Secure Logon - Press CTRL + ALT + DELETE to log on

How to Enable or Disable Secure Log On CTRL+ALT+DELETE in Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to enable or disable having to press CTRL+ALT+DELETE before being able to enter your log on credentials in the Windows 7 log on screen.

   Note

Using secure logon provides an additional layer of security for your computer by ensuring that the authentic Windows logon screen appears. When secure logon is enabled, no other program (such as a virus or spyware) can intercept your user name and password credentials as you enter them.

EXAMPLE: Secured Log On CTRL+ALT+DELETE screen
NOTE: If you have a tablet connected to your computer with it's drivers installed, then you may see Press CTRL + Alt + Delete or use the Windows Security Button to log on instead.

OPTION ONE

Through Advanced User Accounts

1. Open the Start Menu.

2. In the search line, type netplwiz and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

3. Click on the Advanced tab. (See screenshot below)

4. To Enable Secure Log On
A) Check the Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete box. (See screenshot above)
NOTE: If the setting is grayed out, then see OPTION THREE or OPTION TWO below.

B) Go to step 6.
5. To Disable Secure Log On
A) Uncheck the Requires users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete box. (See screenshot below step 3)
NOTE: If the setting is grayed out, then see OPTION THREE or OPTION TWO below.
6. Click on OK. (See screenshot below step 3)

OPTION TWO

Using a REG File Download

NOTE: This option will also set OPTION THREE below back to it's default setting of Not Defined.
1. To Enable Secure Log On
A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below.
Enable_Secure_Logon.reg

Download


B) Go to step 3.
2. To Disable Secure Log On
A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below.
Disable_Secure_Logon.reg

Download


3. Click on Save, and save the .zip file to the desktop.

4. Right click on the downloaded .reg file and click on Merge.

5. Click on Run, Yes, Yes, and OK when prompted.

6. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

OPTION THREE

Through Local Security Policy

   Note

When this option is set to Disabled or Enabled, it will override and gray out the settings in OPTION ONE above.

When this option is set to it's default Not Defined, then the settings in OPTION ONE above are no longer grayed out and can be set to how you like. Using a REG file in OPTION TWO above will set this option back to Not Defined.

1. Open the Local Security Policy editor.

2. In the left pane, expand Local Policies, and click on Security Options. (see screenshot below)

3. In the right pane, right click on Interactive Logon: Do not required CTRL+ALT+DEL and click on Properties. (see screenshot above)

4. To Enable Secure Log On
A) Select (dot) Disabled, and click on OK. (see screeshot below)

B) Go to step 6.
5. To Disable Secure Log On
A) Select (dot) Enabled, and click on OK. (see screeshot above)
6. Close the Local Security Policy window.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Automatically Log On a User Account at Windows 7 Startup
• How to Add Advanced User Accounts to the Windows 7 Control Panel
• How to Change the Windows 7 Log On Screen Text Shadow
• How to Change the Windows 7 Log On Screen Background
• How to Make Windows 7 Require a User Name and Password at Log On
• How to Add or Remove Ease of Access Center from Windows 7 Log On Screen
• How to Set Account Lockout Threshold for Invalid Logon Attempts
• How to Set Account Lockout Duration for Locked Out User Accounts
• How to Set the Reset Account Lockout Counter After Setting
• How to Create a Advanced User Accounts Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Require Users to Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to Approve UAC Elevation
• How to Fix Windows 7 Logon Screen Showing Only "Other User" and Last Logged On User Icon
• How to Display User Information or Not when a Windows Session is Locked

 

[theshoemaker]

I have a problem with the secure logon function on my wife's laptop.. Her lock screen is asking to press CTRL+ALT+DEL, and she would like to disable it.

I of course went into the settings and tried what was explained in Option 1, but toggling the setting in netplwiz is blocked (the check box is checked, but grey so not possible to uncheck). Not sure what this means, I tried running netplwiz as administrator and same thing.

I tried to change this in Registry editor, and to my surprise the value in DisableCAD was 0, which would mean that the function is turned off as shown in Option 3, but secure logon still seems to be on.

This is a Home Premium system, so I am unable to use Local Security Policy as outlined in Option 4.

any ideas?

 

[Brink]

Hello theshoemaker,

I have updated the REG files in Option Two to see if they may help. Please try them again. You may need to restart to fully apply.

I have also read that someone else reported that their built-in fingerprint reader software was the cause of Option One being grayed out. They said that uninstalling it allowed them to change the setting afterwards.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Gigi]

Thanks 4 ur help Brink! The Secure Log On CTRL+ALT+DELETE was a bit bothersome 2 me. I am the Ad user. I enabled yhe options a year ago... Okay for awhile... Great tutorial & thorough.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Gigi, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[drosera]

Hi Brink,

well made tutorial, thanks. However on my machine (W7 Pro 64bit) options two and three (registry entry variants) didn't work at all. I finally changed the settings using secpol.msc and then diffed the registry dumps of before and after the modification. In my case "DisableCAD" had to be changed in

[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]

Automagically also "DisableCAD" in

[HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]

was changed to the same value. Changing the registry entries that you mentioned didn't have any effect.

Has the location of the setting in the registry maybe changed with some MS update?

Cheers

frank

 

[Brink]

Hello Frank, and welcome to Seven Forums.

The registry location below is for the Local Security Policy setting. By default it is set to Not Defined. If this is set to either Enabled or Disabled, then it will override the setting in Advanced User Accounts. I believe this is what happened with you, and why it did not work for you manually set the registry location for the Advanced User Accounts setting.
(Local Security Policy)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System


(Advanced User Accounts - netplwiz)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

I have updated the tutorial and REG files to help people avoid this from now on.

 

[drosera]

The registry location below is for the Local Security Policy setting. By default it is set to Not Defined. If this is set to either Enabled or Disabled, then it will override the setting in Advanced User Accounts. I believe this is what happened with you, and why it did not work for you manually set the registry location for the Advanced User Accounts setting. [...]

Right. these registry settings were defined on the host itself. Could this be a consequence of some domain policy? All our hosts are part of an ActiveDirectory domain, but I have no access to these policies.

frank

 

[Brink]

Yes, that would be why.

 

[TD7BA]

Thanks so much Brink! I'm all for making my computer more secure. I have found all your tutorials to be helpful in some way. Thank you again, Brink!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome TD7BA, and thank you.

 

[05hunterd]

CAD Logon has de-Elevated me?

Hi Brink,

First of all, let me just say that I'm an MCTS...and even I could not find how to do this...so thank you very muchly

However, when I did this through netplwiz, all seemed fine until I restarted, logged on, and found that as a result, my account (the only account on the PC) had been de-elevated to 'Guest' :-S.

Naturally, I created a restore-point before hand, but of course I cannot access system restore through Windows because of my now near-0 privileges, and cannot use the repair disk for the same reason!


Any ideas? There's a lot of important stuff on here for work and I'm kinda...stuffed...

Cheers!

 

[Brink]

Hello Hunter, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You might see if you may be able to enable the built-in Administrator account at boot or in Windows 7, then see if you may be able to change your user account type back to an administrator.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/102552-built-administrator-enable-winre.html#post885479

or

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/507-built-administrator-account-enable-disable.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ansamech]

hey, this is awesome thanks for the tutorial. Question, is there any way to make it so it doesnt tell you to press ctrl alt del? its just the background, and you have to know to press it?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hello Shawn mate I have recently cloned an old drive to a new hybrid drive in my partners laptop and it is starting with the Cont Alt Del - disk read error message.

Now I have tried the download file and gpedit.msc and secpol.msc options after doing the Option one bit with the netplwiz - the box is unticked.

The gpedit and secpol type in do not throw up a box for Run as Admin.
So I am at a loss as where to go from here. The machine is acting rather strangely in that it keeps throwing up updates for install but it is not even doing that now.

Any ideas as I am knocking on Hells door here:shock:

 

[Brink]

Hey John,

Ah, you got the ole "A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart." error message at startup.

This wouldn't have anything to do with what this tutorial is for, but usually that indicates a corrupted or dead hard drive. I would lean towards it being corrupted since it's a new drive, and that you may need to reinstall Windows. Possibly something gone bad during the clone.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok Shawn I was rather thinking you might be saying that as those type items didn't show.

I might just retry the clone - a clean install of course is what I would do if the machine was mine would be better - but she has an enormous amount of data in the way of pictures and all sorts of Apple stuff I don't know if I am competent enough to put back onto that new drive / clean install.

Pity really as this only just started in the last two weeks.

Am wondering about a chkdsk /f /r run if that could repair it??

 

[Brink]

It wouldn't hurt anything to try chhdsk, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

No Shawn I won't because this Ivy machine of mine has the same issue only I do not get that
C-A-D stuff at start. But what I have got is no gpedit.msc or specpol.msc either.

I ran a chkdsk on this machine as for a change I am at home and it made no difference those two .msc type ins are not available.
I think this machine needs a clean install and I have it backed up with images so hopefully I don't have to go through sad and sorry procedure again if I go that route.

A bit OT mate but if I use an ISO from Greg's tutorial will that have the latest updates on it and might save all the updates?

 

[Brink]

Sure, the latest ISO will help save you a from having to download quite few Windows Updates, but I'm sure you'll still only have only a few hundred more afterwards.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Sure, the latest ISO will help save you a from having to download quite few Windows Updates, but I'm sure you'll still only have only a few hundred more afterwards.

Jeez Shawn you just made my day only as few hundred give or take I reckon eh?