Over the past few years, many technology vendors have put their focus more on security. Microsoft is no exception as is evident with numerous security enhancements in Windows Vista. However, in some cases, Vista security options may be overkill, especially if you are the only one who uses the computer. User Account Control, also known as UAC, nags you to determine whether you really meant to take action. Windows also forces you to login to your computer with a username and password by default, even if you are the only person who ever uses the computer.
If you do not share your computer with any other users and no one else has access to it, you can configure Windows Vista to logon automatically. Using auto logon to Windows makes sense for a desktop computer in your house where no one else is likely to come in and access your files. The big risk in not requiring a username and password is the computer is wide open to any other person walking up, sitting down, and accessing your files and Internet passwords. If your computer is in your home and doesn’t ever travel, this is typically a fairly low risk proposition.
To switch Windows from the default of requiring a password to using auto logon, click Start and type netplwiz in the Search field and then press Enter. Click Continue when the User Account Control window appears.
From the User Accounts window that appears, verify that your own user account is selected. Clear the checkbox next to Users must enter a username and password to use this computer option (see the screenshot above) and click OK. Provide the password for your user account when prompted. Before the Windows automatic login takes effect, you will need to restart your computer. Vista will automatically logon with your user account when the reboot completes.
Just open the same user account window if you want to re-enable the passwords on your account.
Thanks, just what I was looking for! Very helpful
I have an active directory network at home because I want to centrally manage the user accounts for my family.
Do you know of a way to for my vista media centre which is a member of the active directory network to automatically login?
Kind regards,
Rob
Robert, there is no Vista “Media Center” (or “Media Centre” for you non-Americans,) edition. There is “Vista Home Premium”, which can not be part of a domain/active directory, and there is “Vista Ultimate”, which can.
Assuming you are really running Vista Ultimate, then you can follow the instructions here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=79468&view=findpost&p=542844
This is just what I was looking for. What’s with the windows help file on this topic?
Thanks a lot! Good Job!
Thanks – very handy!
[...] On my troubled Acer laptop I changed the name of the administrator user to my name and added a strong password. Then I created a standard user account for the kids with no password and automatic login. Configure Vista For Automatic Logon [...]
Thanks, its a shame that options like this require a command like netplwis :s
Thanks a lot. This is just what I was looking for!
Thank you! This is exactly what I needed, and happily, a quick search on Google brought me here first! I really appreciate your tips!
Thanks! You rock my world
[...] Make it automatically log in. [...]
this was almost too easy, i figured there would be a tweak of somekind to make it do it like you could in vista but this is great. I was only using a password on my system because i access it via rdp etc and it needs one but wwhen i’m sat next to it i just want to turn it on and get on with it. cheers for the help guys. much appreciated.
Thanks. That’s perfect. Does this effect remote desktop?
The user account management control is horrid when you access it from the control panel. You need to access it from Administrative Tools > Computer Management in order to disable accounts. Why did they do it that way? It’s just another example of why Vista is awful.
Very helpful. Thank you very much.
Hey, i was just wondering if this could work the other way around for DISABLING autologon? because i just got my new cyberpower computer yesterday but like, they for some dumb freaking reason disabled UAC and set it to automaticly log on to the Admininstrator account. So if anyone could help me out, that would be great, because i REALLY didnt want cyberpower to disable UAC… any if anyone can help that would be nice.
Thanks,
Basil
Oh yea one more thing, im running vista home premium with 2 gigs of ram, 3.16 ghz core 2 duo. vista is 64 bit, i dont know if theres any difference really
Guys pay attention to Logonexpert automatic login tool for Vista that encrypts password. It also may be interesting for companies who have domain environment to perform autologon to domain.
Very useful tip, thankyou for sharing this.
It does seem rather silly and not to mention frustrating that Microsoft would hide away advanced configuration settings into obscure little command line executables.
I understand they want to make the OS as easy as possible for ordinary non-expert types of people to use their PC, but why do they make it so annoyingly difficult for those like myself who know what they are doing?
My suggestion to MS is that they ask a question when windows first gets used saying what type of user best describes you. You can then select the relevant (advanced, intermediate or beginner) choice and windows will configure the accessability of advanced features accordingly.
HELP! Doing this crippled my computer! Now it automatically logs in, but I have NO ADMIN RIGHTS! And when User Account Control pops up, the ok button is not available! It asks for admin password but there is no box to type in! PLEASE HELP!!!!!! With no admin rights, I can’t do anything!
What about on Server 2008? It looks like I can uncheck the checkbox to require passwords globally, but I can’t do it selectively for the single user I want to log in automatically. It would be nice to get this working because we have a build slave which needs starting on boot, and it won’t run under Services.
Todd found a hidden bug? How can Vista ask for admin password but there is no box to type in …. horrid
Thanks, was actually the opposite to what i was looking for, how to disable automatic logon. thanks!
Thanks alot! I’m new to Vista and couldn’t figure out how to set automatic logon. This article is really helpful.
What can I do if Windows Vista ask for password when resuming from sleep?
If you set Vista to automatically login to a non-admin account, simply ctrl-alt-del and Log Off. You should then be able to login with whatever account is available.
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Thanks, very helpful. It works.