Autologon in Windows NT

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Autologon in Windows NT

Sometimes you want to have a windows NT machine that doesn’t just stop at the logon screen, but instead performs an automatic logon during the boot process. This could be convenient in the case that you want to have a machine wich is always online and has some programs that should run always, but are not defined as a service. Another reason could be that the user just doesn’t want the logon feature on the machine.

You could enable an autologon in two ways:

Steps scenario 1 Autologon as an Administrator:

Login on the machine as an administrator
Go to the run option in your start menu en start regedit or regedt32
Open the tree "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon"
Add 2 new string values

AutoAdminLogon = "1"

DefaultPassword = "abcde"

Where "abcde" is your logon password.

Steps scenario 2 Autologon as a user:

Login on the machine as an administrator
Go to the run option in your start menu en start regedit or regedt32
Open the tree "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon"
Create or assign the following string values

AutoAdminLogon = "1"

DefaultUserName = "abcde"

DefaultPassword = "abcde"

DefaultDomainName = "abcde"

Where "abcde" are the values exactly the same just as you would normally type in the logon screen.

Notes:

The password in the registry is NOT encrypted so this means that anyone with access to your registry can read this value.

This ofcourse also counts for anyone who has direct access to your computer. Your machine is automatically logged on with administrative rights. This may cause HUGE security risks.

NEVER use this on a machine that is connected to the internet. You are giving away your login and password if you do so. Don't forget that windows NT in its standard configurations is one of the easiest platforms for hackers.

See also: Microsoft Technet article: "How To Enable Automatic Logon In Windows NT"