Microsoft Family (Formerly known as Family Safety or Parental Controls) is a free set of features available on Windows 11/10 PCs that is bundled with the Windows 11/10 operating system. If you upgrade your Windows PC from an older version of Windows OS to a newer version of Windows, say Windows 10 or Windows 11, and notice that the Microsoft Family features are turned off, then this post might interest you. In this post, we will provide a fix that you can try if your Microsoft Family Features are turned off after the Windows 11/10 upgrade.
Starting in Windows 11/10, a Microsoft Account is required to use the Microsoft Family features. A parent can manage settings for a child if both of their Microsoft Accounts are in the same family. When parents turn on settings for their child, these settings are applied to every device that the child logs into with that Microsoft Account.
Other changes to family safety features in Windows 11/10 include Windows Store purchase controls and the ability to find a child’s Windows 11/10 Mobile device on a map.
Microsoft Family features turned off
If you had previously set up family features for a child account and then upgraded to Windows 11/10, there are a few steps you need to take to turn on family settings again. Your child will need to sign in to Windows 11/10 with a Microsoft account, and then you’ll need to add that account to your family group.
If you have young kids, you can also set up a picture password for them—they can sign in by drawing shapes on a favorite photo rather than having to type a password in.
Adding members to your family group can help you keep your kids safe online and build trust and understanding about appropriate website and app and game filters for their age – and you can be able to set screen time limits and review their recent activity.
To ensure Microsoft Family features are turned on, do the following:
- Check your child’s account on your child’s computer
- Add your child’s Microsoft account to your Family Group
Let’s start.
1] Check your child’s account on your child’s computer
First of all, check your child’s account details on the device that your child uses. Follow the instructions provided below:
- Open Windows 11/10 Settings.
- Go to Accounts > Your info.
If your child doesn’t currently sign in with a Microsoft account, your child’s account will be displayed as a Local account on his device. Now, select Sign in with a Microsoft account instead and enter their email address.
If an email address is already associated with their account, make a note of it. You’ll use it to add his Microsoft account to your family group.
2] Add your child’s Microsoft account to your family group
After signing in to your child’s device with his Microsoft account, you need to add his Microsoft account to your Family group. To do this, you need to sign in to Family Safety with your Microsoft account. The following instructions will guide you on this:
- Sign in at family.microsoft.com.
- Under the Your family section, click on the Add a family member option.
- Enter the email address your child uses to sign in to Windows 11/10 and select Send invite.
After you follow the above-mentioned steps, your child will receive an invitation on his/her email address. Your child will need to accept the invitation from their email address. After accepting the invitation, your child will automatically be added to Your Family. Now, you can manage his/her account by signing in to Your Family with your Microsoft account.
This should help!
How do I turn off Microsoft family restrictions in Windows 10?
Microsoft Family allows parents to restrict the device usage of their kids. They can apply various restrictions on their kids’ devices, like allowing their kids to visit only particular websites, setting a limit for apps or games, blocking apps or games, setting a limit for their kids to use their Windows devices, etc. As a kid, you cannot remove these restrictions from your device. In this case, you need to talk to your parents to extend your limits or remove the restrictions.
How do I set up Family settings on Windows 10?
You can set up Microsoft Family settings on your Windows 11/10 device by signing in to your Microsoft account on your web browser. After signing in to your Microsoft account, you can add your child’s account to Family Safety. After adding your child’s account to Family Safety, you can set up Family settings for that account.
Read next: We couldn’t connect to Microsoft family right now.
