How to Enable Auto Logon to Windows XP and Vista Joined as Domain Member
In standalone computer which does not join any Active Directory (AD) or Windows NT domain as a member, user can configure in such as way that operating system auto login to console or desktop area after booting up (see how to make Windows XP automatic login and enable automatic log on in Windows Vista).
However, if the PC is domain member and configured to logon to domain, automatic logon feature cannot be configured through graphical user interface (GUI). In Windows XP and Vista, the option for “users must enter a user name and password to use this computer” is missing, hidden and disappearing in User Account window on domain-based system, even though user belongs to local user or local admin privilege group. In a domain-joined computer, Windows XP and Windows Vista can still be set to automatically log on selected user account by configuring the settings in the registry.
Note that the user name and password credential for auto login will be saved and stored in the Windows Registry, and can be read by anybody who can physically gain access to the computer, or remotely connect to the registry by the Authenticated Users group. Hackers or malicious users can also gain access to everything that is on the computer, including any network or networks that the computer is connected to. Thus, enable and turn on automatic logon on a domain environment will severely compromise the network security.
Follow these procedure to force Windows Vista and Windows XP to skip and bypass asking user for user to select or input user name and password:
- Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. In Windows Vista, simply type regedit in Start Search and hit Enter.
- Navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
- Double-click the DefaultUserName entry, type the user name to log on with, and then click OK.
If DefaultUserName registry value name is not found, create the new String Value (REG_SZ) with value name as DefaultUserName.
- Double-click the DefaultPassword entry, type the password for the user account under the value data box, and then click OK.
If there is no DefaultPassword value, create a new String Value subkey (REG_SZ) with DefaultPassword as the value name.
Note that if no DefaultPassword string is specified, Windows automatically changes the value of the AutoAdminLogon registry key from 1 (true) to 0 (false) to turn off the AutoAdminLogon feature.
- In Windows Vista, DefaultDomainName has to be specified as well, else Windows will prompt of invalid user name with user name displayed as .\username. To do so, double click on DefaultDomainName, and specify the domain name of the user account. If it’s local user, specify local host name.
If the DefaultDomainName does not exist, create a new String Value (REG_SZ) registry key with value name as DefaultDomainName.
- Double-click the AutoAdminLogon entry, type 1 in the Value Data box, and then click OK.
If there is no AutoAdminLogon entry, create a new String Value entry (REG_SZ) with AutoAdminLogon as the value name.
- If exist, delete the AutoLogonCount key.
- Quit Registry Editor.
- Click Start, click Restart, and then click OK.
After computer reboots and Windows XP or Vista starts, system can log on automatically to the preset or predefined user in the registry.
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Entries (RSS)
September 5th, 2009 00:53
[...] you want automatic logon, you can follow these instructions which should fork for XP/Vista/7. That gets you a system that logs into a particular user account automatically, but of course [...]
June 16th, 2009 03:11
OK – but surely there’s a way to bypass the auto logon once you’ve followed the instructions above? I added the Registry Key
ForceAutoLogon into HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
so everytime we logout it will auto login.
June 12th, 2009 22:50
Madeline, to do this you should just log out of the account that logs in. you should get to the login screen at that point. I’m not sure of a real bypass like XP has.
June 11th, 2009 22:48
How do you then bypass the auto logon that you’ve set in a Vita domain to temporarily login as a different user? In XP you could hold the SHIFT key but this does not seem to work with Vista.
October 27th, 2008 20:43
Look also at this autologon tool for XP/Vista that supports password encryption and auto logon to domain