Can No Longer Auto Login on Windows Startup

[colin1951uk]

Hi Folks,

Since yesterday I can no longer start my laptop using Windows 7 Pro without having to login to my account each time.

I have tried to fix the problem using the netplwiz settings and registry changes I found on this site but neither have worked.

My setup is with one Administrator account (no password required) and a Guest account. The Guest account is switched off so with just the Administration account active Windows should login automatically anyway so I can't understand what's going on now.

As I say it began happening yesterday and I haven't installed any new software prior to this oddity starting so I can't think of anything obvious that might be causing some sort of conflict.

I can use my machine ok, it's just logging in every time is a nuisance and really pointless as I'm the only user.

Is there anything else I can try to get Auto Login reinstated please?

Cheers.

 

[Brink]

Hello Colin, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Double check using the tutorial below to make sure that you have the correct account selected, and be sure to leave the password fields empty since you don't have a password.

Log On Automatically at Startup - Windows 7 Help Forums

If Option 1 fails, you might see if manually setting it using Option 2 may work.

 

[colin1951uk]

Hi Brink,

Thanks for the response.

The link as given is the one I used before posting here but I've double checked everything just in case I missed something and as far as the netplwiz option goes only one account shows and that is the correct one and the "Users must enter etc" box is unchecked so I can't change anything there as it's all in order.

The registry as well looks good, the only thing missing is the DefaultPassword string but that is no surprise as I don't use a password. I did just for the hell of it add that string but left the password details blank, did a reboot and after logging in again that particular string had been deleted so I can't fault the registry either.

I've also now tried a boot in Safe Mode but still had to login!

If there is no other fix I'll just put up with it but what's caused it to happen out of the blue is just beyond me.

Thanks.

 

[Brink]

As a test, you might check the box in netplwiz for users to have to log in, apply, and restart the PC.

Afterwards, try setting up netplwiz to auto log on again to see if the above may toggle it to work now.

 

[colin1951uk]

Well good idea but it still didn't resolve anything.

I've been thinking, it could be I've got a slight registry glitch which is maybe why the machine doesn't pickup the required entries in the Winlogon folder.

If I deleted AutoAdminLogon, DefaultDomainName and DefaultUserName do you think the registry would rebuild itself on a reboot?

As there's only one account it should force an auto login and hopefully fix any glitch.

I know I'm mad to think about messing with the registry but do you think it might work?

 

[Brink]

You could leave there data values empty, except set AutoAdminLogon to 0 (zero) to restore them to default in Registry Editor.