Chromebooks serve as one of the cleanest ways to add a computer to your home. Not only are they efficient enough to make multi-user use snappy. They also include guest sign-ins so that anybody visiting can quickly sign in and access their account too. But that doesn’t mean that’s always desirable, either. So this guide will walk you through how to turn off guest mode on your Chromebook.
It will also take a closer look at a few other restrictions and changes that you can make to the sign-in process. Just in case turning guest mode off on your Chromebook isn’t enough.
Why would you want to turn this off, to begin with?
Now, the reasons you or anybody else might have for trying to turn off guest mode sign-ins on a Chromebook are numerous. In fact, they range from business-related reasons to personal preferences. But the former of those reasons does stand as one of the most likely to be common.
After all, if you’re using your Chromebook for work, having other users sign in and take up storage space isn’t always the best idea. Setting aside that giving access to your work machine comes with other risks. If others can sign in, to begin with, they’ll likely be more tempted to try. Even if you’ve asked them not to. And there are a number of things that can go wrong with that. Whether increasing the risk of damage to your work computer. Or something else.
Conversely, you may want to limit a new Chromebook for another common reason. Namely, maybe the Chromebook is meant for school work for a child in the home. In which case, you’d either want to limit its use to yourself and the child. Or just to the child. Rather than allowing all of the child’s friends and other family members to sign in.
What’s more, you may want to restrict use to a specific set of users. Or enhance privacy by removing profile images and usernames from appearing on the sign-in page at all.
Whatever the reasons you might have for restricting or otherwise altering sign-ins on the Chromebook in question, this guide can help. So let’s dig in.
Here’s how you can turn off Guest Mode on your Chromebook
Getting guest mode turned off is likely the first place you’ll want to start with your Chromebook. And that’s fairly easy to accomplish too. As are the other steps here. In fact, they’re all housed within the same menu, even. So this first set of steps will help you readily find the remaining methods for restricting device access too.
- Open up your Chromebook Settings app. The easiest method for accomplishing this will be to click or tap on the clock icon housed on the Chrome OS shelf, as shown in our example images. Although you can also simply open up the launcher using the concentric circle icon at the lower-left-hand side of the main UI too. The Settings app utilizes an easy-to-recognize gear-shaped icon
- In Settings, use the search bar at the top of the page to search for “Guest Browsing.” The option can be found under the “Manage other people” menu as well. That’s located in “Security and Privacy” in the left-hand sidebar
- Tap or click on the toggle switch to disable “Enable Guest browsing.” The setting’s toggle will turn gray
- To turn the mode back on, return to the menu and toggle it again so that it’s blue
You can also restrict sign-in outright
Conversely, you may simply want to turn off sign-ins that aren’t associated with a specific account. Or specific accounts. And that’s easy enough to find as well as manage.
- Navigate back to the “Manage other people” menu via either a search for the setting as outlined above or via the “Security and Privacy” tab of the Settings sidebar
- Tap or click the toggle next to the “Restrict sign-in to the following users:” option. It will turn blue when activated and reveal additional options
- Now, the owner account used to sign in for the first time on the Chromebook will automatically be allowed. Other accounts that have been signed-in already should be too. And those can be removed via this menu as well
- New users, on the other hand, can be added by selecting the blue “Add user” link. Then by entering in the email address of the account that needs to be added
- After toggling this setting, no other accounts will be able to sign in other than those that have been manually added to the list
Or turn off usernames and profile images
The final adjustment that can be made on the “Manage other people” menu is one that allows for more privacy. That’s as opposed to necessarily increasing security for your Chromebook. Although, to a certain extent, it can accomplish that task as well. And that’s because it allows you to effectively turn off usernames and profile images on the log-in page itself.
That means, in effect, that anybody who happens to gain access to your Chromebook won’t be able to see the usernames associated with it. Or, for that matter, who the Chromebook belongs to — if you’ve got a real image set to your profile image.
- To turn off profile images and usernames on the log-in page, navigate to the same “Manage other people” menu outlined in the previous segments of this guide
- Tap or click on the toggle next to the option labeled “Show usernames and photos on the sign-in screen”
- As with the other sections of this guide, no further action is needed. The change will be instantiated immediately. That means you don’t need to find any “save” button or apply the change. You can simply back out of the menu or close the Settings window entirely
- Again, as with other segments of this guide, to turn the feature back off or on again, you can follow these steps to find the appropriate toggle. Then, a simple tap or click will turn the toggle on or off