Hide Email Address on Login Screen in Windows 11 and 10

To hide your email address from the Windows login screen, open Settings, go to Accounts → Sign-in options, scroll to Additional settings, and turn off "Show account details on the sign-in screen." But here is what almost nobody tells you: that toggle only hides the email — your full display name still appears for anyone who walks past your PC. If you want your entire identity off that screen, you need a different setting entirely, and Windows does not put it anywhere near the same place.

That distinction — email hidden but name visible — trips up almost everyone who searches for this fix. Windows treats the email address as "account details" and the username as a separate category controlled by a different security policy. If someone at your office can see "John Smith" on your lock screen but not "johnsmith@company.com," you have solved half the problem. The other half lives in the Local Security Policy console, and most guides never mention it exists.

The reason this matters goes beyond aesthetics. The threat plainly: an attacker with access to the console — someone physically standing at your desk, or connected through a Remote Desktop session — could view the name of the last user who logged on, then try to guess the password, run a dictionary attack, or brute-force their way in. Every piece of identity on that screen is information you handed a stranger for free.

What Windows Can Show on the Login Screen (and When)

Before hiding anything, you need to know what Windows is capable of showing, because it changes depending on how your account was set up. The same physical screen can display very different things for a home user with a Microsoft account and an office worker on a domain-joined machine.

For all versions of Windows 10 and later, only the user display name is shown by default. The email, the domain\username, and the other identifying details appear only when a setting or policy puts them there. That is good news — it means the leak is a switch, and switches can be flipped back.

The three things you might want to hide (and they are different)

This is where most guides go wrong — they treat "hide email" as one problem when it is actually three separate problems, each with its own setting:

• Your email address (john@example.com) — controlled by the Settings toggle and the "Block user from showing account details on sign-in" policy
• Your display name ("John Smith") — controlled by the "Interactive logon: Don't display last signed-in" security policy
• Your username (jsmith or DOMAIN\jsmith) — also controlled by "Don't display last signed-in," with a related policy for the moment right after you type your credentials

Hide only the email, and your name is still there. Hide only the username, and the email might still appear. To truly clean the login screen, you need to know which of the three you are dealing with — and this guide covers all of them.

Sign-in Screen vs. Lock Screen: Which One Are You Talking About?

People use "lock screen" and "login screen" interchangeably, and Windows actually has two different surfaces that behave differently. Knowing which one you mean saves you ten minutes of flipping the wrong toggle.

When someone says "my email is on the lock screen," they almost always mean the sign-in surface behind it: they press Win+L, tap a key, and there is their name and email staring back. The actual lock screen — the pretty wallpaper one — never shows your email. The sign-in screen is the one that leaks.

There is one wrinkle worth knowing. Windows has a separate policy called "Interactive logon: Display user information when the session is locked," which controls what user details appear alongside the username when a locked session displays the sign-in prompt. In practice, on a home PC you will rarely need to touch it — the Settings toggle and the "Don't display last signed-in" policy cover the sign-in screen, which is where the email lives. But if you work on a managed machine and your email still appears after the standard fixes, that locked-session policy is the remaining suspect, and your IT admin is the one who can change it.

Hide Email on the Windows 11 Login Screen (Settings Method)

This is the quickest fix and the right first move for almost everyone. It uses the Settings app and takes about thirty seconds.

1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
2. Click Accounts in the left sidebar.
3. Click Sign-in options on the right side.
4. Scroll down past the Windows Hello section, the password options, and Dynamic lock, until you reach Additional settings at the bottom of the page.
5. Find the toggle labeled Show account details on the sign-in screen.
6. Click the toggle to set it to Off (the toggle turns from blue to gray).
7. Close Settings.

Lock your screen with Win + L, tap a key, and check the sign-in screen: the email address is gone. Your display name remains — that is expected, and the Group Policy section below covers removing it if you need to.

Hide Email on the Windows 10 Login Screen

Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025. It still runs, and this setting still works, but the operating system no longer receives free security updates — which is worth weighing when the topic is login-screen security in the first place.

The Settings path is nearly identical to Windows 11:

1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
2. Click Accounts.
3. Click Sign-in options in the left sidebar.
4. Scroll down to the Additional settings section (on older Windows 10 builds, this area appeared under a "Privacy" heading — same toggle, older label).
5. Find Show account details on the sign-in screen and turn it Off.
6. Close Settings.

Same result as Windows 11: the email disappears from the sign-in screen, the display name stays, and no restart is involved. If you ever need the email back — say you genuinely forget which of several accounts you set the machine up with — flip the toggle on again and it returns.

A Short History: Why This Setting Exists at All

If you have ever wondered why this toggle feels bolted-on, it is because it is. For the first year of Windows 10's life, there was no Settings toggle at all — the sign-in screen showed your full name and, for Microsoft accounts, your email, and the only way to change that was a Group Policy aimed at IT administrators. Home users simply lived with it.

That changed with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update wave in 2016. Version 1607 introduced what Microsoft's documentation calls a Privacy setting — the "Show account details on the sign-in screen" toggle — and crucially, it shipped in the off position, hiding the email by default. Microsoft's wording on the change: "new functionality was added to Windows 10 to hide username details such as email address by default, with the ability to change the default to show the details."

Version 1703 then cleaned up the policy side, renaming "Do not display last user name" to "Don't display last signed-in" and aligning how the two systems interact. There was even a hotfix — KB 4013429 — for version 1607 machines whose locked-session display did not respond correctly to the new setting, which tells you how hastily the two systems were stitched together in that first release.

The practical takeaway from the history: if your email is showing today, one of three things happened. The toggle got turned on (an update, a restore, a click), you are on an ancient pre-1607 install where it showed by default, or — the tricky one — you sign in with a Microsoft account and the email is appearing as your username rather than as "account details." That third case needs the stronger fix, and it gets its own section below.

The Group Policy Method: For When Settings Is Not Enough

Group Policy is where the real control lives. It lets you hide the email, lock the setting so nobody can switch it back on, or remove every trace of identity from the sign-in screen. These steps are the same on Windows 10 and Windows 11 — the editor and the policy locations have not moved between them.

One prerequisite: Group Policy Editor requires Windows Pro, Enterprise, or Education. Home edition users should skip to the Registry method, which reaches the same settings from below.

Policy 1: Block the email address completely

This policy removes the email from the sign-in screen and prevents anyone — including yourself — from turning the "Show account details" toggle back on in Settings.

1. Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Logon.
3. In the right pane, find the policy named Block user from showing account details on sign-in.
4. Double-click it to open its properties.
5. Select Enabled.
6. Click OK.

Microsoft documents the interaction precisely: when this policy is enabled, only the user display name is shown on the sign-in screen regardless of any other policy settings, and users are not able to show details. The Settings toggle becomes locked off. This is the right choice for shared machines, reception desks, kiosk PCs, and any computer that strangers can physically see.

Policy 2: Hide the username entirely

This is the nuclear option. When enabled, the sign-in screen shows no name, no email, no account tile — just blank "Username" and "Password" fields, like the old corporate logon box. Every user types their full username every time.

1. Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration → Windows Settings → Security Settings → Local Policies → Security Options.
3. Scroll down and find Interactive logon: Don't display last signed-in.
4. Double-click it.
5. Select Enabled.
6. Click OK.

Microsoft's documentation describes exactly what happens next: "the full name of the last user to successfully sign in isn't displayed on the Secure Desktop, nor is the user's sign-in tile displayed. Additionally, if the Switch user feature is used, the full name and sign-in tile aren't displayed. The sign-in screen requests a qualified domain account name (or local user name) and password."

Two facts from the documentation worth knowing before you commit. First, this policy ships disabled by default — you are changing factory behavior, not restoring it. Second, no restart is required: Microsoft states the change takes effect without a reboot, whether saved locally or distributed through Group Policy. Lock your screen and the effect is already there.

Policy 3: The locked-session variant

For controlling what user details appear when a locked session shows the sign-in prompt, there is a third policy in the same Security Options list: Interactive logon: Display user information when the session is locked. Its documented options are "User display name, domain and user names" (shows everything, including email for Microsoft accounts), "User display name only" (name, nothing else), and "Domain and user names only" (domain format, no email). For hiding the email specifically, set it to User display name only. One quirk: the old "Do not display user information" option is not supported from version 1607 onward — if selected, Windows falls back to showing the display name anyway, so do not bother with it.

There is no simple Settings toggle for this locked-session behavior — if you need it changed, the policy is the route. On a home PC you will almost never need to touch it; it exists for managed environments where an administrator wants fine-grained control over every state of the sign-in surface.

How the policies interact (worth sixty seconds)

Microsoft documents the priority order, and it is simpler than it looks:

• If Block user from showing account details on sign-in is enabled, the display name is all anyone gets — no email, regardless of anything else.
• If that policy is not enabled and Don't display last signed-in is enabled, the username does not show at all.
• If neither is enabled, you are back to the Settings toggle deciding whether the email appears next to your name.

So the decision tree is: want to kill the email and lock it? Policy 1. Want everything gone? Policy 2. Want both? Enable both — they stack cleanly.

The Registry Method: For Windows Home and Scripted Deployment

Windows Home edition does not include the Group Policy Editor, so Home users must make the "hide everything" change through the Registry Editor directly. The Registry is where these policies write their settings anyway — you are simply going to the source. These steps work identically on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

The registry value: dontdisplaylastusername

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
2. If prompted by User Account Control, click Yes.
3. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
4. In the right pane, look for a value named dontdisplaylastusername. If it does not exist, right-click in the empty space, select New → DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it dontdisplaylastusername (all lowercase, no spaces).
5. Double-click dontdisplaylastusername to modify it.
6. Change the Value data to 1. Make sure Hexadecimal is selected as the Base.
7. Click OK, close Registry Editor, and restart your PC.

After the restart, the login screen shows a blank "Username" field and a "Password" field — no name, no email, no account picture tile. You will type your full username (or Microsoft account email, if that is how you sign in) every time. The email is now invisible until you type it yourself.

Using a .reg file instead

If you would rather not navigate the Registry by hand, create a file that does it for you. Open Notepad, paste the following for hiding the last signed-in user:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"dontdisplaylastusername"=dword:00000001

Or this for restoring the default behavior:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"dontdisplaylastusername"=dword:00000000

Save the file with a .reg extension (for example, hide_last_user.reg), then double-click it and approve the prompts. Restart afterward.

PowerShell equivalent

From an elevated PowerShell window:

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" -Name "dontdisplaylastusername" -Value 1 -Type DWord

To revert:

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" -Name "dontdisplaylastusername" -Value 0 -Type DWord

Both require an administrator window — this is a machine-wide setting, not a per-user one, which is also why it survives user profile changes and applies to everyone who signs in at that keyboard.

The Microsoft Account Problem: Why Your Email Shows Even After Hiding It

Here is the scenario that catches people off guard: the toggle is off, you restarted twice, and your email is STILL on the login screen. Why?

Because with a Microsoft account, the email address is not just "account details" — it is also your username. When you sign in with a Microsoft account, the email is the identifier itself. Hiding "account details" removes it from the display area of your account tile, but the sign-in prompt can still show it as the account you are about to authenticate as. Windows is not leaking; it is telling you which key fits the lock.

The fix for this scenario is not another toggle. It is one of two structural choices:

1. Enable "Interactive logon: Don't display last signed-in" (via Group Policy or the dontdisplaylastusername registry value). This removes the account tile entirely, so you type your email from scratch each time — invisible until you type it.
2. Switch to a local account. Under Settings → Accounts → Your info, Microsoft account users can switch to a local account instead. A local account uses a username you choose, not an email address, so there is nothing email-shaped to display no matter what any toggle says.

Option 1 keeps your Microsoft account benefits — OneDrive sync, the Store, settings roaming across devices — at the cost of typing your email at every sign-in. Option 2 removes the email from the equation entirely but gives up those sync features. Most people choose option 1 and accept the extra typing; on a shop or office PC, that trade is easy.

Why This Actually Matters: The Security Case

It is easy to dismiss this as cosmetic — "so someone sees my email, big deal." But Microsoft's own security documentation for these policies lays out the threat model, and it deserves repeating because it explains why the policies exist at all.

1. Email plus password equals account takeover. Someone who sees your email on the login screen and later obtains your password — through phishing, a breach at another site where you reused it, or a hardware keylogger — has everything they need. Hiding the email removes half of that equation from casual observation.
2. Email addresses are the key to resets. Even without your Windows password, someone who knows your email can attempt password resets on your other accounts, target you with convincing phishing mail, and link your identity across services. Every identifier exposed on a screen in a shared space is a foothold.
3. Display names reveal organizational structure. On a work PC, "John Smith" with a company wallpaper tells an attacker that this username format exists, that this person works there, and possibly which department. That is exactly the reconnaissance data a spear-phishing campaign runs on.
4. Domain usernames enable lateral movement. Seeing "ACME\jsmith" tells an attacker both the domain naming convention and a valid account. They can then try that username against the VPN, webmail, and file shares with passwords from other breaches — a technique that works because people reuse passwords.

Microsoft's best-practice guidance for these settings is written for exactly this situation: devices that store sensitive data, with monitors displayed in unsecured locations, or devices that are remotely accessed. The documentation's own countermeasure section states it flatly — enable the setting that stops the console from revealing who last signed in, because that name is the starting point for every attack that follows.

Edge Cases and Special Situations

Windows Hello PIN users

If you sign in with a Windows Hello PIN rather than a password, the login screen shows your account tile with your name and — depending on the settings — your email, plus the PIN box. Hiding the email via the Settings toggle works the same way: the tile stays, the email goes. Enabling "Don't display last signed-in" also works, but now you must type your username and then your PIN, which partly defeats the point of Hello's speed. Most PIN users should stop at the toggle.

Multiple accounts on one PC

If several people share a PC, the sign-in screen shows tiles for each account, each displaying that user's name and (if enabled) email. The "Show account details" toggle is per-account — each user turns it off for themselves. The Group Policy method applies to all accounts on the machine at once, which is why shared-family and small-office machines usually end up on the policy.

Domain-joined PCs (the IT admin angle)

On a domain-joined machine, the sign-in screen shows the last user's display name by default, with DOMAIN\username appearing under certain policy configurations. For fleet deployment, the recommended approach is enabling "Block user from showing account details on sign-in" through domain Group Policy so it lands on every machine at once — it is a common component of enterprise security baselines, and Microsoft's documented interaction rules (covered earlier) make it the clean single point of control. Pair it with "Don't display last signed-in" on machines in truly public positions.

Remote Desktop sessions

Connect to a PC through Remote Desktop and the sign-in screen you see is the same one a person at the keyboard would see — same settings, same policies. This matters because remote sessions can be observed further down the chain, and because a leaked username plus remote access is precisely the attack combination Microsoft's security considerations describe. The same fixes apply.

When Nothing Works: Troubleshooting

Problem 1: The Settings toggle is missing or grayed out

Symptom: The "Show account details" toggle does not appear under Sign-in options, or it is visible but cannot be changed.

Cause: An administrator has applied the "Block user from showing account details on sign-in" policy, which removes user control over the setting by design.

What you can do: On a work PC, contact IT — the policy is deliberate. On a personal PC where you hold admin rights, open gpedit.msc, navigate to Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Logon, and set "Block user from showing account details on sign-in" to Not Configured.

Problem 2: The toggle is off, but the email still shows

Symptom: "Show account details" is off, and your email is still sitting on the sign-in screen.

Cause: You sign in with a Microsoft account, and the email is displaying as your username — the identifier you are about to authenticate as — rather than as "account details." The toggle was never going to fix this one.

Fix: The "Don't display last signed-in" policy or its registry equivalent, both covered above. That removes the entire account tile, email included. If you would rather not type your email every time, the alternative is switching to a local account.

Problem 3: The email came back after a Windows update

Symptom: Hidden for months, then a Windows feature update brought it back.

Cause: Major feature updates — the annual releases, not the monthly patches — can occasionally reset user preferences to defaults or re-provision settings during the upgrade pass.

Fix: Re-run the Settings method. If it keeps reverting, move to the Group Policy or Registry method — machine-level policy settings survive updates more reliably than per-user preferences do.

Problem 4: You enabled "Don't display last signed-in" and now you cannot sign in

Symptom: The login screen shows only blank "Username" and "Password" fields, and you do not remember your exact username — especially if it is a long Microsoft account email or a domain account in a specific format.

Cause: The policy worked as intended and removed every hint of what to type.

Fix: You need your exact username: your full email address for a Microsoft account, your chosen name for a local account, or DOMAIN\username (or username@domain.com) for a domain account. If you genuinely cannot remember it, boot into Safe Mode (hold Shift while clicking Restart), open an elevated Command Prompt, and undo the registry value:

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v dontdisplaylastusername /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Restart normally and the account tiles return.

Problem 5: You hid everything, and now your family cannot find their accounts

Symptom: The blank username screen is fine for you, but your partner or kids now face an empty login with no idea what to type.

Cause: "Don't display last signed-in" removes tiles for every account on the machine, not just yours.

Fix: Either teach each person their exact username, or reverse the setting using the .reg file or PowerShell command from the Registry section — set the value back to 0 and the tiles come back for everyone. On a shared family PC, the honest answer is usually that this policy was the wrong tool: use the Settings toggle instead, and accept that display names remain visible.

Method Comparison: Which One Should You Use?

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I hide my email address on the Windows 11 login screen?

Open Settings with Win+I, go to Accounts, then Sign-in options, scroll to Additional settings, and turn off "Show account details on the sign-in screen." This removes the email address but keeps your display name visible. To hide the name as well, enable the "Interactive logon: Don't display last signed-in" policy through Group Policy, or the equivalent registry value on Home edition.

How do I remove my email from the Windows 10 lock screen?

The path is nearly identical to Windows 11: Settings, then Accounts, then Sign-in options, scroll to the Additional settings section (labeled "Privacy" on some older builds), and turn off "Show account details on the sign-in screen." Note that the true lock screen — the wallpaper and clock — never shows your email; what people mean is the sign-in screen behind it, and that is what this toggle fixes.

Why is my email address showing on my Windows login screen?

Two common reasons. First, the "Show account details" toggle got turned on — it defaults to off, but feature updates, settings restores, and stray clicks can switch it on. Second, if you sign in with a Microsoft account, the email may be appearing as your username rather than as "account details," in which case no toggle will remove it — you need the "Don't display last signed-in" policy instead.

Can I hide my username as well as my email?

Yes, but it requires a different setting. The "Interactive logon: Don't display last signed-in" security policy — accessible through Group Policy on Pro/Enterprise/Education, or the Registry on any edition — removes the account name, email, and sign-in tile entirely. The login screen then shows only blank Username and Password fields, and you type your full username every time you sign in.

What is the registry key to hide the last signed-in user?

The value is dontdisplaylastusername, located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System. Create it as a DWORD (32-bit) value and set it to 1 to hide the last signed-in user's name and email from the login screen. Set it to 0 or delete it to restore the default. A restart is required for the change to take effect.

Does hiding my email affect Windows Hello or PIN sign-in?

No. Windows Hello facial recognition, fingerprint, and PIN sign-in all continue to work normally after you hide the email. The one caveat: if you enable the stricter "Don't display last signed-in" policy, you will need to type your username before entering your PIN, which adds a step to the Hello flow without disabling it.

Can I hide the email on Windows 10 Home edition?

Yes, twice over. The Settings toggle works on Home edition for hiding the email alone. For the stronger "hide everything" option, Home users edit the Registry directly, since Group Policy Editor is not included on Home — the dontdisplaylastusername registry method works on every edition of Windows 10 and 11.

Will hiding my email make my PC more secure?

Marginally, but genuinely. Someone with physical access — or viewing your screen over remote access — can no longer learn your email address from the login screen, and email is the raw material for phishing, password resets, and password-guessing attacks. It does nothing against malware, network attacks, or someone who already has your credentials. Treat it as one layer among several, alongside a strong password and Windows Hello.

Can my IT department force this setting on my work PC?

Yes. IT administrators can deploy the "Block user from showing account details on sign-in" Group Policy across an entire organization through domain Group Policy. When enabled, the Settings toggle becomes grayed out and users cannot turn email display back on — Microsoft documents that this policy overrides user choice by design. It is a standard component of enterprise security hardening.

What is the difference between "Block user from showing account details" and "Don't display last signed-in"?

"Block user from showing account details on sign-in" hides the email but leaves your display name and account tile visible — and locks the setting so users cannot re-enable it. "Don't display last signed-in" hides everything: name, email, and tile, leaving only a blank username and password prompt. The first is privacy with convenience preserved; the second is maximum concealment at the cost of typing your username every time.

How do I show my email on the login screen again?

Go to Settings, then Accounts, then Sign-in options, then Additional settings, and turn on "Show account details on the sign-in screen." If you used Group Policy, set the relevant policies back to Not Configured or Disabled. If you used the Registry, set dontdisplaylastusername back to 0 or delete the value, then restart.

Does this work on domain-joined PCs?

Yes. The same Settings toggle and Group Policy settings apply on domain-joined machines, and for organization-wide deployment the "Block user from showing account details" policy can be pushed through domain Group Policy to every computer at once. On domain machines the visible identifier is typically your display name, with DOMAIN\username appearing under certain policy configurations rather than an email.

Can I hide my email but keep the account picture?

Yes. The Settings toggle removes only the email text — your profile photo and display name remain on the sign-in screen. If you want the picture changed or removed as well, that is a separate edit under Settings, then Accounts, then Your info, where the account photo is managed.

Is the "Show account details" setting on or off by default?

Off by default. The Privacy setting introduced in Windows 10 version 1607 ships off, hiding the email — and that only the display name shows by default. If your email is appearing, the toggle was switched on by an update, a restore, or a click, or you are seeing your Microsoft account email displayed as your username, which no toggle controls.

What's the difference between the sign-in screen and the lock screen?

The lock screen is the wallpaper-and-clock screen you see after pressing Win+L or after idle — it shows no account details. The sign-in screen is where credentials are entered: after boot, after signing out, after switching users, or after dismissing the lock screen. Your email can only appear on the sign-in screen, which is why the fixes in this guide all target it. When people say their email is "on the lock screen," they mean the sign-in surface behind it.

Will a Windows update reset this setting?

Monthly security patches generally leave it alone. Major feature updates can occasionally reset user preferences to defaults, and this toggle is among the casualties reported after upgrade season. If the email reappears, turn the toggle off again — or move to the Group Policy or Registry method, which are machine-level settings that survive updates more reliably than per-user preferences.

Wrapping Up: What to Actually Do

For most people reading this, the answer is the thirty-second fix: Settings, Accounts, Sign-in options, Additional settings, and turn off "Show account details on the sign-in screen." The email goes away, your name stays, your PIN keeps working, and nothing about your daily routine changes.

If you are setting up a machine for a shared space — a repair counter, a clinic, a reception desk — go further. Enable "Don't display last signed-in" and accept that everyone types their username from scratch. The inconvenience of typing an email address a few times a day is trivial next to the cost of handing a stranger half a credential.

Jake ended up doing both: the toggle on the shop PC to kill the email that afternoon, then the policy a week later once he noticed customers could still read his name off the screen while he dug through the back room. Ethan's verdict: "It took you three years to notice the problem and twenty minutes to fix it. That's a better ratio than most security stories end with."

Revision note. Updated September 2026. If you discovered your email on a login screen in a shared space and felt that small jolt of "who else has seen this" — that instinct was correct, and the fact that you did something about it already puts you ahead of nearly everyone who walks past that screen without a second thought.