Possible to "hide" a login ID on the welcome screen?

I'm configuring a Windows 7 laptop for another person who will be the prime user.

I'd like to maintain my login ID on the computer, but not have it visible on the "regular" welcome screen.

I'd also like to be able to login, using my own ID, through the XP-style screen where I enter my login ID and password (because my account wouldn't be visible on the regular welcome screen).

Is all of this possible? And how do I do it?

I'm not entirely happy with the question, but here's how you restore the old-style login screen:

1. Open Group Policy Editor.

2. Go to : Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options.

3. Find "Interactive logon: Do not display last user name". Change the setting to "Enabled".

I found this but be very careful in using it and make sure you have an Administrator login which you know works!
Michael on Tech: Hide User Account In Windows 7

The next time you reboot your computer you should notice that the user is hidden from the welcome screen. I tested this in the 64-bit version Windows 7 professional and the 32-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate RC.

Click to expand...

Probably not that important then. I don't want to muck with the registry.

If there were an easy way for me to hide my login ID from the normal welcome screen, yet somehow still have relatively easy access to it for when I login (that is, be able to log in even though my user ID doesn't show up), I'd like that, but not a big deal really.

How about is there a way to arrange the order of the IDs on the welcome screen? Looks like they default to alphabetical. I'd like mine to show up last rather than first, without renaming myself ZZZZZZZZ.

Probably not that important then. I don't want to muck with the registry.

Click to expand...

For what u wish to achieve, I would not either, hence my earlier caveat i am pretty sure there is no available setting in user accounts/ anyone else ?

I know in XP if you hit ctrl > alt > del twice while on the welcome screen it will bring up the old style login box where you type in your user name and password. Thats how you log into the administrator account. Administrator is not shown on the welcome screen in XP. If that works for 7 then you can safely hide your user account and still use it if you have too. Here is a reg file I use to unhide the administrator account so it shows up on the XP welcome screen. It should be easy enough to edit the last line to do what you want. Change Administrator to the user name you want to hide and the dword to all 0's, (change the last 1 to a 0). Just save it as a .reg file instead of a .txt file. then you double click it to run it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList]
"Administrator"=dword:00000001
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT: the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\.....
should all be one line but the forum software is truncating it into two.

My question is why do you need to log in to a hidden account if you're setting this computer up for someone else

450125 said:

How about is there a way to arrange the order of the IDs on the welcome screen? Looks like they default to alphabetical. I'd like mine to show up last rather than first, without renaming myself ZZZZZZZZ.

Click to expand...

The only way (that I know) to do that is to think the order already when creating user accounts. Renaming accounts later has no effect, the account order is stored according to the alphanumerical order based on the account names at the moment personal user folders were created i.e. when logged in the first time to a new account.

An example: Being logged in to an administrative account, you create two new user accounts Abel and Kain. At this moment, no user folders are created; they are first created when these two users log in first time (desktop showing 'Preparing your desktop').

You later decide to change Kain's account name to Aaron. Only the account name is changed, the user folder's name remains as it was when created, so in the future the user Aaron has his personal folders stored in C:\Users\Kain.

If you had changed user Kain's username to Aaron before he logged in first time, the user folder would have been named as Aaron.

Changing the username only changes the name used to log in. Without registry modifications it will not change the name of the user folder. Order in which users are displayed on Welcome screen is based on the names of respective user accounts at the moment the user folder's were created, not the usernames themselves.

This is why it is a good idea to think user accounts already when installing, and use a number prefix in usernames if it is important to display users in a certain order. Naming user accounts as 1. Zach, 2. Aaron, 3. William and 4. Bert would cause welcome screen to display these names in that order (1, 2, 3 and 4) instead of alphabetical order.

Kari

unifex said:

I'm not entirely happy with the question, but here's how you restore the old-style login screen:

1. Open Group Policy Editor.

2. Go to : Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options.

3. Find "Interactive logon: Do not display last user name". Change the setting to "Enabled".

Click to expand...

When I performed this registry edit and restarted, the login screen came up as expected, but none of the correctly typed active login/password combinations will work. They all report, "User name or password is incorrect." So I am stuck at the opening screen. Any suggestions (other than don't muck with the registry, below :sarc?

Hello onefear, seems as though we've spoke somewhere.



Just so you'll know, Seven Forums has an excellent and easily understood tutorial on the subject of resetting a user password, have a look at the kink below.


Reset your Windows Password