Why don't my users have separate desktops in Windows 10?

I have a family laptop where I have created separate users for my kids. My user is an admin, theirs are not. I had assumed that having separate users would have separate desktops. But I have installed programs that have their shortcuts showing up on the other users, and then recently one of them changed the desktop background pic, and it changed mine to that as well.

I've learned there is some kind of default or public desktop. I have used Explorer to look at \Users\username\Desktop and the public Desktop, but it still seems odd. I think the public Desktop on the file system did not contain the pictures, files, and program shortcuts that are actually displayed on the everyone's desktop.

Solution 1:

The Public desktop is part of what's going on. The icons you see on your Desktop are a combination of the Desktop folder in your profile, the Desktop folder for the Public/All Users profile, and the special My Computer/Recycle Bin/Network/etc icons chosen for your profile.

The wallpaper is another story. Wallpapers are definitely stored separately per user profile in Windows and will not change for one user just because another changed a file in their own profile. Local Policy might play a part in this. You can use group policy on a local machine to set a wallpaper for all users. But I don't think that's what happened here.

What I believe happened is you set up all of your users with the same Microsoft Account. As of Windows 8, Windows will also want to associate a Microsoft Account with each user. Microsoft Accounts can sync some settings via the cloud... including Desktop Wallpaper. If all of your users are connected to the same Microsoft Account, changing a synced profile setting in one user will change it for the others as well.

If you want to unlink these profiles from the Microsoft Account, it's not hard to find instructions via Google. Just be careful... I've heard stories where unlinking the account can result in losing access to your profiles on the machine. You'll still be able to use the machine, but you'll have to start over with a new profile.

Solution 2:

Anything that is on the Public user desktop will appear on everyone's desktop when they log into that machine. For example, if you install iTunes, by default it creates a desktop icon on the Public desktop that everyone can use.

Each person will have their own personal folders (Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos), along with their own Desktop... but some things are shared throughout the machine.