Unsleep straight to switch user screen

BazzaDP · 24 Jan 2013

I have an Acer laptop with a fingerprint reader and Windows 7 and don't like the way the Sleep/Switch User options work.

My family and I all use the laptop and usually several of us are logged in at once. When one of use wants to use the laptop, they fire it up, log in, surf the net for a bit (or whatever), then send it to sleep. The next person to use it, unsleeps, logs in with their account, uses it, then sleeps again. So now 2 accounts are logged in and available to continue work... etc. That way any work or websites we had open are available immeadiately from where we left off if we log in later on. Yes, this does mean that occasionally we lose our work if the laptop has to restart for an update or another user manually reboots, but we rarely sleep without saving work and usually it's just websites up, so staying logged in is more a convenience thing, rather than critical thing, so we're willing to live with that.

Anyway, I have a slight annoyance with how this works:

When we unsleep, Windows 7, goes to the log on screen for the last user - "helpfully" assuming the last person to sleep the computer is probably the person who is unsleeping it and allowing them to log on quickly. This is often not the case for us and in fact, since we all usually use the computer each day at some point, more often than not it's actually a different person waking it. If it's a different person using it this time, he/she has to click "Switch User" button to go back to the main login screen with all the accounts and chose their account to log in. An extra click so hardly the end of the world but annoying none the less.

If you've logged on using your fingerprint instead of the password, it's even worse. When you unsleep it goes to a single user log in screen for the last user to use it and asks you to swipe your fingerprint to log in again. If it's a different user this time then you have to click the "Other Credentials" button - which takes you to the normal login screen for that same user, ready to type the password in, instead of authenticating with your fingerprint. Then you have to click "Switch User" to get to the main multi-user login screen, as above, and finally you can log in as above. 2 clicks now which again is annoying. That seems strange as, from the main, multi-user login screen you can swipe your finger and Windows 7 automatically recognises which user that is and logs in without you even having to choose the username. So you never even have use the password screen to log in, so it's all very smooth - but not when unsleeping. In fact when using fingerprint to log on the specific user login screens are pretty pointless since you can log in directly and so conveniently from the multiple user screen.

Is there anway to unsleep straight to the main login screen with multiple users? Have searched around both the security settings and the web but can't find a way to do it. Note I do NOT want to auto login to my main account as I know how to use this. We have multiple accounts, with finger prints and passwords, and want to keep them. I just don't want Windows to assume the same person sleeping will be the same person waking the computer.

Make sense?

gregrocker · 24 Jan 2013

Try the modern Hibernate function which is perfected in Win7 andd may solve the issue for you since it does everything sleep does but writes the desktop to the HD (instead of just RAM) and shuts down the PC. But it starts up twice as fast to the Log-In page.

If fingerprint reader bothers you, turn it off and use strong passwords.

BazzaDP · 24 Jan 2013

Thanks for the reply but that doesn't help.

gregrocker said:

Try the modern Hibernate function which is perfected in Win7 andd may solve the issue for you since it does everything sleep does but writes the desktop to the HD (instead of just RAM) and shuts down the PC. But it starts up twice as fast to the Log-In page.

If fingerprint reader bothers you, turn it off and use strong passwords.

You are correct hibernate does everything sleep does but instead writes the memory to disk. I think of this as a more permenant "sleep" as sleep will use a little power to stay in the suspended mode whereas hibernate should not.

However hibernate has the same issue I face as sleep. It wakes up to the single user log on screen.

gregrocker said:

But it starts up twice as fast to the Log-In page.

Weirdly I find this not to be the case in Windows 7. Turning on from scratch is quicker than waking up from hibernate. This despite the fact I'm using an SSD rather than HD. My only guess is that my entire 16Gb of RAM needs to be read on waking up, and less needs to be read to get Windows 7 to a login state. Windows 7 has got so efficient it's now showing up other things ;-)

gregrocker said:

If fingerprint reader bothers you, turn it off and use strong passwords.

It doesn't bother me. I like it. Just find it slightly irrating when unsleeping with it. But then I'm irrated when waking up even with passwords.

After doing some more searching and hunting around in the registry I guess what I want is not possible - though in theory it would be fairly easy to program and offer as an option if MS wanted too. I guess I'm just using my laptop/sleep in a way that MS didn't really intend or think off. We kind of use it mostly like a tablet would be used, where we have it in our front room and unsleep it for quick browsing and then sleep it again.

No matter - it's only a small irritation and it's only a click or two. Just thought I'd ask.

gregrocker · 24 Jan 2013

Someone else may know for sure.