Shared PC technical reference

This article details the settings configured by the different options of Shared PC.

Important

The behavior of some options have changed over time. This article describes the current settings applied by Shared PC.

EnableSharedPCMode and EnableSharedPCModeWithOneDriveSync

EnableSharedPCMode and EnableSharedPCModeWithOneDriveSync are the two policies that enable Shared PC mode. The only difference between the two is that EnableSharedPCModeWithOneDriveSync enables OneDrive synchronization, while EnableSharedPCMode disables it.

When enabling Shared PC mode, the following settings in the local GPO are configured:

Policy setting Status
Security Settings/Local Policies/Security Options/User Account Control: Behavior of elevation prompt for standard user Automatically deny elevation requests
Security Settings/Local Policies/Security Options/Interactive logon: Don't display last signed-in Enabled
Control Panel/Personalization/Prevent enabling lock screen slide show Enabled
System/Logon/Block user from showing account details on sign-in Enabled
System/Logon/Enumerate local users on domain-joined computers Disabled
System/Logon/Hide entry points for Fast User Switching Enabled
System/Logon/Show first sign-in animation Disabled
System/Logon/Turn off app notifications on the lock screen Enabled
System/Logon/Turn off picture password sign-in Enabled
System/Logon/Turn on convenience PIN sign-in Disabled
Windows Components/App Package Deployment/Allow a Windows app to share application data between users Enabled
Windows Components/Biometrics/Allow the use of biometrics Disabled
Windows Components/Biometrics/Allow users to log on using biometrics Disabled
Windows Components/Biometrics/Allow domain users to log on using biometrics Disabled
Windows Components/Data Collection and Preview Builds/Disable pre-release features or settings Disabled (all experimentations are turned off)
Windows Components/Data Collection and Preview Builds/Do not show feedback notifications Enabled
Windows Components/Data Collection and Preview Builds/Toggle user control over Insider builds Disabled
Windows Components/File Explorer/Show lock in the user tile menu Disabled
Windows Components/File History/Turn off File History Enabled
Windows Components/OneDrive/Prevent the usage of OneDrive for file storage Enabled if using EnableSharedPCMode

Disabled is using EnableSharedPCModeWithOneDriveSync
Windows Components/Windows Hello for Business/Use biometrics Disabled
Windows Components/Windows Hello for Business/Use Windows Hello for Business Disabled
Windows Components/Windows Logon Options/Sign-in and lock last interactive user automatically after a restart Disabled
Extra registry setting Status
Software\Policies\Microsoft\PassportForWork\Remote\Enabled (Phone sign-in/Use phone sign-in) 0
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\PreviewBuilds\AllowBuildPreview () 0

SetEDUPolicy

By enabling SetEDUPolicy, the following settings in the local GPO are configured:

Policy setting Status
System/User Profiles/Turn off the advertising ID Enabled
Windows Components/Cloud Content/Do not show Windows tips Enabled
Windows Components/Cloud Content/Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences Enabled

SetPowerPolicies

By enabling SetPowerPolicies, the following settings in the local GPO are configured:

Policy setting Status
System/Power Management/Button Settings/Select the lid switch action (on battery) Enabled > Sleep
System/Power Management/Button Settings/Select the lid switch action (plugged in) Enabled > Sleep
System/Power Management/Button Settings/Select the Power button action (on battery) Enabled > Sleep
System/Power Management/Button Settings/Select the Power button action (plugged in) Enabled > Sleep
System/Power Management/Button Settings/Select the Sleep button action (on battery) Enabled > Sleep
System/Power Management/Button Settings/Select the Sleep button action (plugged in) Enabled > Sleep
System/Power Management/Energy Saver Settings/Energy Saver Battery Threshold (on battery) Enabled > 70%
System/Power Management/Sleep Settings/Allow standby states (S1-S3) when sleeping (on battery) Enabled
System/Power Management/Sleep Settings/Allow standby states (S1-S3) when sleeping (plugged in) Enabled
System/Power Management/Sleep Settings/Specify the system hibernate timeout (on battery) 0 (Hibernation disabled)
System/Power Management/Sleep Settings/Specify the system hibernate timeout (plugged in) 0 (Hibernation disabled)
System/Power Management/Sleep Settings/Turn off hybrid sleep (on battery) Enabled
System/Power Management/Sleep Settings/Turn off hybrid sleep (plugged in) Enabled

MaintenanceStartTime

By enabling MaintenanceStartTime, the following settings in the local GPO are configured:

Policy setting Status
Windows Components/Maintenance Scheduler/Automatic Maintenance Activation Boundary 2000-01-01T00:00:00 (midnight)
Windows Components/Maintenance Scheduler/Automatic Maintenance Random Delay Enabled PT2H (2 hours)
Windows Components/Maintenance Scheduler/Automatic Maintenance WakeUp Policy Enabled

SignInOnResume

By enabling SignInOnResume, the following settings in the local GPO are configured:

Policy setting Status
System/Logon/Allow users to select when a password is required when resuming from connected standby Disabled
System/Power Management/Sleep Settings/Require a password when a computer wakes (on battery) Enabled
System/Power Management/Sleep Settings/Require a password when a computer wakes (plugged in) Enabled

EnableAccountManager

By enabling Enableaccountmanager, the following schedule task is turned on: \Microsoft\Windows\SharedPC\Account Cleanup.

Shared PC APIs and app behavior

Applications can take advantage of Shared PC mode with the following three APIs:

  • IsEnabled - This API informs applications when the device is configured for shared use scenarios. For example, an app might only download content on demand on a device in shared PC mode, or might skip first run experiences
  • ShouldAvoidLocalStorage - This API informs applications when the PC has been configured to not allow the user to save to the local storage of the PC. Instead, only cloud save locations should be offered by the app or saved automatically by the app
  • IsEducationEnvironment - This API informs applications when the PC is used in an education environment. Apps may want to handle diagnostic data differently or hide advertising functionality