How can i change from a child account to an adult?

Question

Can someone help me with this? I've been struggling to get the restrictions on my windows account since my account is an organizer/ child. Made an error initially* I need to clean my storage and it keep asking for a permission whcih leads me to nothing by run in circles. Thanks.

Answer 1

Hello, thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

If your account is being recognized as a Child, you won't be able to change your D.O.B. in your Microsoft account directly.

Only the Family Organizer has permission to edit the date of birth on a child's account. To do this, the account must first be part of a Microsoft family group.

1. Open an incognito tab.
2. Sign in with your Microsoft account (an Adult Account, not a child's) using the link below. If you don't have another account, create a new dummy Adult account and sign in here. https://account.microsoft.com/family/home
3. Invite the Child account to the Family group.
4. Accept the invite from the child group.
5. Once accepted, you will see your child's account profile on the Family safety settings.
6. Select Manage consent > Edit child's profile info.
7. Change the D.O.B. to Adult and remove them from the family group.

Let me know if you still need more help.

Answer 2

Changing a Microsoft account from a child to an adult cannot be done directly if the account is already classified as a child account.

For child accounts, the birth date cannot be edited to make the account an adult. This is specifically to prevent children from bypassing Microsoft Family Safety restrictions by changing their age, leaving the family group, and removing protections. The account must reach the legal adult age in the country/region before it is treated as an adult account and can leave the family group or remove restrictions.

Until that happens, any organizer in the Microsoft Family group must adjust the restrictions for the child account (screen time, app limits, content filters, etc.) through the Family Safety settings.

If the account is actually an adult but has the wrong birth date set (Microsoft “thinks” it is a child), the documented path is to follow the guidance under "I'm an adult, but Microsoft thinks I'm a child" in the birth date change article referenced in the Family Safety troubleshooting content.

To reduce restrictions so storage can be cleaned or admin actions can be taken in Windows, an organizer should:

1. Sign in at the Family Safety site (for example, via https://family.microsoft.com from the context) with the organizer account.
2. Adjust the child account’s limits and permissions as needed so required actions on the device are allowed.

If the account is an adult and Family Safety restrictions are being wrongly enforced on the device (for example, the device still treats the user as a child even though the account is not in a family or is an organizer), a Family Safety reset can be run on the affected Windows device:

1. Press Windows key + R to open Run.
2. Type cmd and select OK.
3. In the Command Prompt, enter:

      schtasks /run /tn "Microsoft\Windows\Shell\FamilySafetyRefreshTask"
   

4. Restart the computer.

These steps must be run on each impacted device.

If the issue is that the account is above statutory age but still being treated as underage because of the stored birth date, use the age/consent correction flow described in the parental consent article ("The birthdate on your account indicates that you're underage. Use our interactive tool to help guide you to the right steps to correct it.").

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References:

• how to change date of birth child to adult - Microsoft Q&A
• Troubleshooting Microsoft Family Safety
• Family Safety settings enforced on adults
• Managing parental consent