Admin Tips
- Windows Server 2008/2003/2000/XP/NT Administrator Knowledge Base
  - Windows XP
    - User Tips
      - Network and Security
        Turning on Autologon

Section(s): Miscellaneous, Network and Security
Published on Feb 01, 2006.
Last Modified on Feb 01, 2006.
Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
Rated 4.3 out of 5 based on 8 votes.

A simple way of enabling autologon and when you might want to use it.

Here's a simple way of turning on autologon on an XP machine:

1. Click Start, then Run, type control userpasswords2 and click OK.

2. Deselect the checkbox labeled "Users must enter a user name and password for this computer" and click OK.

You could use this for example on a kiosk machine that displays Internet Explorer full screen to let people browse the web and check their webmail. Don't use this on a standard desktop machine however as it makes for a pretty big security loophole on your network.

Cheers,
Mitch Tulloch
www.mtit.com/mitch/

About Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch was lead author for the Windows Vista Resource Kit from Microsoft Press, which is the book for IT pros who want to deploy, maintain and support Windows Vista in mid- and large-sized network environments. Mitch was also the author of Introducing Windows Server 2008 and technical project lead for the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Resource Kit, both books also from Microsoft Press. For more information on these and other books by Mitch, see www.mtit.com .