Login Automatically on Windows XP Home / Professional
If your Windows XP installation forces you to login every time you reboot, you can automate the login process easily so that you won't have to login again.
Note that for security reasons, you would usually want to have a password, but for a home computer you may not care.
Go to the Start menu, click Run, and type in the following:
control userpasswords2
You will be presented with a window similar to this one:
Uncheck the box, and click the OK button. You will be presented with a password dialog for the currently logged in user.
Now when you reboot your system, you will automatically be logged in.
This can be very useful when you are installing a bunch of software or testing out configurations.
The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. When he's not coming up with great how-to articles, he's probably writing at his personal blog. This article was written on 11/8/06 and tagged with: Windows, Customizing: Tips & Tweaks
I tried this and it did not work. Each time I boot up, it still wants me to enter a password even though I removed the check mark. Any other solutions?
I also tried this and it still forces me to choose a logon name (there is only one–mine) before loging me on. any other help available?
this worked for no problems at all thanks mate
Great tip. Thanks. Make sure you just hit enter when it prompts you for a password.
Also works on Vista!
I had made a username to try and connect to a W98 machine (didn't work). Then Vista decided that this user should sign in automatically each time the cumputer booted. But it was a bogus user. I then deleted that user, and it still tried to sign in, giving a message "unknown user", but not fixing it.
The tip fixed it (in revers of course, turning password on, instead of off).
I am having problems setting windows logon to log in without me having to click on an image and having no password for it. This first all started when my now new partner wanted to have her own login to make her own desktop, but i didnt like and could not revert back to normal ie pc boots up and is ready for what ever i want to do rather than have a welcome screen with my name and hers there to click on 1st, so now that i have deleted her account and tried doing (control userpasswords2) and following the proceedure that now it had created a new administrator i cant delete, i have since changed it to guest but i still cant get my pc to boot up without first clicking on my profile rather than having none come up as i have said and it all ready for me to use straight away, please can you tell me step by step of how to correct this, many thanks andy
hiya
I'd like to know the "step by step" also, please. I would like my (and only mine) computer to just come on without having to click no the pic..I Thank you in advance.
bdot
make sure you have two administrator accounts, the one you want to keep and the one you want to delete; go back to 'control passwords2′; enable tick, change the unwanted administrator to a guest, click apply; unable the tick again and your wanted administrator will become the default, click, click apply after each change
SysInternals has a program called "Autologin" that saves a users password and will login in automatically at system boot - no need to click on any icon. You can also run the program to disable autologin if you have enabled it. It works fine on XP.
this is nice except it instead says "loading my personal settings", on some other machines i work on, it just bypasses the welcome screen.. is there a way to just have it boot right to windows, no welcome screen, please help, thanks
I want to keep a password at work but in XP Pro we have to change it every 90 days. Any way to use just one password and keep it??