Automatically log into Windows XP

Posted on August 6, 2008 at 5:29 am

Logging into Windows every time you restart your PC can be quite annoying. This is especially true if several restarts are required when installing updates or new software applications. One way to achieve this is to use the Windows Power Toy Tweak UI as explained in one of my previous posts. The same can also be setup directly in Windows.

**Keep in mind that this tip will allow anyone to startup your PC and login. You definitely want to take into account your situation and security. If you are in the workplace or in an environment where curious eyes are a concern you probably do not want to set this up. Use your best judgement! **

First click on Start and go to Run then type in “control userpasswords2” (without the quotes) then click OK.

The User Accounts dialog window will come up. Uncheck the box next to “Users must enter a user name …” then click OK.

Right away the Automatically Log On dialog box will pop up. Here you will want to enter in your username and password twice and click OK. Now, when you restart the username and password screen will be bypassed and will boot directly to your desktop.

Again, as a reminder to take your security situation into account. You could enable this while your doing upgrades to your computer that require several restarts and then set the password protection back by going into User Accounts and rechecking the box.

Written by Mysticgeek who is also a contributing author at How-To Geek.

» Filed Under Windows XP

Comments

2 Responses to “Automatically log into Windows XP”

Robert said on : August 14th, 2008 at 10:05 am

Greetings,

Thanks a million for these instructions, They really helped me out on a specific project. However, It seems to work on the majority of machines but as luck would have it, it doesn’t work on my machine. When I run the “control userpasswords2″, the dialog does not have the user/password required checkbox control. It’s simply not there. I’m on a 2 year old Dell Precision Workstation running Win XP, version 5.1.2600, Service Pack 2, build 2600

PhillyBob said on : October 25th, 2008 at 9:04 am

I don’t know what started my machine to ask for a password, but I am glad to get rid of it. Now when I start it in the morning and go get my coffee, the machine is online when I sit down. Thanks.