 10 feature also has some weaknesses. It is normal because there is nothing perfect in this world, including for the features that we can find at the present time.
What are those weaknesses? The example is when the other account is opening a lot of applications, especially if that application is run in the background; this thing will drastically decrease your PC resource. In addition, as long as there are more than one accounts that signed in so that you are unable to restart or shut down your computer without losing the session and files that are not saved yet in that other account.
Those reasons maybe become a reason why someone wants to disable the Fast User Switching in Windows 10. If you have the multi-account in your Windows 10 and if you don’t want to have this feature, you can easily disable it from the Local Group, Policy Editor or from the Windows Registry. You need to understand that actually these solutions are not 100% disable the Fast User Switching feature in Windows 10.
These solutions will just hide all displays to access this Fast User Switching feature, whether if it is located in the Sign-Inn screen, start menu or even in the Task Manager. Although the solutions below are not 100% disable the Fast User Switching in Windows 10, we can say that it has the identical effect because when all the user accounts are signed out from Windows, so that the Fast User Switching is unable to access again. It also means that there are not any users that can use this Fast User Switching feature and sign in at the same time again.
In addition to disabling this Fast User Switching in Windows 10, below are some methods that are recommended. Check this out.
METHOD 1: Through the Local Group Policy Editor
It is the first method that you can try because it is so easy to do. If you are a Windows 10 user or Enterprise, you can disable the Fast User Switching feature in Windows 10 through the Local Group Policy Editor. To do this first method, just do some simple steps below:
- Just type “gpedit.msc” in the Search column in Windows
- After that, open and browse to the Computer Configuration and choose the “Administrative Templates”
- Next, choose the SYSTEM option and then click the log in button there.
- In the right panel part, you must choose the option of “Hide entry points for Fast User Switching” and then double-click it.
- The next step is choosing the Enabled option > Apply and then click the OK button
This first method is effective for some Windows 10 users and maybe it is also the right method for you. However, if it is not working, you can try the other solutions that we will share below.
Is Windows 10 Slower than Windows 8? What do you think?
METHOD 2: Through the Edit Registry
We will inform you essential information that if you are a Windows 10 Home user, you will not find any Local Group Policy Editor on it. That is why; you can disable the Fast User Switching in Windows 10 by using the Edit Registry.
To do so, you just need to type “regedit” in the search Windows column and then open the Registry Editor. After that, you need to browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System. Then, right-click on the Key System part and make a new value by choosing the option of New > DWORD > 32bit and you can give it a name of “HideFastUserSwitching”.
The next step to do is double-click that Hides Fast User Switching that you have already made and then in the Data Value part, you can fill it with ‘1’ and then press the OK button. After that, you can restart your PC, but it is an optional action.
Those are some solutions to disable the Fast User Switching in Windows 10. Usually, after applying or doing the methods below, you will not experience the issue again. Whenever you want to switch from an account, so that user account needs to be signed out first; this action will not make the resource PC is too heavy because of many kinds signed-in different account at the same time.
In addition, you can also activate this feature easily at any time you need it by doing several ways that can be looked at the internet or from the other sources.