Windows 10 Lock Screen Shows Email Address: Hiding Your Account Details From Passers-By

You glance at your laptop in a cafe or meeting room and notice the sign-in screen proudly displays your full name and email address under your picture. Anyone walking past can read it. When the Windows 10 lock screen shows email address, it reveals more personal information than most people want on display.

Windows shows account details on the sign-in screen to help you confirm you are signing in to the right account. With a Microsoft account, that includes the email address. Many people turned the setting on during setup without noticing, and some updates reset it.

There is a privacy option that hides these details. When it is off, the sign-in screen shows only your name.

You can also hide your name entirely on PCs where several slot people share a screen in public.

Why This Happens

The email address appears for these reasons:

• “Show account details such as my email address on the sign-in screen” is turned on.
• A Microsoft account is used, and its email serves as the user name.
• An update or new account setup enabled the option.
• Group Policy on a work PC controls what is shown.

Local accounts never show an email address, because they do not have one attached.

Start With These Basic Checks

Turn off the account details option.

1. Open Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options.
2. Scroll down to the Privacy section.
3. Turn off “Show account details such as my email address on the sign-in screen.”
4. Press Windows + L to lock the PC and check the sign-in screen.
5. Restart if the email still appears.

Going a Step Further

Hide more details on shared or public PCs.

1. On Pro editions, open gpedit.msc and go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options.
2. Set “Interactive logon: Display user information when the session is locked” to “Do not display user information.”
3. Set “Interactive logon: Don’t display last signed-in” to Enabled if you want users to type their account name.
4. Restart and test the lock and sign-in screens.
5. On Home edition, these options exist as registry values under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System, but change them only if you are comfortable with the registry.

Hiding the last signed-in user means you must remember your exact account name or email to sign in.

A Word of Caution

Write down your account name before hiding it from the sign-in screen. Back up the registry before editing policy values on Home edition.

Final Thoughts

The lock screen shows your email because of a privacy setting. Turn off account details in Sign-in options, and use security policies on shared PCs to hide user names too.