How can I prevent a child from using a parent account on our home Xbox without a passcode?

jfxg · Dec 31, 2023

Hi everyone,

My problem: I have two kids, 7 and 9. They each have their own accounts on the Xbox and have appropriate controls and limits in place. Except they both have unrestricted access to switch to my profile, which in turn gives them unrestricted access to every game and app with unlimited time.

I need to keep them from accessing my account, but I also need them to be able to use my shared library of games.

I know the simple answer is set a passkey on my account, and that’s what all the other answers say every time this is asked. But that solution doesn’t address the obvious: this is our home Xbox, nearly all of the games are purchased on my account or my wife’s account. In order for sharing to work, the owning account needs to be logged in. If I set a PIN on my account, it disables the instant sign-in and prevents everyone from using any game unless they use my PIN.

It’s kind of a crippling weakness to parental controls if the only way to actually secure your child accounts also removes their access to the games you’re trying to control in the first place. There must be a better “correct” way to secure a child account and prevent them from using a parents account while still allowing the primary account to instant sign in, right?

:)

SwordofWhedon

what hes saying is that you don't have to be logged in for them to use the games on the Xbox if it's set as your home

if you set your account to require a password or a pin, then they shouldn't be able to login as you do

MarvinaPerez

Hello Jfxg,my name is Marvina, I will be happy to help you.

I am so sorry for what you are going through, yes there is a better way to protect a child's account and prevent them from using the parent account without having to set a PIN on the main account.

To do this, you can create a new Microsoft account for your home console.

This account will be the "main" account for the console and will be used to log in automatically.

You can set this account with parental controls to restrict access to content inappropriate for children.

Once you've created the main account, you can add your children's accounts as family members.

This will allow them to access the main account's game library, but they will not be able to switch to the main account.

To do this, follow these steps:

Sign in to your Microsoft account on the Xbox website.

Click "Family and Friends."

Select "Manage Family."

Click "Add Family Member."

Enter the email address or phone number for your child's account.

Click "Send invitation."

Once your child accepts the invitation, she will be added as a family member.

Once your children are members of the family, you can set up parental controls to restrict their access to inappropriate content.

To do this, follow these steps:

Sign in to your Microsoft account on the console.

Press the Xbox  button to open the guide.

Select "Profile & System" > "Settings" > "Account" > "Parental Controls."

Select your child's account.

Set parental controls to your preferences.

With this setting, your children will be able to access the game library on the main account, but they will not be able to switch to the main account. This will prevent them from accessing inappropriate content or making unauthorized purchases.

Source: https://support.xbox.com/help/xbox-360/security/error-child-trying-to-access-settings

These are basic solutions to these problems, but they can lead to a solution, remember that this is a public forum where we are players like you who want to help, good luck and happy day.

Sincerely,
Marvina.

HomegrownSilky

Once you set a console to Home, you do not need to leave that account on the console. You can remove the actual account and the console will still stay as the Home console for that account. This only applies to the account that set the console to Home. If your wife's account is also sharing games to the children's account then it would have to stay signed in to share unfortunately.

jfxg

If my account is not on the Xbox, would my library still be shared with the other accounts?

That also doesn't really help because it means I couldn't use the Xbox myself...

jfxg

This doesn't work, I've tried it. My children's accounts are already setup that way as Family members in my account and on the Xbox console.

> This will allow them to access the main account's game library, but they will not be able to switch to the main account.

As far as I can see, there is no parental control setting to prevent a user from switching away of their account. You can only set PINs to guard someone switching into a particular account. In order for the games library from the main account to be shared with the child accounts, that main account must be logged in, which means it cant be guarded with a PIN to prevent switching to it.

I've also tried setting having no login PIN on the main account but setting the content restriction so that if the child switches to the main account they'd have to use a PIN in order to open or play anything. That doesn't work because the content restrictions from all logged in accounts are enforced for any account, so if my child tries to open a game they are allowed to play on their account, it requires the PIN from the main account because the main account has lower content restrictions.

How can I prevent a child from using a parent account on our home Xbox without a passcode?