Member Avatar for DontknowIT

Hello everyone i have a rather small but very annoying problem on my windows xp, when my pc start up windows gets struck on the welcome screen and every time i have to manually log instead of being logged in straight away, i dont understand why because the pc only have 1 user and it is normally not necessary for a manual log in so if anyone know why windows is doing this or can help getting rid of it please post a solution and if there is anything you need to find the problem please let me
thank you for your time

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jbennet

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As 's suggestion fixed the OP's machine in this thread, that is the usual and simplest cure. For anyone who still sees the welcome screen or whose auto-login keeps stopping, here are a few reliable follow-ups and checks that go beyond the quick UI toggle.

Windows stores the auto-logon settings in the registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon. Confirm that DefaultUserName and DefaultPassword exist and that AutoAdminLogon is set to enable automatic logon. If DefaultPassword is missing or empty, auto-logon will not work. Export the Winlogon key before making changes and be aware the password is stored in plain text.

A local security policy can override auto-logon. If “Interactive logon: Do not display last user name” or a policy that forces the classic logon prompt is enabled, Windows will require credentials at startup even when auto-logon is configured. On XP Pro this is under Local Security Policy -> Local Policies -> Security Options; XP Home requires a registry change or a tool. ’s TweakUI suggestion is a safe, user-friendly way to inspect and set auto-logon without manual registry edits.

Other culprits: the PC being joined to a domain (missing DefaultDomainName), third-party login utilities, recent software updates that reset Winlogon values, or a corrupted user profile. If problems persist, check the System event log for Winlogon/Userenv messages, try auto-logon with a newly created local account to isolate profile issues, and remove any login managers. Remember that convenience (auto-logon) sacrifices security on shared machines.

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Member Avatar for Laser

Go to Run and enter control userpasswords2 , hit Enter and uncheck the box beside 'Users must enter a username and password to use this computer'

Member Avatar for DontknowIT

cool thanks man

Member Avatar for jbennet

You can tweak the auto-login even more using TweakUI

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