Disable the logon screen in Windows XP and Vista

[javajolt]

My previous post described how to add information to and otherwise customize Windows' Welcome screen. But maybe you just want to get your PC going without having to log into an account. You can bypass Windows' logon screen by changing settings in the Windows Registry, as described in a tutorial on the Computer Performance site, but I find it much simpler to use a free Windows-tweaking utility to do the same thing.

The program I used to customize the Windows Welcome screen—TweakNow PowerPack 2009—is the same tool I used to disable the logon screen on my Vista laptop. Click Windows Secret in the utility's left pane and choose User Accounts. Click "Enable auto logon," select the account you want to log into automatically, enter the account's password and domain name (if necessary), and click Save. The next time you start the PC, Windows will start and open that account automatically.

Set Windows to start logged into a specific account—
without having to enter a password—
via this setting in TweakNow PowerPack 2009.

TweakNow PowerPack 2009 works with XP, Vista, and Windows 7, but I tested it only with Vista. I didn't need to download the program to my XP test machine because that system already has Tweak UI, Microsoft's free XP-reconfiguration utility that lacks a Vista version.

To set XP to start a specific account without requiring a logon, open Tweak UI and click Logon > Autologon in the left pane, check "Log on automatically at system startup" in the right window, enter the account's user name and domain (if necessary), and click the Set Password button

The free Tweak UI utility makes it easy to start
Windows without having to log into an account.

In the Set Autologon Password dialog box, enter the account's password in each of the two text boxes and click OK.

Add the account's password twice and
click OK to start Windows without having
to log in.

Why bypassing the Windows logon is dangerous

Setting Windows to open an administrator account automatically is risky, period. Even starting a standard account without requiring a password is dangerous, though less so. There are many very good reasons why Windows accounts are password-protected, and far fewer good reasons for doing without passwords.

source:cnet

[bluemomentbass]

For basic auto login, you can use the built-in Windows User Accounts to select any of the users for autologin.  This method works for XP and Vista, and should work on win7 but honestly haven't checked.

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type control userpasswords2, and then click OK.
3. Clear the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" check box
4. Highlight the user account you want to automatically login, and click apply.
5. In the Automatically Log On window, type the password in the Password box, and then retype the password in the Confirm Password box.
6. Click OK to close the Automatically Log On window, and then click OK to close the User Accounts window.
7. Reboot to confirm your password is good and you didn't fat-finger it 

NOTE: For Windows XP Home, don't try to auto-login as the built-in Administrator, as you'll receive an error message.

Code: [Select]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231