Windows 11 includes a feature called “Fast User Switching.” This allows multiple people to be logged into the same computer simultaneously. If you click your profile picture in the Start Menu, you can instantly switch to another user account while leaving all your applications, browser tabs, and unsaved documents running in the background.
While this is convenient for family computers, it is a massive resource hog and a security risk in corporate or educational environments. If five students log into a shared lab computer and simply “switch users” instead of properly logging off, the computer is forced to keep five entirely separate desktop environments running in the background simultaneously. This will eventually consume all available RAM, causing the system to grind to a halt. If you administer shared PCs, you must completely disable Fast User Switching to force users to properly save their work and sign out.
Disabling Fast User Switching via Group Policy
If you are running Windows 11 Pro, Education, or Enterprise, the safest and most reliable way to disable this feature is through the Local Group Policy Editor.
- Press the Windows Key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialogue box.
- Type
gpedit.mscand press Enter to open the Local Group Policy Editor. - In the left-hand navigation pane, drill down through the following folder path:
- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Logon
- Once you have the “Logon” folder selected on the left, look at the main panel on the right side of the screen.
- Scroll through the list of policies and double-click the one labelled Hide entry points for Fast User Switching.
- A new configuration window will open. Change the policy status in the top-left corner from “Not Configured” to Enabled.
- (Note: You are “Enabling” the hiding of the entry points, which effectively disables the feature).
- Click Apply, then click OK.
- Close the Group Policy Editor.
Verifying the Lockdown
The policy applies immediately without a reboot. Click on the Start button and click on your profile picture at the bottom left. The list of other user accounts on the computer will be completely gone. To access another account, the current user must now explicitly click Sign out, forcing them to close their applications and freeing up the computer’s RAM for the next person.