Autologon in Vista By John Dow At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

There are several situations when a user might want to use an autologon in Vista. If they are the only user of the computer and it is in a secure area. If the computer is used for a media server or media device in the office or the home. And in situations that the computer is unattended and needs to boot up and logon with out any user intervention.

Normally it’s never a good idea to not have a user password for security purposes. If any critical or proprietary data is on the computer, you could secure it using some type of encryption. Vista Ultimate and Vista Enterprise come with an encryption program called Bitlocker.

If you have one of the other versions of Vista, you can always use TrueCrypt. TrueCrypt is open source software that has as many features and is regarded by many as a better solution. TrueCrypt can create a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk. Or encrypt an entire partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard drive. And can encrypt a partition or drive where Windows is installed (with pre-boot authentication). TrueCrypt encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.

Not a perfect solution but workable in most situations where you would want open access to logon to a Vista computer with no password. Either Bitlocker or TrueCrypt would provide enough security for most situations.

If you just use the open access computer for media access like movies, music, or home videos or photos it may not be necessary to even bother with encryption. Especially if there is no keyboard or access to the physical device. No input devices and no access go a long way to providing basic security, especially in a home environment.

The autologon in Vista is a little different due to the different versions. There are two ways to create the autologon on any version. Don’t worry if you don’t know your version, you can try both, and you won’t suffer any dire consequences. Just follow the instructions below.

1. Click the Start button and enter ‘netplwiz‘.

2. This will open the Advanced User Accounts menu, On the Users tab, highlight the account you want to logon to Vista automatically with, and then uncheck ‘must enter a username and password to use this computer’

3. Click on ‘Apply’. A new window will now popup that asks you to enter the password of the account you’ve just chose. Enter the password, and then click ‘Ok’

4. Click ‘Ok’ on the Advanced User Accounts menu to finish

On Vista Ultimate 64:

1. Click the Start button and choose Run.

2. In the dialog, enter 'control userpasswords2' and press Enter. When you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, enter the password or provide confirmation.

3. In the dialog that comes up, uncheck the box that says 'Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer'. Click on Apply, another dialog will come up. Enter your default logon username and password. Then click OK. Click OK again.

4. Click Start button and select Run. In the dialog, type 'secpol.msc' and press Enter.

5. When the window comes up, on the left hand side, expand Local Policies, then select Security Options. On the right hand side, double click the line saying "Interactive Logon: Do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL".

6. In the dialog that has come up, click the radio button named Enabled, and click OK, and restart your machine.

Another setting that you might want to adjust would be the power management settings. You don’t want a computer to go into hibernation if you are watching movies or listening to music. Screen savers can also cause problems if activated. All of these possible states can be turned off.

So if you want to setup an autologon for Vista, regardless of the reason, the settings above should give you the desired result. And if security is an issue, just use one of the encryption methods above to protect any data or access to other areas of the computer.

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