Direct Bootup Without Typing Password
1. At a command prompt, type "control userpasswords2" and press Enter to open
the Windows 2000-style User Accounts application.
2. On the Users tab, clear the Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use
This Computer check box and then click OK.
3. In the Automatically Log On dialog box that appears, type the user name and
password for the account you want to be logged on each time you start your computer.
Remove Login Password
Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Local Security
Settings/Minimum Password Length/Reduce it to 0 (No password required). Control
Panel/User Account/Your Account/Remove Password.
Cannot Change the Administrator Password in Control Panel
After you log on as an administrator to a computer that is not a
member of a domain, when you double-click User Accounts in Control Panel to
change the password for the built-in Administrator account, the Administrator
account may not appear in the list of user accounts. Consequently, you cannot
change its password.
This behavior can occur because the Administrator account logon option appears
only in Safe mode if more than one account is created on the system. The
Administrator account is available in Normal mode only if there are no other
accounts on the system. To work around this
behavior:
- If you are running Windows XP Home Edition, restart the computer and then use
a power user account to log on to the computer in Safe mode.
- If you are running Windows XP Professional, reset the password in the Local
Users and Groups snap-in in Microsoft Management Console (MMC):
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type "mmc" (without the quotation marks), and then click OK
to start MMC.
3. Start the Local Users and Groups snap-in.
4. Under Console Root, expand "Local Users and Groups", and then click Users.
5. In the right pane, right-click Administrator, and then click Set Password.
6. Click Proceed in the message box that appears.
7. Type and confirm the new password in the appropriate boxes, and then click
OK.
How to use the net user command to change the user password at a
Windows command prompt. Only administrators can change domain passwords at the
Windows command prompt. To change a user's password at the command prompt,
log on as an administrator and type: "net user <user_name> * /domain"
(without the quotation marks)
When you are prompted to type a password for the user, type the new password,
not the existing password. After you type the new password, the system prompts
you to retype the password to confirm. The password is now changed.
Alternatively, you can type the following command: net user <user_name> <new_password>.
When you do so, the password changes without prompting you again. This command
also enables you to change passwords in a batch file.
Non-administrators receive a "System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied"
error message when they attempt to change the password.
How to Enable Automatic Logon in Windows
If you set a computer for auto logon, anyone who can physically obtain access to
the computer can gain access to all of the computer contents, including any
network or networks it is connected to. In addition, if you enable autologon,
the password is stored in the registry in plaintext. The specific registry key
that stores this value is remotely readable by the Authenticated Users group.
As a result, this setting is only appropriate for cases where the computer is
physically secured, and steps have been taken to ensure that untrusted users
cannot remotely access the registry.
1. Start/Run/Regedit, and then locate the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
2. Using your account name and password, double-click the DefaultUserName entry,
type your user name, and then click
OK.
3. Double-click the DefaultPassword entry, type your password, and then click
OK.
NOTE: The DefaultPassword value may not exist. If it does not:
a. Click Add Value on the Edit menu.
b. In the Value Name box, type DefaultPassword, and then click REG_SZ for the
Data Type
c. Type your password in the String box, and then save your changes.
Also, if no DefaultPassword string is specified, Windows automatically changes
the value of the AutoAdminLogon key
from 1 (true) to 0 (false), thus disabling
the AutoAdminLogon feature.
4. Click Add Value on the Edit menu, enter AutoAdminLogon in the Value Name box,
and then click REG_SZ for the Data
Type.
5. Type "1" (without the quotation marks) in the String box, and then save your
changes.
6. Quit Regedit.
7. Click Start, click Shutdown, and then click OK to turn off your computer.
8. Restart your computer and Windows. You are now able to log on automatically.
NOTE: To bypass the AutoAdminLogon process, and to log on as a different
user, hold down the SHIFT key after you log off or after Windows restarts.
Note that this procedure only applies to the first logon. To enforce this
setting for subsequent logoffs, the administrator must set the following
registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Value: ForceAutoLogon
Type: REG_SZ
Data: 1
