Kiosk set up, how to get out of it and sign in as a different user?

Sugandh Suvarnan 0 Reputation points
2026-01-19T14:23:19.7433333+00:00

Hello,

I am a IT support guy in my company who joined recently, we have a pc at our reception which was set up by the old IT guys and it is a kiosk set up with windows.It is running a microsoft edge private window. However I am not sure how to get out of it and sign in as a different user? I have tried the short cuts for task manager but nothing happens, I don' think short cuts are working and I am not sure how the old IT guy set this up.Can some one help me?

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | User experience | Accessibility
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  1. Domic Vo 29,480 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-01-19T14:56:52.64+00:00

    Hello Sugandh Suvarnan,

    What you are dealing with is Windows Assigned Access (Kiosk Mode). In this configuration, the system is locked to a single app—in your case Microsoft Edge—and all standard shortcuts like Task Manager or switching users are disabled by design. That’s why you cannot break out of it with keyboard combinations.

    To exit kiosk mode and sign in as a different user, you need to restart the machine. At the sign‑in screen, you should see the kiosk account automatically selected. If other accounts exist on the system, you can switch to them from the bottom left corner of the sign‑in screen. If you only see the kiosk account, it means the old IT staff configured Assigned Access to auto‑logon.

    To disable kiosk mode, you must log in with an administrator account. From there, go to Settings > Accounts > Family & other users > Set up a kiosk (Assigned access). You will see the kiosk profile listed. Select it and choose Remove kiosk. Once removed, the system will boot normally and allow sign‑in with any available user account.

    If you cannot reach Settings because the kiosk account is the only one available, you will need to break auto‑logon. Restart the PC and press Shift + Restart to enter the recovery environment. From there, choose Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt. In the command prompt, you can disable auto‑logon by editing the registry hive HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and clearing the DefaultUserName and DefaultPassword values. After reboot, the system will stop auto‑logging into kiosk mode and present the standard sign‑in screen.

    In short, kiosk mode is not something you can exit with shortcuts—it must be removed from Assigned Access settings or by disabling auto‑logon in the registry. Once that is done, you can sign in with a different user account.

    I hope you've found something useful here. If it helps you get more insight into the issue, it's appreciated to accept the answer. Should you have more questions, feel free to leave a message. Have a nice day!

    Domic Vo.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-01-19T14:23:28.2566667+00:00

    To exit the kiosk mode and sign in as a different user, you can typically use the default breakout sequence, which is Ctrl + Alt + Del. This should allow you to exit the kiosk application and bring you to the sign-in screen. If this does not work, you may need to check if the breakout sequence has been customized by the previous IT staff.

    If you want to change the breakout sequence, it can be configured to a different key combination through the registry settings, but this requires administrative access.

    Once you are at the sign-in screen, you can select a different user account to log in. If the kiosk is set up to automatically sign in, you may need to disable that feature or change the configuration to allow for user selection at startup.

    If you continue to have issues, consider checking the Event Viewer logs for any related errors or configurations that might be affecting the kiosk mode.

    References:

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