How can I lock a device that's managed under family with parental controls

Question

How can I lock a device that's managed under family with parental controls

David Moore 5

I can't find anywhere to just lock a device, which is a bit crazy. It means I have to physically go and take the device from the child, and if I am not at home then it's just not possible.

This feature seems a critical part of parental controls...

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1 answer

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Answer 1

GsN5034 - IA 79,820 Independent Advisor

Hello,

To lock a device your child is signed in to:

Go to the Family Safety settings for your Microsoft account and make sure you’re signed in as the family organizer.

https://account.microsoft.com/family/home

Select your 'Child Account' on the Family Safety settings page.
Under 'Devices', you should see an option: 'Lock devices'.

dev (1)

Select 'Lock Devices'.
You can then lock the device to give them time away from their screens. The device will remain locked until the end of the day.

David Moore 5 Reputation points

2026-10-26T19:26:59.8466667+00:00

Sorry, but that locks all devices. If one needs to lock the games computer, but leave the shared family homework computer available, it would require one to specify which device to lock. The above setting locks the user out, not the device.
GsN5034 - IA 79,820 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-27T03:59:28.21+00:00

Hi,

Microsoft Family Safety screen time limits apply to the child's account, not to a specific device. If the child uses the same account on both your Home and gaming computers running Windows 11, the restrictions apply to both devices.

If the child has a separate device, like an Xbox console or Smartphone, it will be listed as a separate device, and you can lock it separately. The lock device works at the Operating system level, not the device hardware.

You can submit your feedback directly through the family safety app by clicking'feedback' at the bottom of the page.
David Moore 5 Reputation points

2026-10-27T09:51:31.36+00:00

Okay, so based on this, the feature to lock a device is missing, which is an utter shambles... There's no way to limit activity on one device and yet let them use another one. Product managers clearly don't have kids.
GsN5034 - IA 79,820 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-27T09:53:45.46+00:00

I understand your frustration here...

I recommend submitting your feedback through the Microsoft Family Safety app so that this feature can be considered for future updates.