Interactive Logon for hidden accounts

Under XP Pro I would create an admin account and then using TweakUI or
regedit I would hide this account so it didn't appear on the Welcome Screen.

If I ever wanted to log on to do administrative tasks I would press Ctrl +
Alt + Del twice on the Welcome screen and log on using my username and
password.

I've done the same under Vista except pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del twice on the
Welcome Screen no longer works.

How can I log on interactively without having to unhide my account first?

CS

That option is no longer available in Vista by default. It can be enabled,
but how you do this depends on the version of Vista that you are using.

(Be very careful when you hide accounts in Vista. If you hide the only
Administrator account that you set up, you can effectively lock yourself out
of being able to perform any administrative tasks, even in Safe Mode.)

*Here are the instructions for accomplishing this if you have the Vista
Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise version.

Go to Start and type gpedit.msc and in the results click the GPEdit.MSC
utility to open the group policy editor. Navigate to Local Computer Policy /
Computer
Configuration / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Local Policies /
Security Policies.

In the right-hand pane you need to change two policies:

Interactive logon: Do not display last user name - Change to Enabled
*This will cause the box to display that will require you to enter the user
name and password.*

If you also want to require the users to press CTRL+ALT+DEL change the
following policy.

Interactive logon: Do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL - Change to Disabled

Exit everything and reboot.

The logon box will not look exactly like the old style XP CTRL+ALT+DEL box,
but it will work the same way.

*Here are the instructions for accomplishing this if you have Home Basic or
Home Premium.

You need to edit the registry to change these policies.

Go to Start and type regedt32.exe. In the results, right click
regedit32.exe and select the Run As Administrator
option.

*Warning, you should always backup the registry prior to making any
changes.*

Navigate to the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Double click the following value and change the value data setting.

DontDisplayLastUserName (Change the Value Data to 1 (one) and click OK)

This will cause the login dialog to appear automatically, where you must
enter a user name and password to log in.

If you also want to require that users press CTRL+ALT+DEL to manually make
the login dialog appear, you must create the following registry DWord value.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

In the right side pane, right click and select New / DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Name this value DisableCAD (Case sensitive) double click the new dword
and make sure the Value Data is set to 0 (Zero) click OK.

Exit the registry editor and reboot to see the changes. You will be required
to press CTRL+ALT+DEL and enter a user name and password to login.



--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


"CS" <CS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:82927849-E115-4CF9-8CED-DD049F4068AF@microsoft.com...
> Under XP Pro I would create an admin account and then using TweakUI or
> regedit I would hide this account so it didn't appear on the Welcome
> Screen.
>
> If I ever wanted to log on to do administrative tasks I would press Ctrl +
> Alt + Del twice on the Welcome screen and log on using my username and
> password.
>
> I've done the same under Vista except pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del twice on
> the
> Welcome Screen no longer works.
>
> How can I log on interactively without having to unhide my account first?