Prevent needing to log in on Windows 10 start up?

[Andeh13]

I've tried googling this, and tried a couple of things but nothing has worked so far.

I have my laptop logged in to my Windows Hotmail address, happy with this. I just dont want to have to log in every time I turn the laptop on - but I still want to maintain this Hotmail link.

I have tried doing it via user accounts & this just makes me create a new account that doesn't require logging in from (but loosing my instant email link to hotmail etc).

is there a best of both worlds? I know about security etc, but I trust my wife (ish, i think, hmmm, for now.. ) and my 2 year old is busy trashing it rather then checking my emails.

Thanks in advance

[spacein_vader]

I've tried googling this, and tried a couple of things but nothing has worked so far.

I have my laptop logged in to my Windows Hotmail address, happy with this. I just dont want to have to log in every time I turn the laptop on - but I still want to maintain this Hotmail link.

I have tried doing it via user accounts & this just makes me create a new account that doesn't require logging in from (but loosing my instant email link to hotmail etc).

is there a best of both worlds? I know about security etc, but I trust my wife (ish, i think, hmmm, for now.. ) and my 2 year old is busy trashing it rather then checking my emails.

Thanks in advance

It's disabled for the security reasons you mention. People can have payment details tied to their MS account for store purchases, office 365 etc. The forced password means that it protects you from other people spending your money & (cynically) protects from Microsoft having to refund you if they do.

You may not tie payment details to it yourself but I'd wager there's not a way around the restriction. Can you not just create a local password less account for the wife/kids to access?

[Andeh13]

grrrr, makes sense I suppose. Happy for everyone to use it, just save everyone the hassle of having to log in. Looks like I don't have a choice though.

Thanks anyway!

[Millennium]

you could set a really short weak easy to remember password. That's some comfort / solution .

[scaryjim]

What's wrong with creating a password-less standard account then adding your hotmail account to the mail app directly? I just installed a new VM with the insider preview and had no problem at all creating an offline account, adding an outlook.com account to the Mail app, and it's now synced all of the other MS services along with it (so without logging into Skype seperately all my skype contacts are accessible, for instance).

[Flibb]

Can you create a local account and assign a simple pin to it? I assume local accounts still exits in win10?

[scaryjim]

... I assume local accounts still exits in win10?

They do, as much as MS have tried to hide the option

And as I said above, you can set up a local account without a password too, and then hook your MS account into the services without logging in with it.

[Kumagoro]

I swear I have seen Windows 10 log users in automatically before, it seemed to remember the last person who was using it and just automatically log them in. No doubt they didnt have a password.

I dont know about Hotmail accounts and the like but for local users (or even domain accounts so I have read).

Here are some instructions I used a few years ago and I know I have got it working in Windows 10 as well. Hopefully they make sense.

Open reg and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Double-click the DefaultUserName entry, type the user name to log on with, and then click OK.

If DefaultUserName registry value name is not found, create a new String Value (REG_SZ) with value name as DefaultUserName.

Double-click the DefaultPassword entry, type the password for the user account under the value data box, and then click OK.

If there is no DefaultPassword value, create a new String Value (REG_SZ) with DefaultPassword as the value name.

Note that if no DefaultPassword string is specified, Windows automatically changes the value of the AutoAdminLogon registry key
from 1 (true) to 0 (false) to turn off the AutoAdminLogon feature.

In Windows Vista/7, DefaultDomainName has to be specified as well, else Windows will prompt for invalid user name with the user
name displayed as .\username. To do so, double click on DefaultDomainName, and specify the domain name of the user account. If it’s
local user, specify local host name.

If the DefaultDomainName does not exist, create a new String Value (REG_SZ) registry key with value name as DefaultDomainName.
Double-click the AutoAdminLogon entry, type 1 in the Value Data box, and then click OK.

If there is no AutoAdminLogon entry, create a new String Value (REG_SZ) with AutoAdminLogon as the value name.

If it exists, delete the AutoLogonCount key.
Also if it exists, delete the AutoLogonChecked key.

Quit Registry Editor. DO NOT RESTART THE MACHINE

Go to control panel and open user accounts > user accounts > manage user accounts

OR

run netplwiz

There should be a check box near the top on the users tab saying 'Users must enter a username and password to use this computer'
uncheck it and then an automatically a log on box should appear and in there you enter the local user you want to logon on and its password.

This check box doesnt appear if you do not do the reg edits. and if you restart before setting the user you lose the reg edits.

Then restart to test.

[stevie lee]

run netplwiz

There should be a check box near the top on the users tab saying 'Users must enter a username and password to use this computer'
uncheck it and then an automatically a log on box should appear and in there you enter the local user you want to logon on and its password.

This check box doesnt appear if you do not do the reg edits. and if you restart before setting the user you lose the reg edits.

Then restart to test.

tats he way I did it on my computer on win 10.
except I got to that page via an elevated command prompt (powershell) and typing 'control userpasswords2'
never had to do any regedits to get the check box though, its just been available.

[Kumagoro]

I just gave it ago and it does open the same thing like you say but mine doesnt show the tick box. It is my work domain and the Enterprise version of Win 10 so maybe it has been disabled, I have never tried doing it on one that wasnt in the domain.

[MLyons]

Is this what you want? https://www.cnet.com/how-to/automati...windows-10-pc/

[stevie lee]

@kumagoro I'm on win10 home edition, it also works on Pro. I suspect it has been disabled on the enterprise edition, could also be some extra security policies and tweaks on your work domain.
i've only ever been on a bog standard home network ith local accounts, no fancy 'cloud based remote whatnots' for me.

[Andeh13]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, laptop comes with a finger print reader which I dismissed when I first set the laptop up. Turns out it is really quick & easy to use, so have just set that up to allow me to log in. WIll add my wife to it as well, and it works so quickly it's removed the majority of the issue!

Thanks all the same

[GoNz0]

Mines got a fingerprint reader, also a 4 digit pin so really easy to login with.

[shaithis]

I swear I have seen Windows 10 log users in automatically before, it seemed to remember the last person who was using it and just automatically log them in. No doubt they didnt have a password.

That seems happens after restarting for updates automatically.

I have never seen an option to "Reboot and leave me where I was" though :S It would be a nice feature to have accessible!

[MLyons]

That seems happens after restarting for updates automatically.

I have never seen an option to "Reboot and leave me where I was" though :S It would be a nice feature to have accessible!

By where I was do you mean you as a user or user and how the desktop was such as programs open