[Tip] Disable Security Questions Requirement for Local User Accounts in Windows 10

In newer versions of Windows 10 operating system, when you try to create a new local user account, you are required to set 3 security questions so that you can recover or reset your account password in case you forget it.

Selecting security questions is not optional and we are forced to set 3 security questions while creating new user account. It might become irritating if you frequently create and add new user accounts in your system such as your family members, students, staff, customers, etc.

In my opinion, the choice to set security questions should be optional and not a forced feature.

There might be also some situations when you may want to prevent or restrict use of security questions to reset or recover user account passwords for security reasons.

Following are the default and built-in security questions which are provided to select while creating new user account:

• What was your first pet’s name?
• What’s the name of the city where you were born?
• What was your childhood nickname?
• What’s the name of the city where your parents met?
• What’s the first name of your oldest cousin?
• What’s the name of the first school you attended?

If you are also annoyed by this forced feature and want to completely disable security questions requirement while trying to create new local user account in Windows 10, this tutorial will help you.

Windows 10 comes with a built-in group policy as well as registry tweak to permanently turn off and deactivate security questions feature and interested users can apply the policy or tweak to remove security questions feature from their Windows 10 device.

Once you disable security questions requirement, Windows 10 will no longer ask you to select security questions at the time of user account creation. Instead you’ll be just asked to set a password hint which also happens in older Windows versions.

Following methods will help you in disabling security questions requirement while creating new local user account in Windows 10:

METHOD 1: Using Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)

1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type gpedit.msc and press Enter. It’ll open Group Policy Editor.

2. Now go to:

3. In right-side pane, look for following option:

The option is set to Not Configured by default. Double-click on the option and set it to Enabled.

Click on Apply button and then OK button to exit.

That’s it. It’ll disable security questions requirement. Now try to create a new local user account and Windows 10 will not offer security questions feature.

PS: If you want to restore security questions feature in future, simply set the option in Group Policy Editor to “Not Configured” again.

METHOD 2: Using Registry Editor (regedit.exe)

If you are using Home edition of Windows, you’ll not be able to run gpedit.msc command because this edition doesn’t come with Group Policy Editor.

If you can’t use or don’t want to use Group Policy Editor, you can take help of Registry Editor for the same task. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type regedit and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

3. Create a new key under Windows key and set its name as System

4. Select System key and in right-side pane, create a new DWORD NoLocalPasswordResetQuestions and set its value to 1

Close Registry Editor. You may need to restart your computer to take effect.

Now try to create new user account and you’ll no longer see the annoying security questions list to select.

PS: In future if you want to restore security questions feature, simply delete the DWORD created in above steps.

Also Check:

[Tip] How to Reset Forgotten User Account Password in Windows 10

[Tip] How to Set or Change Security Questions for Your User Account in Windows 10