Q&A Monday: Hide Accounts from XP Welcome Screen
Question:
I am currently setting up a couple of computers for a small business and not in a domain, and they prefer the Windows XP Welcome menu to log on to the computer. I have set up an Administrator account and would like that account to be hidden from the welcome screen.
Adam E. Jones
Dallas, TX
Answer:
To hide a user account from the Welcome Screen, you need to do more than just check a box, you need to go in an change the registry for that. If you intend on moving forward, I recommend that you know what you are doing and create a backup of the registry.
- Open up RegEdit
- Browse to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList - Under this key create a new DWORD value with the username (must match exactly)
- For the value use 0 (zero – makes it hidden)
- Click OK and restart the system
When the system comes back online and you did everything correctly, the name will no longer be displayed on the welcome screen. Now to log in as the admin account just simply press CTRL + ALT + DEL twice and the normal login prompt will display.
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If you have any questions that you want Jim to answer, from business servers to home computers, drop him a line at me@jimguckin.com, and he’ll try to answer your question. Check back every Monday for a new Question and Answer session, and during the rest of the week for other technical insights.