In Private Browsing is enabled on Child account

Question

Hi,

I had created two logins on my Windows 10 Home PC. One of which is for adult as Admin and the other for my Child as Member. 

I had enabled the Microsoft Family to ensure safe browsing for my Child. But the In Private Browsing option is available on my Child account. I think this should not be enabled for child accounts. 

I searched online for a solution and tried to edit the Registry Editor and disable the In Private Browsing on HKEY_LOCAL_MACIHNE\Software\Policies\Microsoft. Now this has been disabled from the Adult account. But when I login to my Child account, it is still enabled. 

Please help at the earliest.

Thanks

Ruchita.

Answer 1

Hi and thanks for reaching out. My name is William. I'm a Windows technical expert. I'll be happy to help you out today.

Setting in HKEY_LOCAL_MACIHNE applies to all users. To limit scope, you will need to set specifically for your child by logging into their account and modifying the registry under HKCU.

Now, before you can do this, you need to understand that policies key under HKCU is protected and only admin can edit those in registry. However, you cannot simply right-click and choose to run regedit.exe as an administrator because once you specify your admin account, the security context switches to the administrative user and any changes you make in HKCU will apply to your admin account.

To work around that, you will need to temporarily promote your child to admin account > logon as your child > make the regedit changes below > then remove admin role from your child account.

For IE: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Privacy

DWORD EnableInPrivateBrowsing = 0

For Chrome: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome

DWORD IncognitoModeAvailability = 1

For new Edge: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

DWORD InPrivateModeAvailability = 1

For Firefox: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox

DWORD DisablePrivateBrowsing = 1

I agree, it is convoluted.

Answer 2

Why isn't this just an option in the Family Management Page? I have to say that with all that is going on in the world of online school etc. This family account stuff has been neglected! I am a father of 8 and have to do this for all of their computers!

Answer 3

Hi folks, 

For anyone finding this thread later - there was a temporary issue with blocking InPrivate Browsing and it should be resolved in the latest version of Microsoft Edge! Make sure you've updated to the latest version, and let me know if you're still seeing the issue. 

If you're having trouble setting up to block InPrivate browsing, set up a family group, add your child's account, make sure you've enabled activity reporting from the family dashboard and confirm you're seeing your child's browsing on it. InPrivate and Guest browsing should automatically be turned off by enabling activity reporting, there is no dedicated toggle for this in the new Microsoft Edge. 

Thanks for using Edge!

-Alex

Answer 4

In what build is this fixed? I am using 88.0.705.63 and the issue of blocking inprivate browsing for my child is not resolved.

Answer 5

Hello,

I would recommend contacting either support.microsoft.com/contactus or file a ticket " Hi, how may we assist you? (microsoftedgeinsider.com)". Also sending feedback in Edge.