Auto Logon to a Windows Machine

Windows NT includes a feature that allows you to automatically logon to the machine and network, bypassing the Winlogon dialog box.

To enable this function you need to add several new values to the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] key.

1. Add a new value of ‘DefaultUserName’ and set the data to the username you wish to automatically logon as.
2. Add a new value of ‘DefaultPassword’ and set this to the password for the username above.
3. Add a new value of ‘DefaultDomainName’ and set this to the domain of the user. Ignore this value if the NT box is not participating in NT Domain security.
4. Add a new value of ‘AutoAdminLogon’ and set it to either ‘1’ to enable auto logon or ‘0’ to disable.
5. Exit and reboot, Windows should not ask for a password and automatically show the desktop of the user.

WARNING

The password is stored in registry, which means anyone who has access to the machine has access to the password.

Note:

You can bypass this function by holding the during the boot process.

Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
Value Name: AutoAdminLogon
Data Type: REG_SZ
Data: (0=disable, 1=enable)