Widows RT, multiple accounts with shared apps

[Mr. Brown]

Hello,

Just thought I would share this with everyone. You can have multiple accounts on your Windows RT tablet and you can share apps between your accounts. To do this, do the following.

1. Log into your second account on your device.
2. Open up the Store.
3. Open up Settings.
4. Click on Your Account.
5. Click on Change user.
6. Log in with a Microsoft account that has already purchased apps from the store.
7. Swipe down from the top and select Your Apps.
8. Select an install any of the apps that you had already purchased with that account.

I've done this with my Surface RT. I have a second family account that my kids can use, that way I don't have to worry about them messing up my stuff. It works great and provides a similar concept to Kids Corner on WP8.

 

[Mile#WP]

Hello,

Just thought I would share this with everyone. You can have multiple accounts on your Windows RT tablet and you can share apps between your accounts. To do this, do the following.

1. Log into your second account on your device.
2. Open up the Store.
3. Open up Settings.
4. Click on Your Account.
5. Click on Change user.
6. Log in with a Microsoft account that has already purchased apps from the store.
7. Swipe down from the top and select Your Apps.
8. Select an install any of the apps that you had already purchased with that account.

I've done this with my Surface RT. I have a second family account that my kids can use, that way I don't have to worry about them messing up my stuff. It works great and provides a similar concept to Kids Corner on WP8.

Thanks for posting this! I was wondering how this works with multiple accounts. But, I'm a bit bummed about this. I was hoping that apps already downloaded could be shared. If they have to be redownloaded, then you're using twice the amount of space, right? I guess this is the way it has to be since they are tied to the account and not to the device?

I wonder if Windows 8 Pro is going to work like this?

 

[Mr. Brown]

Thanks for posting this! I was wondering how this works with multiple accounts. But, I'm a bit bummed about this. I was hoping that apps already downloaded could be shared. If they have to be redownloaded, then you're using twice the amount of space, right? I guess this is the way it has to be since they are tied to the account and not to the device?

I wonder if Windows 8 Pro is going to work like this?

I just confirmed, it doesn't actually download the app again, the app just appears instantly. I know this because a few of the games I have took a while to download on my login but were instant on the secondary family login.

 

[Mile#WP]

I just confirmed, it doesn't actually download the app again, the app just appears instantly. I know this because a few of the games I have took a while to download on my login but were instant on the secondary family login.

Very cool! Thanks for checking!

 

[illidanx]

I just confirmed, it doesn't actually download the app again, the app just appears instantly. I know this because a few of the games I have took a while to download on my login but were instant on the secondary family login.

This is really nice. Good to know this. Thank you.

 

[O.f.f.r.o.a.d]

I just confirmed, it doesn't actually download the app again, the app just appears instantly. I know this because a few of the games I have took a while to download on my login but were instant on the secondary family login.

Well, that might very well be the case but why is the Store proposing to updates those Apps on each account?

 

[eimoaotl]

Well, that might very well be the case but why is the Store proposing to updates those Apps on each account?

I can also verify that the apps are not duplicating space - both from my experience and a Microsoft blog post I saw before. Not sure about updates.

 

[eimoaotl]

By the way - you can set your Microsoft account on the surface to require a password each time you purchase something - so the kids can't run up a bill on you. Also, if you turn on family safety you can restrict an account to only be able to download a specific maturity level of program - this even works if they are logged in to their own account and yet have your store account set up in the store for them. And when you are using your own account to log onto the surface it will still keep separate maturity ratings available. All of this even though you are technically using the same Microsoft store account to get programs.

 

[eimoaotl]

One more thing I just remembered seeing that may be of help - you can only download purchased programs onto a max of five computers, but I believe you can download to an unlimited number of users on those 5 computers.

 

[Mr. Brown]

Well, that might very well be the case but why is the Store proposing to updates those Apps on each account?

That is a very good question. The updates seem to be available immediately when updating though, so it doesn't appear to re-download them.

 

[dtiapril]

Thank you so much for this. Myself and my partner are big gamers and achievement hunters so sharing a Live account to 'share' apps just wasn't viable (and probably against Microsoft ToS anyway).

It didn't make sense to me though that for us both to be able to play Angry Birds and earn achievements on each of our profiles on one laptop we would have to purchase the game twice. This is a brilliant workaround - I just hope it's an intended workaround and not a loophole that MS will come along and 'fix'.

On Xbox you have a primary license on the first hardware you use to purchase content - that means if I buy an arcade game absolutely anyone with any gamertag can come along and play that game and earn achievements on that console that holds the license. I can redownload and play that content on other consoles, but only with the purchasing gamertag (i.e. I can't go round to all of my friends houses and 'give' them content I purchased) WP and Win8 should just do the same thing.

 

[Squadromeo]

Thanks! Very good and helpfull posting.

 

[bradleyj]

Just posted a thread confirming that Windows 8 also allows installing apps from multiple user accounts on the same Windows profile. http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...s-windows-8-between-accounts.html#post1857827