How To Turn Off Windows XP Login Screen

Fixed and Updated: Saturday, April 05, 2008

Not too long ago, I wanted to turn off my XP login screen. It annoyed me that when I started up my computer I had to wait to get to the prompt and enter information instead of let it go all the way to my desktop. I thought this would be simple enough, I looked on the internet and it gave me simple instructions. Unfortunately I had quite a few problems doing so. The success of trying to turn off this screen depends on your settings but hopefully I will provide enough information Webingly (;D) that you won't have as much trouble as me. Keep in mind I am talking about the blue "Welcome" screen that is user friendly and presents a warmthy invite.

Above should be what you are trying to get rid of.

The Windows XP login screen is optional, but turning it off can be somewhat a struggle. Also a possible security hazard, because anyone will be able to login to your computer without any problems. Please make sure that you are fully confident in who has access to your computer and your primary account before proceeding. Get ready to hold your breathe, because unlike how some simple websites may make this seem. Shutting off your Login screen can be a real pain in the ass. I will add the Vista version when I make sure that all of my information is correct to a T.
You must be logged into an account with Administrator privileges to proceed. Make sure if you already haven't to remove all XP accounts but 1 administrator account. You may want to remove the password from the remaining account but this is optional. Then try to restart if you changed anything. If you didn't change anything or you still have to pick an account to login to, continue with this tutorial.

Windows XP
1. Click Start, and then Run
2. Type "control userpasswords2" without the quotes and click Ok.
3. This is where it can get a little sticky, on your screen should be a similar window as the one to the right.

4. Notice the box I highlighted with black. This is the main Administrator account, the top dog by default that you may notice becomes visible in Safe Mode.

5. The box highlighted red is my nifty XP account, with Administrator privileges.Yours should be similar, being listed under the Administrator username. This will be the account that we will set up to log into by default every time Windows starts up. For myself, I am going to make the username "Nick" the default account I log into.

From here on out, there will be only one account that everyone will have access to.
6. On the User Accounts window, uncheck the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" box. Click Apply. A prompt will appear. Leave this prompt up and don't change anything, proceed carefully to step 8.

8. If you don't login using a password to your computer, all you need to do is type in the XP username in the box and click ok. The XP username would be "Nick" in the window above. If you login using a password, enter the username and password you use to sign into the remaining account on startup.
NOTE: There are other methods of doing this. Please e-mail me if you have any problems!

9. You should now be done! Congratulations, contact me or go over the steps again if you encounter any problems.

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