Switching user login on Windows 11

rmilling

What is the preferred procedure for setting up 1Password on Windows 11 Pro for two different users?

For example, I log onto the system using my Microsoft account then log into a freshly installed 1Password app using my email address, secret key and password. If I log out then come back and log into windows, I only need my 1Password password to then log back into the 1Password app. All that is fine.
But, if I then lock 1Password, log out of Windows, and log back into Windows with my wife’s Microsoft account I cannot then log into her 1Password account; the 1Password login screen expects only my password and does not provide any way to switch to my wife’s different account.
(Using family plan)

When logging into 1Password, how do I explicitly specify the account to use?

Tertius3

1Password works best if you login to Windows with different users. Each Windows user gets its own 1Password signin.
It seems you're trying to do exactly this. Could it be you previously logged in to your own 1Password account while being logged in with your wife's Windows account?

And is your wife's Windows account really different to your own Windows account (different usernames, different passwords)? As far as I know, you can have email aliases for Microsoft accounts, so it's possible to login with different email addresses (but same password), however it points to the same Microsoft account. In this case, it might be you're having only one and the same Windows login under the hood.

To find out if you're using 1 or 2 Windows accounts, try switching users without logging out: Click Windows Start menu, click on your user icon in the bottom left corner, locate the other account at the bottom of the submenu, log in. If you don't find the other account, you might use only one and the same Windows account. If you do have 2 different Windows accounts, you're able to switch between 2 Windows sessions and keep different apps open and running while switching.

If you're actually having 2 different Windows accounts, try completely resetting the 1Password client in your wife's Windows account, then reinstall to sign in fresh: https://support.1password.com/uninstall-1password/

rmilling

Yes, we are using two separate Microsoft accounts. We share one family license for Microsoft 365, likewise for Dropbox and 1Password but definitely two separate Microsoft accounts.
Thanks for the detailed comments that got me thinking about several test cases that might help pin down more precisely what is happening. Most likely, I will completely uninstall and go through the setup, again.
QUESTION: Is it possible for an administrator to install 1Password just once for use by all users of that Windows 11 Pro system? Ie. any user can launch 1Password but with their own 1Password credentials and completely separate sessions?

1P_Gem

Hi @rmilling! As mentioned by @Tertius3 (thanks for the assist here) we usually recommend using a separate Windows user profile for each 1Password account under the same family account umbrella. 1Password 8 for Windows is a per user install, so it will need to be installed separately in each of your Windows user accounts.

To remove the currently added account, you can either unlock the app and follow the sign out steps, or reset the app.

I hope this helps, but if you have any further questions, let me know!

rmilling

It was the separate installation, per user, that confused me; I never encountered that with other tools/apps like Firefox, Dropbox, etc. Also, I would not have found “logout” versus “lock” without help; All set, now. Thanks for the help.
Feedback and suggestion: I like the new ability to reorder fields such as adding a “PIN” field to a Login item then moving that to immediately follow the supplied/standard “Password” field. Nice improvement. Please consider providing optional platform-specific “compact” views that show more content and less decoration and white space for experienced users. That was my wife’s first comment when moving her off a simple Notes list of passwords to 1Password on her iPhone and laptop. Being able to switch between the current views and even more streamlined views would be helpful.
Thanks for the help!

1P_Gem

Hi @rmilling, I'm glad to hear that the information was helpful, and thanks for your kind words!

You can set the desktop app to compact mode by following the steps below:

1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard, and click 1Password near the top.
2. Unlock with your usual credentials if prompted.
3. In the top left, click ⋮ > Settings > Appearance.
4. Click Compact.

We have received feedback from a few users that they'd love to see an even-more-compact mode, so if this doesn't fully meet your needs, let me know, and I'll be happy to file a feature request on your behalf as well 😄