Vista Forums
Vista Forums Home Join Vista Forums Donate Vista Tutorials Tags

Welcome to Vista Forums we are your forum to discuss Windows Vista x64 and x86 systems. Whether you need help or just want to post an idea you have on Vista, this is the forum for you.
Register at Vista forums...the world biggest Windows Vista resource Join Vista Forums

Go Back   Vista Forums > Vista Forums > Tutorials

User Account - Hide

Poll: Did this Tutorial help and work for you?
Poll Options
Did this Tutorial help and work for you?

Comment
 
Tutorial Tools Display Modes
<!-- google_ad_section_start -->User Account - Hide<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
User Account - Hide
How to Hide or Unhide a User Account in Vista
Published by Brink
09-25-2007

How to Hide or Unhide a User Account in Vista

INFO: This will allow you to prevent access to and hide a user account in Vista. EX: From the Logon screens, Parental Controls, UAC, User Accounts, etc...

NOTE:
A) If you would like to keep the user account hidden and still be able to logon to it, then you will need to change the logon settings for Vista to require a user to enter a username and password at the logon screen. You will just type in the username and password of the hidden user account to logon to it. For how, see: How to Make Vista Require a Username and Password at Logon
B) You will still be able to access only the files from this hidden user account from within any administrator account using Windows Explorer.

WARNING: Do not hide your only Administrator account. Always leave one unhidden so you can make changes to Vista. If you did this by mistake, then boot into Safe Mode and unhide your Administrator account. See: How to Start Vista in Safe Mode

RELATED LINKS:
1. How to Create a New User Account in Vista

2. How to Make Vista Require a Username and Password at Logon

3. How to Enable or Disable the Real Built-in Administrator Account in Vista

4. How to Delete a User Account in Vista

5. How to Turn UAC On or Off in Vista

6. How to Remove or Change a Password for a User Account in Vista

7. How to Create a Password Reset Disk in Vista

8. How to Reset a User Account Password in Vista

9. How to Change a User Account Display Picture in Vista

10. How to Change a User Account Name in Vista

11. How to Change a User Account Type in Vista

12. How to Create a Password for a User Account in Vista


METHOD ONE:
Through Local Users and Groups Manager:
NOTE: This is only available for the Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions. See Method Two below for the Vista Home Basic and Home Premium editions.

1. Open the Start Menu.
2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type lusrmgr.msc and press Enter.
3. Click Continue for the UAC prompt.
4. In the left pane click on the Users folder. (See screenshot below)

lusrmgr.jpg

5. In the middle pane, right click on the user account's name that you want to hide or unhide and click Properties. (See screenshot above)
NOTE: The accounts with the arrow pointing down in the user icon are hidden. The ones without a arrow are unhidden.

6. To Hide a User Account -
A) Check the Account is disabled box. (See screenshot below step 7)
B) Go to step 8.

7. To Unhide a User Account -
A) Uncheck the Account is disabled box. (See screenshot below)

Properties.jpg

8. Click OK. (See screenshot above)
9. Close the Local Users and Groups Manager window.
10. Restart the computer.


METHOD TWO:
Through the Registry:
NOTE: This will work for all Vista versions.

1. Open the Start Menu.
2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.
3. Click the Continue button in the UAC prompt.
4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

5. In the left pane, right click on Winlogon and click New and click Key.

Winlogon.jpg

6. Type SpecialAccounts and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

Winlogon_New_Key.jpg

7. In the left pane, right click on SpecialAccounts and click New and click Key. (See screenshot below)

SpecialAccounts.jpg

8. Type UserList and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

SpecialAccounts_New_Key.jpg

9. In right pane of UserList, right click on a empty area and click New and click DWORD (32bit) Value.
(See screenshot below)

UserList.jpg

10. Type in the name of the user account that you want to hide and press enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: For example: My user account name is Everyday Account.

UserList_DWORD32.jpg

11. In the right Pane, right click on the user account name and click Modify. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: For example: My user account name is Everyday Account.

User_Account_Name.jpg

12. To Hide the User Account -
A) Type 0 and click OK. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This is the number zero.
WARNING: Do not hide your only Administrator account. Always leave one unhidden so you can make changes to Vista. If you did this by mistake, then boot into Safe Mode and unhide your Administrator account.
See: How to Boot Up in and Use Advanced Boot Options in Vista

B) Go to step 14.

13. To Unhide the User Account -
A) Type 1 and click OK.
NOTE: You can also delete the SpecialAccounts key from step 7 above to unhide it.
WARNING: You will need to delete the SpecialAccounts key from step 7 to unhide the user account for Parental Controls to see it though. This is not necessary for just the logon screens.

Modify_User_Account.jpg

14. Close regedit.


That's it,
Shawn
Published by
Brink's Avatar
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Texas, USA
Posts: 12,929
Rep Power: 200
Brink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond repute

Tutorial Tools

Applies to
All Vista Versions
64 Bit & 32 Bit

Rating
Skill Level
80%80%80%
4

Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape

Old 05-08-2008  
office.lady
Newbie
office.lady is on a distinguished road
 
office.lady's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Vista Home Premium 32bit
Posts: 1

Location: Chicago, IL
Re: User Account - Hide

Everything worked out perfectly!! Thank you!
office.lady is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-08-2008  
Brink
Administrator
Brink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond repute
 
Brink's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Vista x64 Ultimate SP1
Posts: 12,929

Location: Texas, USA
Re: User Account - Hide

Your welcome office.lady, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I'm glad to hear that you got your problem sorted out now.

Shawn

There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask them.
Please post feedback to help others.
Brink is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2008  
king404
Newbie
king404 is on a distinguished road
 
Join Date: May 2008
Vista Home Premium 32bit
Posts: 1

Re: User Account - Hide

thx this is extremely helpful but i have one question.how do u log on to a hidden acc?
king404 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2008  
Brink
Administrator
Brink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond repute
 
Brink's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Vista x64 Ultimate SP1
Posts: 12,929

Location: Texas, USA
Re: User Account - Hide

Hi King404,

Welcome to Vista Forums.

You will not be able to logon to a hidden user account.

This is mostly for a user account that you do not use often and do not want to delete it, but do not want it to show up in the logon screen (etc..) either.

Shawn

There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask them.
Please post feedback to help others.
Brink is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2008  
TimUnrue
Newbie
TimUnrue has a spectacular aura aboutTimUnrue has a spectacular aura aboutTimUnrue has a spectacular aura about
 
TimUnrue's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Vista Ultimate 32bit SP1
Posts: 9

Re: User Account - Hide

Quote:
Brink
View Post
Hi King404,

Welcome to Vista Forums.

You will not be able to logon to a hidden user account.

This is mostly for a user account that you do not use often and do not want to delete it, but do not want it to show up in the logon screen (etc..) either.

Shawn
Would you be able to log into the account if you had the logon screen configured so that you had to enter both the username and password as you described here?
TimUnrue is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2008  
Brink
Administrator
Brink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond repute
 
Brink's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Vista x64 Ultimate SP1
Posts: 12,929

Location: Texas, USA
Re: User Account - Hide

Hi Tim,

Welcome to Vista Forums.

That's a good question. I have not tried to logon to a hidden user account that way yet. It would be worth a try, but I suspect that it will not allow you to logon to it since hiding the user account also prevents access to it.

Shawn

There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask them.
Please post feedback to help others.
Brink is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2008  
TimUnrue
Newbie
TimUnrue has a spectacular aura aboutTimUnrue has a spectacular aura aboutTimUnrue has a spectacular aura about
 
TimUnrue's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Vista Ultimate 32bit SP1
Posts: 9

Re: User Account - Hide

Well, I currently don't have my computer set up to require you to enter both the username and password, but I am going to enable it and see if it might work. I tried to connect to the hidden account through remote desktop and it worked, but that is only because I was logged in as administrator, right?

I will post back when I have tried it.
TimUnrue is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2008  
Brink
Administrator
Brink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond reputeBrink has a reputation beyond repute
 
Brink's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Vista x64 Ultimate SP1
Posts: 12,929

Location: Texas, USA
Re: User Account - Hide

OK Tim. I look forward to hearing the results.

Shawn

There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask them.
Please post feedback to help others.
Brink is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2008  
TimUnrue
Newbie
TimUnrue has a spectacular aura aboutTimUnrue has a spectacular aura aboutTimUnrue has a spectacular aura about
 
TimUnrue's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Vista Ultimate 32bit SP1
Posts: 9

Re: User Account - Hide

I just tried it, and you are able to logon to the account even if it is hidden through entering the username and password.
TimUnrue is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Comment

Tags
hide, account, user

Tutorial Tools
Display Modes









Vistax64.com is an independent web site and has not been authorized,
sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation.
"Windows Vista", the Start Orb, and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
© Vistax64.com 2005-2008
Tutorial powered by GARS 2.1.8m ©2005-2006

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48