Jim Guckin

Question:

We are deploying Windows 7 machines to users that are not the domain, and I want to add some accounts for administration to the machine, but I only want the users to be give the option of seeing the one account they are going to use.  Is there any way to hide the other accounts?

 John Higgins
Oakland, CA

Answer:

*NOTE: To do this involves making changes to the registry, please make sure you know what you are doing, making an incorrect change could cause your computer to no longer work.  Also make a backup of the registry prior to making the change, just in case*

Open up RegEdit.exe

Browse to the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

In the left panel of Registry Editor, right click on Winlogon key and click New then Key.  This will allow you to create a new key under Winlogon, name this new key:  SpecialAccounts, then do the same steps to create another key under SpecialAccounts called: UserList and press Enter.

Now we finally move into the right panel of registry editor, in the blank area right clikc and create a DWORD(32bit) with the name of the user account you want to hide.  (i.e. if your username is Helpdesk, then you’ll name the DWORD Helpdesk)  Double click the newly created DWORD and make the value:

0 to hide

1 to show it again
Now, if you have a have a Windows XP machine that you need to do this with, the directions are a little different please see our other article: Q&A Monday: Hide Accounts from XP Welcome Screen

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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 his other technical insights.