Vista Tutorial - User Account - Hide

**Brink** · **METHOD ONE:**

How to Hide or Unhide a User Account in Vista

Information

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

NOTE

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
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. For how, see: How to Start Vista in Safe Mode

RELATED LINKS:

METHOD ONE:
Through Local Users and Groups Manager

NOTE

This method 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 Local Users and Groups manager.

2. In the left pane click on the Users folder. (See screenshot below)

3. 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.

4. To Hide a User Account -
A) Check the Account is disabled box. (See screenshot below step 5)

B) Go to step 6.

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

6. Click on OK. (See screenshot above)

7. Close the Local Users and Groups manager window.

8. Restart the computer.

METHOD TWO:
Through the Registry

NOTE

This method 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 on 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 on New and Key.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

12. To Hide the User Account -
A) Type 0 (number zero) and click on OK. (See screenshot below)
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 on 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.

14. Close regedit.

That's it,
Shawn

office.lady · 05-08-2008

Everything worked out perfectly!! Thank you!

**Brink** · 05-08-2008

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

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

Shawn

king404 · 05-12-2008

thx this is extremely helpful but i have one question.how do u log on to a hidden acc?

**Brink** · 05-12-2008

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

**TimUnrue** · 05-12-2008

	Quote:	Brink
	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?

**Brink** · 05-12-2008

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

**TimUnrue** · 05-12-2008

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.

**Brink** · 05-12-2008

OK Tim. I look forward to hearing the results.

Shawn

**TimUnrue** · 05-12-2008

I just tried it, and you are able to logon to the account even if it is hidden through entering the username and password.