Use Registry Editor to turn on automatic logon

• Select Start , and then select Run .

• In the Open box, type Regedit.exe , and then press Enter.

• Locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon subkey in the registry.

• On the Edit menu, select New , and then point to String Value .

• Type AutoAdminLogon , and then press Enter.

• Double-click AutoAdminLogon .

• In the Edit String dialog box, type 1 and then select OK .

• Double-click the DefaultUserName entry, type your user name, and then select OK .

• Double-click the DefaultPassword entry, type your password, and then select OK . If the DefaultPassword value doesn’t exist, it must be added. To add the value, follow these steps:

  1. On the Edit menu, select New , and then point to String Value .
  2. Type DefaultPassword , and then press Enter.
  3. Double-click DefaultPassword .
  4. In the Edit String dialog, type your password and then select OK .
  5. If no DefaultPassword string is specified, Windows automatically changes the value of the AutoAdminLogon key from 1 (true) to 0 (false), disabling the AutoAdminLogon feature.

• If you have joined the computer to a domain, you should add the DefaultDomainName value, and the data for the value should be set as the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the domain, for example contoso.com..

• Exit Registry Editor.

• Select Start , select Shutdown , and then type a reason in the Comment text box.

• Select OK to turn off your computer.

• Restart your computer. You can now log on automatically.

Use Sysinternals tool Autologon to configure AutoAdminLogon

For download and usage details, see Autologon - Sysinternals.After AutoAdminLogon is configured by using the tool, the password will be stored in a Local Security Authority (LSA) secret instead of the Winlogon key.